Chasing Rabbits

I am sure that I will end up chasing a few rabbits as this blog continues (in the figurative sense), but part of this blog is about literal chasing of rabbits.  This past weekend was one month since Guy was murdered.  What a strange month it has been for me.  One thing that has bothered me since the funeral is the fact that the funeral was not as much about Guy as it was about the way that he died.  Almost all of the non-family speakers used the time as an opportunity to talk about why violence needs to stop, and hardly any time talking about Guy.  The main speaker did not make her message about Guy.  It was almost like there was no funeral for Guy,but too much of a political speech to an audience that was probably less than receptive (even though some of them probably needed to hear what was said) and in a venue that was inappropriate (in my opinion).  Therefore, I want to share one of my favorite stories from New Orleans that includes him because I feel that he deserves to be remembered, and those who knew him need to remember him.

Geoffrey did not want anyone to act like Guy was their favorite person in the world unless he was or that he was a better person than what he was or that the person was closer to Guy than what they really were.  Prior to the funeral, Geoffrey threatened to remove anyone from the podium that started to tell lies about Guy (and I began to wish he had during the main speaker's message).  In honor of Geoffrey's wishes, I will make sure that I do not say or write anything that makes Guy out to be someone that he was not or that makes our relationship out to be something that it was not.  It is no secret (among the kids in New Orleans) that Guy was not one of the kids that I was closest to.  In fact, we had a rollercoaster relationship where we did not get along most of the time.  Some of my worst memories in New Orleans involve Guy and the things that he did, and some of the toughest days I had in New Orleans were made worse by him.  Guy was always around the Center when I was there, even if he wasn't always inside.  I can't think of a time that I was in New Orleans that I did not see Guy.  Even the week that he died, I saw him every day that I was in town except Monday night when I first got in.  I love all of the kids, even the ones that are hard to love, and I loved Guy.

One of my favorite memories of New Orleans involves Guy.  It is one of my favorite stories from New Orleans, and I am glad that I have this memory of him to treasure.  Fortunately I even have pictures from that day (which are the pictures I am including in this blog), and I wrote down about that day in a journal.  Surprisingly the story does not involve Geoffrey.  Guy and Geoffrey were as close as brothers can be, and it was rare to see one without the other.  The two names come out almost involuntarily and it will take a while (if ever) before it will be natural to just say Geoffrey's name by itself.  However, Geoffrey was not around that day.  Maybe he was at home taking care of his rabbit.

The day was in July of 2003.  The night before one of the summer missionaries that summer and I were sitting out on the basketball court beside the Center when a rabbit came hopping across the basketball court.  Now, the Center is located in inner city New Orleans not far from the Mississippi River.  In fact, if you look at a map of New Orleans, the river makes a U and the Center is at the bottom of the U.  Not a place that you would expect to see a rabbit.  This was not a wild rabbit either.  The rabbit looked like it had escaped from the pet store.  I wondered if I was seeing things, but the rabbit was really there.  Strange.  Then another strange thing happened.  Another rabbit hopped out from behind the Center.  Then another.  A rabbit on the playground too.  I cannot remember now if the total was three or four, but there were enough rabbits for us to realize that we were not halucinating.

The next day when I asked, someone informed me that the rabbits were escaping from a backyard behind the Center.  In fact, the yard they were escaping from was the yard that also had the roosters that would crow at very early hours each morning, and all former summer missionaries (at least the ones prior to Katrina) will know the yard I am referring to.  I have lost too much good sleep due to the roosters.  Not only were the rabbits escaping from the yard, but Markquell, one of the kids that has been coming to the Center for years if not his whole life, was catching the rabbits and selling them for $10 apiece.  If I am not mistake, Mark had caught at least one at that point and sold it to Geoffrey who was keeping it at his house.  The kids were all outside, so we came up with the grand idea of catching a rabbit.

