To Daniel

He had been sluggish for a couple of days, sleeping a lot and not eating much. We also started finding lumps beneath his skin. Not a good sign. At Midwest, the vet suggested we have him X-rayed and the results showed many suspicious "spots" throughout his body.

He was not in pain, so we brought him home after an overnight stay for tests. At the vet's suggestion, Marcia bought some apple juice on the way for Chaucer to drink. Arriving back, I sat in the den and laid him on my lap while Marcia filled a saucer with apple juice. He drank some of it while she held the dish and then, still in my lap,  he quietly died.

We think he had waited to come home.

The next morning, I was again in the den working at the computer when Marcia entered, thrusting a large glass tumbler toward me, commanding in her best Transylvanian accent, "Drink some of mine apple juice ... now!" "Do I have to sit in your lap first?" I asked.

What follows is Chaucer's last updated tale.

Believe it or not, rabbits make wonderful domestic pets. Chaucer, age 8.75 years, is litter trained and has the run of our condo. However despite his name, he has only one tale. He gets taken outside on occasions but he prefers wall-to-wall over grass and dirt. He stays with me in the den a lot, helping out with my computer work.

Marcia has taught him to do tricks. He will pick up a cat ball, the one made of wire loops with a bell inside, and put it in her hand. He will, upon the command "Give me three," put his front paw in her hand. He will sit at the kitchen doorway waiting for food. If you ask him "Are you hungry?" and hold out food, he will turn in a circle. If you then ask "Are you really hungry?" he'll do a second circle. You then give him a piece of greens and he runs into the den with it, puts the food on his mat, and starts to chomp away. You follow with the rest of the food.

Once Marcia got him to do this act, he got the idea that he could communicate with us. Now we get circles when he is hungry, even if we think he isn't. When we are eating something he specially likes, such as Sugar Frosted Flakes, banana or peanut butter, we get a blur of rapid bunny whirlings to let us know he really really really wants some. (Note, however, that he only gets a little of these treats as greens and timothy hay are best for bunnies.) He bumps us for attention when he wants something like food, a scratch behind the ears, or fresh timothy hay. In the morning, if we sleep late, he hops on my stomach and bounces up and down so I'll wake up and get his breakfast. And he likes music, particularly Mozart.

Thanks to my wife's efforts, Chaucer is no dumb bunny.