Malachi

• Rowena Fleming, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2010

Malachi

Malachi is our class rabbit. He is white, gray, smart and incredibly cheeky. We nickname him Mali or Mali Bali. He lives in a cage that could pass for a 5 star hotel. In his cage he has a fruit kebab, toys, hay, grass, food everything! His BEST friend is his reflection on the door. On his neck he has a black collar with a bell. He absolutely HATES bath time (we found that out after we had to wash him because he had covered himself in mud). He loves jumping and is very good at it. He is a fusspot and will only eat a certain grass that is a certain colour. He loves to held and patted by our class and can be very sooky at times. Our teacher who takes him home every afternoon, weekend, and holidays comes back to us with some hilarious stories. Here are a few of them:

At our teacher’s house, (Miss Coxon), Malachi gets 2 hours outside his cage to run around in Miss Coxon’s courtyard. Miss Coxon brings him in at the slightest hint of rain. One day Malachi was outside and it started to sprinkle, Miss Coxon didn’t hear it. Then all of a sudden it started to pour and Malachi was still out there. Miss Coxon went out to grab him and Malachi who had
NEVER EVER seen rain was sitting in the middle of the courtyard-soaked- looking around. He had no idea what was happening. I’m sure he was thinking “why am I cold? Why am I wet?” He did not seem to know what to do. He had become an inside bunny. He had lost the instinct to find shelter in rain!
Here is another. One night Malachi wanted attention so he knocked his food bowl of the side of the cage and then picked it up with his teeth and threw it at the wall of his cage. half the food fell out of the cage it made such a racket that Miss Coxon came running to see what happened! And the reason Miss Coxon had to give Mali a bath was because there was a bird bath that had mud in it but no water. Malachi went along and jumped in the bird bath, he went on his belly and half slid half crawled to the other side of it there for getting mud all over him! So that’s when he had his first and one and only bath of his life, and he HATED IT so much he jumped out of the bath tub!! He has also worked out how, if we don’t shut it properly, to get out of his cage and onto the floor.

Did you know that rabbits go to the toilet in the same spot all the time? He really enjoys himself, especially when he runs around the class room!
We love him a lot and he loves us. I don’t think that you could find a happier bunny.
by Rowena Fleming