The Rabbit Trap

The Solon house came with a barn, a chicken coop, a pig pen, many fruit trees, and an acre for a garden. The garden had gone to weeds before we moved in. My dad and we four older boys had cleared many of the weeds, but near the woods there remained a stretch that we did not reclaim. When I was five or six years old the weeds on this part of the property were much taller than my little sister Alice Marie and me.

One day David said to Alice and me, "Hey, we made a rabbit trap. Would you like to see it?"

"Sure,” I said, "Let's go."

With David leading the way my three older brothers, Alice, and I went out to the tall weeds.

"Look, we found some old wire fencing and made a circle with it," said David. David, Richard and James were all standing around smiling. "A rabbit will push through this small opening in the trap to get the carrot we put in the middle. But then the rabbit will be too stupid to find its way out. Let's try it with Alice Marie."

They then picked up Alice and put her in the trap. Alice sat down in the middle and started to cry. "I can't get out!" she wailed. My heart hurt.

"Let's let her out," I said.

"She's more stupid than a rabbit, I guess," said one of my brothers. "I bet a rabbit could get out." They all laughed.

"Hey, I know. Let's leave her here and see if she ever gets out," said another brother.

"Don't leave me! I 'fraid. Don't leave me!" You could see the terror in her face, and I couldn't blame her. There were big rats around, and snakes, and I didn't know what. From the house you could neither see nor hear anyone our size in these weeds. My heart hurt worse than ever.

"I'm going to let her out," I said. I was trying to unfasten the wires when they dragged me away.

"If she's too stupid to figure out how to get out of there, then she deserves to stay there. You better not let her out, Tink, if you know what is good for you." So I had to leave with them.

"No! No!" Alice was nearly hysterical by now. I felt awful inside.

We left, but a minute later I managed to separate myself from my older brothers. "Hey, I just thought of something I better do or Mom will be mad." I started off for the house. As soon as I was out of sight I came back to the rabbit trap.

Boy, was Alice glad to see me. She stopped crying immediately. It took a little while to figure out how to get her out. I was too little to lift her out, and the small rabbit opening was jagged with rusty wire ends. Finally I got her out.

"Tink," she said, "you will always be my favorite brother." That day I learned a lesson in compassion, and earned a "favorite brother" status for the rest of my life.