I see shiny red eyes staring at me, causing me to decelerate and focus where the gutter comes into contact with the street. Long white objects that look like “ears” move slightly. They twitch and turn in direction of my car. I pull closer. “Cwazy Wabbit” looks dead at me.

But it can’t be. He’s only a hare that’s never seen my black Ion Saturn. I park it in front of the house. The rabbit only goes out and escapes through the back. Can he really see me? Recognize me behind the wheel when it’s dark out?

I stop the car. Beep the horn. And wait. No movement to the front or behind me. Putting the car in “park,” I lean over the passenger seat, gaze out the window, and see that little scamp sniffing the air, waiting for my large metal object to get out of his way.

What’s that movement to his rear? The gray rabbit? The one we’ve not been able to catch since letting ’em out some four weeks ago?

Yep, she’s joined the adventure. Both are within hopping distance. Each has the tint of red in their eye balls as they look up at me, their would-be pet owner’s father. We got Cwazy, the White Rabbit a year ago when a pet store planned to put him asleep. Stayed the winter in an un-heated cage outside our Conshohocken home, getting out and pulling several all-nighters when a blizzard hit nearby Philadelphia and the rest of America’s Middle Atlantic States. He returned none worse for wear following his brief escapade.

Not sure how we got the second rabbit. Saw her in the cage one day. Never got a good explanation from my son, Nicholas, except that he was holding her “for a friend.” Six months later, we’re still “holding her.” Maybe the alleged friend was the White Rabbit!

Cwazy made a break and ran across a wide side street on Fourth Avenue last year. A woman who worked as a receptionist for my old chiropractor caught him. Ms. J trapped hin beneath a trash can, called my home, and Nick escorted the prisoner back home. Kept him caged for several months until I took pity on him a few weeks back. He looked sick. And seemed lackadaisical lying in his cage. Felt we could corral him if we let him out. And we did. The first week, as we herded him and the five chickens into the chicken coop where he shares space. Never could find the other rabbit, “Peanut.” She’s a long-haired fluffy”Lion-head” gray rabbit and no resemblance whatsoever to a peanut. Anyway, we thought we lost Peanut after four nights with no sign of her. On the fifth day, she showed up behind the shed, shacking up behind loose wood stacked against the chicken coop.

Coaxed her to the front, but was unable to get her into the shed, so I let Cwazy out and “WOW! Fireworks went off, as the two greeted one another running, skipping and hopping over and around each other like a bunch of kids. They’ve been roaming free ever since.

Got to keep an eye out for both now. Nick brought home a new pet (without my permission, even though he’s 18.) Put the pet in a glass aquarium and has fed it about once a week. He’s in college now, and I hope he starts learning some basic facts of Life. Like wayward rabbits and curious chickens can become food for a six-foot boa constrictor. If it gets out from behind the shed, your pet-grooming days will be over. The critter will make a quick feast on rabbit stew and chicken soup.