Rabbits

Who is this happy looking fellow next to me you ask?  I wasn't sure for a long time.  I was convinced he might be my German friend Lucas' grandfather, or at least an uncle.  Through conversations in broken English and with some help from Lucas, I managed to figure out that he is the family's Lebanese neighbor, and has been living next door to them for the last thirty years. 

He is a furniture artist of great skill.  In fact, he re-appoulstered all of the antique furniture in a nearby castle, which is the summer residence for the royal family of the Netherlands.  He joined us for dinner every night that I stayed at the Weber residence in little Heistenbach, Germany.

One morning as I ate a meat sandwich for breakfast, I heard the front door slam shut.  I poked my head out of the kitchen and saw the friendly neighbor stomping around in snow covered boots. In one hand, he held a large, folded piece of paper, and in the other, what looked like two very dead, skinned rabbits.  When I got a closer look, I realized that they were two extremely dead, skinned rabbits.  

He unfolded the piece of paper on the kitchen table, and revealed a giant world map that had a few sections torn away and some holes throughout.  He said to me, "You.  Where you," and indicated with a dangling rabbit that I should point to my place of residence on the map.  I showed him Vermont and he seemed pleased.  Alberto, and Keith, each indicated toward their home towns, and he seemed extremely pleased.  Finally, after studying the map a bit, he gave us a look that seemed to say, oh sorry, you're probably wondering why I am holding these dead rabbits.

He motioned toward the holes and ripped away portions of the map.

"They..." he said, shaking the rabbits in my face and then making exaggerating chomping sounds, moving his teeth up and down.

"So I..."  he said as he held up an invisible rifle with his hands.  A loud pow sound flew out of his mouth.

"The rabbits were chewing holes in your map, so you shot them?"  I asked to clarify, assuming that his English comprehension was better than his speech.

"Yes, and so...dinner."

The rabbits were delicious.