Tony Deyal | Bye, bye Bugsy

Talcum powder, or soapstone, is the softest thing in the world unless my daughter Jasmine sees an animal in trouble, especially if it is being treated badly. That tears it for her. If she has to fight, she will do so and leave the real tears for later.

On June 14, 2018, she needed to buy a birthday gift for her mother and ended up in St James, a district west of Port-of-Spain. Jasmine went into a dingy pet store and found a poor little weeks old rabbit, clinging to life, all skin, bones, ill-health and great pain. What we learnt after is that particular breed was sold for meat. There are many people who carry around a rabbit’s foot for luck, but the rest of the rabbit is not so lucky. Jasmine’s rabbit was. I was also lucky since, as the home’s “namesis”, I was expected to come up with a good but unusual name for the rabbit. So, I asked myself, “If God is love, what is a rabbit? If with a nick, knack, paddy wack you give a dog a bone, what do you give your rabbit?” Then I asked my daughter, “What about ‘Lucky’?

“After all, you went into the place by accident, so the rabbit was lucky you were here.” Then I remembered our first ‘Lucky’, an Antiguan fledgling who my family found and tried to save. I always felt that he was Lucky for a while, but we were luckier still for the opportunity to enjoy him and revel in his voyages of discovery, especially flying on to my balding head, or going around the house on my shoulder.

“What about ‘James’ instead?” I asked, and then added, “The rabbit is from St James and St James was one of Christ’s apostles.” My wife said, “James is a man’s name.” I then suggested “Rabby”, the name of our leader in cricket, football, drinking and liming, whose only police records were for wounding. I insisted that “Rabby” was short for “Rabbit”. I got a look from my wife that would have destroyed me like Sodom and Gomorrah. At that point, upset that they were bugging me and knowing that “Bugsy” was the nickname of a US criminal and also means “infested with bugs”, and in Kansas, US, “Bugsy” means “Name of a rabbit” while in Jamaica it is “a mischievous or cheeky individual”, our first real rabbit became ‘Bugsy’.

THING OR TWO

Fortunately for me, I knew a thing or two about rabbits. For instance, a really clever rabbit is a hare brain; one who keeps looking neat and tidy uses hare spray; and a rabbit with flies is a Bugs Bunny. Then, over the years with Bugsy, I learnt that love comes in all shapes and sizes, and my wife, Indranie, had fallen in love with long ears and a cotton tail. She so loved the rabbit and when Bugsy, by then one-eyed, was finally put to sleep last Sunday because of ongoing illness, Indranie cried for days. She admitted, “Yes. I miss her. She was the first one I fed each morning. Bugsy loved company, music, cuddles, and playing with coloured markers by picking them up in her mouth and racing around the room.”

Perhaps in those very early days we kept calling and repeating, “Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” without knowing it was a superstition found in Britain and North America which, if you wake up on the first day of the month and that was the first thing you said, you will have good luck for the rest of it. We actually did have good luck without ever trying because baby Bugsy would come and allow me to rub her back with my giant feet and sit close to me and all the others. Indranie remembered last Monday, “She was beautiful and feisty to the end. Bugsy was only six, but she developed health issues. I am still trying to come to grips with her loss. It was so much a habit that I went to her hutch this morning! She had been with us in the house as her condition worsened. Even now, I keep finding silky bits of white fur because Bugsy could no longer groom herself. Worse, as she aged, her teeth kept growing out like a sabre-toothed bunny, so she had to be regularly trimmed. In fact, two weeks ago we did that, but she continued to decline. All she ate was a bit of her favourite banana, a few mixed greens or fresh kale, some lettuce and pak choy (bok choy) that we bought every week from the farmers’ market.”

TRIED FEW JOKES

I decided to treat Bugsy’s death like a “wake” and instead of playing cards, I tried a few jokes like, “What is a rabbit’s favourite type of music? Hip hop!” and “Did you hear about that rabbit that got into a fight? He was hopping mad”, and even, “What do you call a rabbit who tells jokes?” The first answer was, “You! You are the joker in the pack.” I replied, “No, not me. It is a funny bunny!”

At that point, I gave up and decided to tell the story of St Melangell, the patron saint of Rabbits and Hares whose feast day was a month ago. In Christianity, rabbits represent rebirth and resurrection, particularly during Easter celebrations. The rabbit’s ability to reproduce quickly also signifies fertility and new life. In Buddhism, rabbits symbolise humility, kindness, and compassion.

“Once upon a time, in the 6th or 7th century, a young Irish princess fled her home after vowing celibacy and refusing her father’s command to marry a nobleman of the court. Melangell took refuge in the Kingdom of Powys in Wales. There she lived as a hermit, completely alone in the wilderness. She did not see a man’s face for over fifteen years, until one fateful day.

“While she was in deep devotion, a hare ran out from the thicket and hid under the skirt of her dress. The hare was followed by huntsmen and dogs of the Prince of Powys. Despite the efforts of the huntsmen, the dogs stood at a distance howling and unwilling to seize the hare from the praying woman. Melangell refused to give up the hare, even though, by being on the land of the prince it was by rights his property. This was a bold move but something about the hare moved her to protect it, and the dogs responded to that.

“The Prince, Brochwel Yscythrog, was so taken by the woman’s courage and beauty, he did not pursue the hare any further. Instead, he declared the land sanctuary to all that fled there. On the spot an abbey was formed for women seeking refuge, where Melangell became abbess for 37 years until her death.”

“Melangell was made the Saint of Hares and Rabbits. It is said that if anyone utters “God and St Melangell be with thee” to a hare being pursued by dogs it would escape. To this day, hares are not hunted in the area.”

Tony Deyal was last seen consoling himself and his family with “Hare today, gone tomorrow.” Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com