When I first got to Kake, there was a large black rabbit living on and around the campus. People told me that it had been a pet and had been left behind by its owner. I saw it for the first year and part of the second, and then no more. It did remind me, though, of a bunny incident that happened in another school site.  One day, right before lunch, I came into the cafeteria. Albert, a local young man, had a box resting on the counter. I looked inside and saw a baby rabbit. I looked a question, and he explained that he had found the rabbit, and wondered if he could leave it at school until later in the afternoon, because he had to go to work. The rabbit, he told me, was important to him because it would be useful in attracting eligible young women. I told him that we couldn’t really have the rabbit in the kitchen, and that I would keep it in my classroom. Albert went away satisfied.

              But then, trouble. Mildred, a middle schooler who missed large blocks of school, showed up at lunch time and demanded to see me. “You have my rabbit!” she shouted. After I got her to calm down, she explained that the rabbit was one of a litter that belonged to her grandmother, and all the bunnies had escaped that morning. I reluctantly agreed that she should take the rabbit home, and she called her grandmother to come get it. After school was out, Albert came back wanting his rabbit. I haltingly explained the situation, and he stared at me in dismay. He asked if he could at least have his box back, and I gave it to him. He went away shaking his head, muttering, “you gave away my chick magnet!”