Markquell was the expert rabbit catcher, so he started to share his tricks so that we could be successful.  Malcolm, Mark, DJ, Muffin, Guy, some of the other kids, and I plotted how we were going to catch this rabbit.  I can't remember what we were going to do with it for sure (there was probably disagreement), but maybe Mark was going to sell it for $10.  There was a small storage trailer-thing behind the Center that Markquell informed us was the hiding place for the rabbits.  We stood around trying to determine the best way to make the rabbit(s) come out of hiding.  A fence post was nearby, and it was decided that the fence post would be the best way to get the rabbit to come out from under the trailer.  The post was moved around, and soon the rabbit did come out of hiding.  Unfortunately, it went behind the storage building at the back of the basketball court.  Fortunately, we had a plan.

Markquell decided that we should corner the rabbit.  There was a small space between the back of the building and the fence, and there was a place on the left side of the building that we could stand in to catch the rabbit.  Mark's plan was for part of our group to follow the rabbit behind the building and scare it out the other end where the other part of the group would be waiting to catch it.  We divided into groups and all that was left to do was determine who was going to catch the rabbit.  One the rabbit scarer side of the building, Mark and Malcolm worked to scare the rabbit.  The plan was for me, Guy, and Muffin to prepare to catch the rabbit.  Since the kids were all scared of the rabbit, we were the only three that were "brave" enough to catch the rabbit.  Maybe we were the three willing ones because I had rabbits growing up, Guy had Geoffrey's rabbit, and Muffin liked Guy.  The three of us decided that I would try to catch the rabbit, and if it was quick enough or skilled enough to get past me, Guy and Muffin would be quick enough to catch it.  The plan was in place, so the only thing left to do was put the plan into action.

I was in position with Guy and Muffin standing directly behind me, side by side, so that there was not room for the rabbit to get past them.  I gave Mark and Malcolm the go ahead.  Mark started scaring the rabbit down the back of the building.  He periodically updated us on his progress.  The anticipation grew.  He said the rabbit was almost there so I bent down to get ready to grab it and told him to keep going.  Next thing I knew, I saw white and grabbed.  As I grabbed the rabbit, I thought we were in the clear.  It looked like we had caught the rabbit.  Then it thumped.  I have heard a rabbit thump hundreds of times.  I have even had held rabbits while they thumped.  For some reason, this rabbit thumping spooked me.  When it spooked me, I accidentally lost hold of the rabbit.  When I let go of the rabbit, the stupid thing hopped on my leg.  I don't know why, but that made me scream and jump.  Everything is still ok because there are two kids behind me to catch it.  Right?  Well, when I screamed and jumped and the rabbit hopped past me, Guy and Muffin got scared.  So scared that they jumped sideways (in oppposite directions), but there was a fence and a building in the way.  Well, Muffin went halfway up the fence, and Guy went halfway up the side of the building.  Neither had their feet on the ground (I guess in case the rabbit might touch them?).  Not only did they hop out of the way, but both let out blood curdling screams.  The kind of scream that many of you have probably heard when someone of the female gender sees a snake slithering on the ground nearby.  Definitely not the type of scream that you would expect to hear from someone who sees a rabbit!  Not just Muffin either.  Guy also let out a scream.  The look on Guy's face was priceless.  Sheer terror.  Caused by a rabbit.  A face that made me immediately break out in laughter.  Soon he was laughing too and Muffin finally calmed down enough to laugh with us as well.

Once the laughter started, it didn't stop.  Pretty soon our stomachs were sore and tears were streaming down many of our faces because we couldn't stop laughing.  We had all been scared by a rabbit.  Guy, the tough teenage boy, had been scared of a rabbit.  We all kept laughing and recounting our adventure of trying to capture the rabbit.  Guy told the story with pride about how far up the building he was able to climb when that rabbit hopped from between my feet.  For the afternoon, we all got along because we were united by our attempts at rabbit catching.  Guy was one of the kids acting like a kid.  Guy was not trying to impress anyone or act tough.  Guy was just being Guy.  Because of moments like this, I will miss Guy and it will not be the same without him.