As you may know, the Albuquerque housing market is becoming as tight as the
one in Denver. My friend Chuck, after searching for months, found the perfect
place. Family neighborhood, garden/lawn, etc. The problem was, he has a dog, and
the landlord specified "No dogs." Rather than go on searching, he decided to go
stealth, and not tell the landlord about his dog (a golden retriever).
All went well for months. Except for one thing. The family that lived downstairs
had a rabbit that they kept in a cage in the garden area. One day, the father of
the family walked into the garden to find the dog scratching at the cage, trying
to get at the rabbit. He immediately went to the landlord and complained. The
landlord threatened to kick Chuck out. But Chuck, being quite persuasive and
punctual with rent checks convinced the landlord to keep him and his dog on the
condition that that Chuck keep his dog out of the garden area.
Months went by with no incidence. However, his girlfriend stayed home sick at
his place one day. She, not knowing the garden rule, let the dog out. Chuck came
home and, to his dismay, found that the dog wasn't in the house. He opened the
back door, and there at the steps was his dog. Dead rabbit in mouth. Needless to
say, Chuck panicked. Not wanting to face certain eviction and possible jail
time, he took matters into his own hands. He bathed the dead rabbit, blow-dried
its hair (OK, he was desperate) and carefully placed the rabbit back in the
cage. Natural causes, right?
Nothing happened. After an excruciating week, he finally approached his neighbor
one morning on the way to work. "How is everything?" asked Chuck. "We're moving"
replied the man. "This is a sick neighborhood." "Why? What happened?" replied
Chuck. The neighbor replied, "Some sick bastard dug up our recently deceased
rabbit, washed it, combed its hair, and put it back in its cage."