The bright baby blue sky shone down on us with a gold sun lighting up the world so we could see. It was around March time, and the COVID pandemic was still new to us; all the schools were closed, so we decided to go to the beach. I was sitting in our car wondering what it would be like to own a pet: what would the challenges be? How expensive would it be? This was all swirling around my head whilst we were heading down to the pacific coast with the trees and forests swarming around us like birds on someone's fish and chips on the beach. Suddenly we passed a sign that said, “Bunnies for sale,” and heard my dad who likes humans but hates animals say something to my two older sisters and me that we thought we would never hear in our lives.

 “You know, if there was ever an appropriate time to get a pet it would be now.”

Now this wasn’t the first time we got a pet; a few years ago, my dad reluctantly let us have a fish, who we called fishy. We loved him with all our hearts and was a great pet, but you can’t really stroke a fish can you! It had already been a year since he had passed away and we were getting desperate for another pet. No sooner had my dad uttered these words, my sisters and I instantly started reading all you could about bunnies, what they ate and their lifestyle. Then disaster struck, we lost connection to the internet and my sisters and I all screamed.

“Nooooooo!”

This was the moment we were dreading, the time we could not do our research! We waited and waited for what felt like an eternity till we could get to our beach house. Even when we arrived, we couldn’t do our research immediately as our parents made us unpack the car which I thought was an act of sabotage. But secretly I was making a plan that was conducive to ensuring that we could get a pet,

 “This plan is so ingenious that even Einstein would be impressed!” I whispered to myself.

The plan was to do so much research that I could answer any question with at least some truth to it. So, I stayed up researching all types of bunnies, from a Flemish giant to a Lionhead rabbit; for example, the most common eye color for a rabbit is brown closely followed by blue.

The weekend was filled with lots of research about all types of things bunnies need, eating yummy food and lots of pickleball. Once we came home, we researched where we could buy a bunny from with an intensity that could be challenged by the researchers into a COVID-19 vaccine. We looked at animal shelters, farms, and breeders and we looked at so many websites. At one point we even had an offer for a bunny called Judy (like the bunny from Zootopia) that would also give us a cage, but the cage wouldn’t fit in our car, so we had to say no. Finally, we found the one that would bring so much joy into our world: a small, hazel, Holland Lop called Carl.

We were so excited, but we had to wait and wait and wait; it felt like 4 years had gone by, not four days! At last, the day came. we drove to a car park in Auburn and sat in our car until the lady showed up; we pulled out a box that could transition Carl to his new home, our house! They pulled up and had Carl in a box and I thought to myself, “Wow we finally did it!”

 They put the box on the ground and walked back a few feet so that we were socially distancing, and we slid him into our box and the happiness begun. We drove him all the way back home and our hearts grew to accommodate our little friend.

When we arrived back home, we could not wait for us to go pet him but as we had done so much research on how to raise a bunny, we knew that you must wait a couple of hours to let it get situated to its cage. This is so that they get comfortable and will know it is their cage and not a predator or a fellow bunny. We did this and every few minutes I would be like a child on a road trip.

 “What about now, can we go pet him now?”

My mother would reply “No Silas you still have another hour, go and do some homework.”

I would sadly state “ Okkkkk”.

We would keep on begging and finally at around 2 hours after we got him, we were able to let him out, as I had built a pen for him the other day in preparation out of chicken wire and posts. He would run all around the garden and do binkies which is where he jumps up and kicks his back legs out which is a big sign of happiness! We would eventually set out our deck chairs and let him run around our feet, to get used to our smell and presence.

One day about a week later we dared to ask,

“Do you think we could actually bring him in?”

“Well maybe we could for a little bit.” My mother responded with.

 So, we all bounded out so that we could bring him in with a bag that we had gotten to transport him. We put him in the bag, but we still had our work to do from our classes that day for the weird online schooling that was happening then. So, we decided that we would all quietly do our work so not to disturb one another and let Carl walk around us. I was laying on the floor just quietly doing my health when I could feel his nice little wet nose sniffing around me until he hopped on my chest and sat on my computer! It was so cute, until he started deleting some of my words off my health essay.

A couple of weeks came and went, and we learned so much information that sites couldn’t tell us like his favorite treats (which are blueberries and oats!). However, another forbidden fruit our little sweet Carl loves to eat is wires; in fact, right now the total wires, he’s eaten is almost close to the thousands! As it was in quarantine, we had to buy most of Carl’s food online, so we lots of cardboard for him to chew on instead of our wires. If there was anything, I had learned from getting a bunny was that there is only so much you can be prepared for and we have continued to learn that.

In the end life is all about experience and friendship, the more experienced you are the better friends you will develop, and the more friends you have the more experience you can gain. That was one thing I learned about when we got our 6th family member our cute and cuddly friend Carl.