Chapter 17

Austin sat down to pet Bunny, who barely lifted her head. “It’s okay, Bunny, you didn’t mean it. Let’s hope you learned your lesson, or we might have to muzzle you on lawn-mowing day. It’s only another couple months. You’ll see Rick three, maybe four more times, but you’ve gotta behave yourself.”

The problem was that for the next few days, Bunny didn’t behave like herself. She wouldn’t eat her kibble, but gladly accepted globs of peanut butter or soft chunks of stewed meat. Austin attributed it to her being tired of her dry food and tried not to be too concerned. They still had half a bag, which Austin didn’t want to throw out, so he told Bunny to hang in there for a while.

“Do you think she’s sick?” he asked Erika. “What if she accidentally swallowed gasoline or something?”

“I think if she had swallowed gasoline, we’d know. She’s probably sad about Neil again. I’ve seen her eating grass in the backyard, too. Don’t dogs do that when they’ve got mild stomach issues?”