The rescue team

One night recently my six year old, Joshua, came running inside. "Caleb needs a net."

"A net?" I said. It never ceases to amaze me how my children think I can just snap my fingers and make things appear. Strangely enough, I happened to know where there was a net, though. "What does he need it for?"

"He told me not to tell you." Okay, big red flag right there. That's never a good thing.

So I got the little toy fishing net out of the bathtub and went with him outside. I saw Caleb crouch down and scoop something off the ground. He came running over to me.

"We saved a baby rabbit from Pumpkin!" he announced. Pumpkin is our neighbor's big orange barn cat. He lives outside and loves to hunt. Once he delivered some rabbit innards to my front step.

"Is he hurt?" I asked. Caleb brought the net over for me to see. The rabbit looked scared, but not badly injured. There was a bloody spot on his back where the cat had been carrying him.

"Pumpkin must have thought he was a mouse," Caleb said.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he knew it was a rabbit. It looks okay to me. Let it go in the field."

Joshua piped up. "Can't we keep him?"

"No, sweetie, it's a wild rabbit. They don't make good pets."

"But I love him! I love him almost as much as Gran Jan!" That's my grandmother, and Joshua's favorite person in the world, even above me.

"Sorry, buddy. He's got to be set free." So they took the net over to the edge of the field and dumped the bunny out. In his confusion, he jumped right back in the net.

"See, he wants to stay with us!"

"Try it again," I said. This time, the release was successful. The bunny hopped away. I could have sworn I heard a "Whew!"

Pumpkin was not happy with my boys that night. They walked past and he literally turned up his nose and switched his tail at them. But I was so proud of them. They can be so sweet and caring and concerned, and it warms my heart.

And then they were back to beating each other up.