"Tu peux venir ici, tout est ok"

Some elements of the life of Biscotte, by :
Mikey , 12 years old
May 26, 2003

My Fat Furry Friend

For the Christmas of 2001 I really wanted a pet. I already have my cat but he is the family's and I wanted a pet for myself. I either wanted a turtle, lizard or a rabbit. One week before Christmas my mom, my brother and I all went to the pet store in the mall to buy cat food and to walk around the mall a bit. When we were in the pet store I was looking at the cute little rabbits running around. I saw one that was in the corner running in circles and every so often she would jump up and kick her legs in the air with one ear up and one ear down. Is that rabbit retarded?" My brother asked me. She was very cute and was mostly white with some spots of brown and black, she had beautiful brown eyes with lots of expression and energy. We asked the lady at the counter what was wrong with her and she said nothing. She said that she was just a floppy eared rabbit and she was full of energy because she didn't have much space to run around and burn off energy in her little cage. I went up to her again and just stared at her, she stopped after five minutes of jumping around and lay down to looke at me.
I asked my mom if I could get her for Christmas and she said, "I don't know. I don't want to end up feeding her, cleaning, her cage, and caring for it." I begged and begged until she agreed and I haven't smiled as big as I ever had before when I heard, "fine, but you have to take care of it, it's your rabbit." I nodded and ran over to her. I didn't know what to call her, at the time I was very into Cartoon 'Network and the Power Puff Girls so I looked at her very carefully and said her name is Buttercup (one of the Power Puff Girls)! Then after we went around the pet store looking for a good cage that had small holes so my cat couldn't fit his claws in the cage and shred her to bits. We found one that had plastic all around it and at the top metal bars that were just the right amount of space between them so my cat couldn't make her his lunch. We put her into a cardboard box with holes and hay for the car ride home.
When we got home my brother and I ran upstairs with her in my hands and put her into the bathroom and let her explore a bit and get used to her new home. She looked very confused but still was full of energy. Then she pooped on the floor, not like dog poop and its very easy to clean, but she pooped so much we quickly got her cage ready and put her in there. I loved her so much and I was very excited I wanted her to sleep in my room but my mom said no, because Ollie (my cat) would smell her and go in and attack her, and she would make a lot of noise.
We lived in a house in the suburbs that was right next to the Seine and there was no pollution to bother her. We decided that the bathroom was a bad home and put her in the entrance. We put news papers in the corner were she learned to go to the bathroom, and she would sleep in the sun if she was tired or just run around and explore if she had a lot of energy. As soon as I got home I would ran and play with her. When I started my homework I brought her up with me and she would just sit on my lap and if she started moving around I knew she had to go to the bathroom and just put her in her cage. She got a bit chubby as she got older and was less energetic which is a good thing at times. I always played with her and just snuggled and watched movies. She was my fat, furry friend.
In the summer my family always goes to Spain to our summer home there. It's right on the beach and it's not too hot. We took her on the plane and she was very calm and didn't move much, every once in a while I would check on her and give her water and offer her food which she always rejected. After a while she was dehydrated and was panting a lot. l then offered water and she drank every drop in the bottle. When we got there we had to buy a cage that was very hard to find and food and hay. We found something that you don't find in any pet shop, a leash for rabbits I bought it and at night when the sand cooled down I put the leash on her and we went for a little walk on the beach. I guess you don't see a rabbit being walked every day so anytime I crossed a group of people they would all come up and ask me questions and play with her a bit. I walked her about two times a week and by the end of the summer I would walk her without a leash and she would just follow me around or I would run and she would chase me or we would sit and watch the sea. She was afraid of seagulls and dogs so I had to be careful.
When we came back to Paris we moved into our new house right in the 16th where it was very polluted. Also Buttercup had no place to run around. She got fatter and fatter because she would only have 30 minutes of play time each day and she got so fat that when she pooped it (a really gross part I advise you skip through) didn't hit the ground and stuck to her butt causing it to get infected (It's fine, for now). She also was allergic to the pollution and would just get worse and worse. We watched her for a month and she started losing hair and wouldn't come out and play. We had to put medicine in her water and she had to go on a diet. She was very unhappy and that energetic look in her eyes died. She was sad and sick.
I knew it and my parents knew it but no one wanted to say, she had to go. When my parents told me that she had to go I was very sad and down. I loved her and she was my little baby. I didn't want her to go. I announced that she needed new parents in assembly and I heard lots of people in the 7th grade say "What?" or "Why?" and that just made it worse. I tried to tell myself that I didn't love her and that she had to go but I knew I loved her and I didn't want to let her go. I got a lot of offers but the one by Ms. Forbes sounded the best. Now Buttercup is living in the south of France and she is away from pollution and she has a garden to run around in and is very happy. And l'm almost positive that she has that happy, energetic look in her eyes. She probably doesn't remember me but I will always love my fat furry friend.