An Unfinished Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a rabbit named Bunny, 

who was diagnosed with a small, but dangerous booboo on her foreleg. Her general veterinarian tried and tried to get her an appointment with a veterinarian who specialized in dangerous booboos to no avail. Then her vet tried to get Bunny an appointment with a veterinarian specializing in removing big, dangerous booboos. After 5 weeks Bunny finally got a surgery date to remove the booboo which had now more than quadrupled in size. But the surgery date was 3 months away! Bunny grew very sad and worried at how fast the booboo was growing and knew 3 months was not soon enough to get treatment.

Bunny's vet tried and tried to find other dangerous-booboo-removing specialists who could remove Bunny's booboo but no one could offer a surgery date sooner than 3 months away.

How could this be? In all the shire, was there no one who could remove Bunny's booboo in a timely manner? 

Bunny really could not believe how hard this was - to find someone to remove her booboo. She lived in a very modern shire, the biggest shire in all the land, with the biggest village, with the finest hospitals and veterinarians. Unfortunately the greedy ogre who employed the vets didn't provide enough resources for all the rabbits in the shire to get the care they needed, especially ones with dangerous booboos and other diseases. Bunny even lived very close to the dangerous booboo hospital. There just weren't enough staff - veterinarians, booboo removers, and veterinary helpers for the number of rabbit patients. Getting diagnosed was a challenging first step. It took Bunny about a month to even get her booboo's diagnosis. But once diagnosed, no one in all the shire would treat her. Bunny had many moments where she was very scared. And scared for all the other rabbits who needed this kind of care and couldn't get it in their shire.

So Bunny was forced to venture beyond the shire, in fact beyond the whole land, to find a veterinarian who could would remove her booboo sooner than three months. Bunny will have to hand over many Carrots to the booboo removers in The Foreign Land but will at least get the treatment she needs. 

Bunny could not comprehend in that day and age and the advancements in booboo removing that rabbits like her had to fight and work so hard to get the help they need. It was a disgrace. The greedy ogre seemed to care only for businesses and not for rabbits - or any other animals in the shire, for that matter. Bunny really hopes that another ogre doesn't get elected in the next Shire election.

On a positive note, Bunny was ever so grateful for all her bunny friends who offered to get her to The Foreign Land, offered to care for her when she got her booboo removed, friends who offered to help out with Bunny's sick husband in her absences, and friends who were willing to do whatever they could to help out in any way.

When Bunny thought about all the offers of help, her heart felt so full she almost wanted to burst. Her bunny friends were so kind. 

It reminded Bunny of a book she read when she was a very young rabbit. It was the first book she remembered reading that made her cry. This was the passage that did it.

In spite of all the challenges and scary things Bunny dealt with she knew she was a very lucky rabbit indeed. 

Bunny's story was not over yet. She, her family, and friends were really hoping for a hoppy ending.

To be continued...