Taking care of my rabbits was a fun chore.   After I gathered the eggs and washed them and before I fed the baby calves, I got to put fresh food and water into the rabbit pens Daddy had made for them.  The pens were made from wire and Daddy called the pens, hutches.

The rabbits ate a special food called pellets.  The pellets were made from grain and vitamins.   They also had a salt tablet with a hole in the center wired on the wall of their hutch.   They liked to eat lettuce and sweet clover flowers too.

I had four rabbits.  The boy was named Bucky and three girl rabbits that were named Samantha, Clover and Blossom.

One evening, I noticed a small pile of soft rabbit fur in the corner of one of the hutches.   When I pulled back the fur, inside were four pink baby bunnies.   I ran into the house to tell Momma.  She was washing the supper dishes, but she wiped her hands dry on her apron and ran out the door with me.

When Momma saw the baby bunnies, she said, "Oh, Samantha had her babies."

"Where did the fur come from?" I asked.

Momma leaned down and whispered, "Well, when the momma rabbit is going to have babies, she pulls fur out of her tummy to make the babies a soft, warm nest."

Momma reached in the hutch and covered the baby bunnies with the fur.

"You must not touch them until they are bigger and come out of their nest," Momma warned.   "They are too small to play with right now."

That night, when I was suppose to be sleeping, I heard Momma and Daddy talking about the bunnies.

"Now that we have a new batch, I guess we can get rid of a couple of the older ones," said Daddy.

"Well, we are almost out of groceries for the month," answered Momma.   "And we won't get another milk check for a week.   Rabbit stew with carrots and cabbages sure would taste good."

Rabbit stew?  I ate rabbit stew before, and yes, it was good.   Daddy hunted wild rabbits and squirrels that we ate for supper sometimes.

I knew that what we raised on the farm, we often sold or ate.   Milk was sent to the city, as were the eggs.   The wool sheared from the sheep was sold to make sweaters and coats for people to buy.   Sometimes our calves and chickens were sent to market.   That is how the city people got their meat to eat.

Daddy always said, "Farmers feed the world!"

But now, they were talking about my pet rabbits for rabbit stew?!!

The next morning, Daddy said he had to go into town to get some parts for the tractor.   Momma told him that she would be busy all morning making bread and so we couldn't go with him.

I went out to the milk house and peeked through the window to watch what was going on.   I had a plan.

I watched as Daddy climbed into his truck and drove down the driveway and out onto the road toward town.   I could see Momma, busy in the kitchen.

I sneaked out of the milk house and got my red wagon.  I got a wooden box out of the granary and put it into my wagon.  It was the box that Daddy put chickens in to take to market.   I pulled the wagon over to the rabbit hutch and opened the door.

I lifted Bucky, Clover and Blossom out of the hutch and put them in the wooden box.   I had to leave Samantha so she could take care of her babies.

I tugged my red wagon and the rabbits down the lane to the green pasture, where the sweet clover grew.

I looked around to see if anyone was watching.   No one was watching--the coast was clear!

I tipped the box over and pushed the rabbits out into the clover.

I yelled, "Run Bucky. Run Clover. Run Blossom. Run for your lives!"   I clapped my hands and chased the rabbits into the sweet clover field.

That night, at the supper table, Daddy said, "One of the doors on the rabbit hutch was open.   Three of the rabbits are gone.   Either a red fox got them last night, or they ran away.   Samantha and her babies are the only ones left."

Momma put down her fork and said to Daddy, "I wonder how that happened?"

I just kept eating my green beans and didn't say a word.