Our son has a new pet rabbit. The rabbit came to us by way of the Humane Society. His sweet disposition had made him a shelter favorite. The shelter director reported that he had been brought in by a woman a month earlier. The director had no information about the rabbit’s ancestry, but she believed he was a dwarf variety.
At the pet store where I bought a new cage, rabbit food and pine shavings, they listened to the description of our new rabbit. I described his perky ears and brown fur. I related the dwarf variety determination. The pet store staff declared him most likely to be an agouti.
At our house, this rabbit lives in our son’s room and his name is Buddy. Buddy is best friends with our daughter’s guinea pig, LA. He is frequently out of his cage hip-hopping around Cabell’s bedroom. The remainder of the time he is content in his cage munching Timothy Hay and parsley.
Yesterday, I had to take Buddy to the vet for a quick check-up. We sat in the waiting room together waiting to be called. Buddy was in his red carry-case on my lap. I had slipped my hand through the lid of the case and was scratching Buddy between the ears when I heard the intercom at the receptionist’s desk click on. Loud and clear a voice from the exam room said, “Send the Madduxes back.”
“The Madduxes,” I thought as I walked through the waiting room door. “Buddy and me.”
It set me to thinking about our relationships with all of our animals. It is true that our two dogs and guinea pig are all registered at the vet as Meelie Maddux, Belle Maddux and LA Maddux. Our children, Emma Maddux and Cabell Maddux, say to the dogs, “Mama’s going to come feed you” or “daddy will be home in a minute” as they cradle the sweet puppy faces in their hands.
As Buddy Maddux and I drove home I had a moment of clarity about why women assume the sir names of their husbands. It is because all along it has been clear that the male lineage should take on the kinship to all of the family members.
“There’s a picture of Meelie Maddux. She was the mixed breed on the Maddux side,” our children might say.
Or, “My uncle was quite the dog.”
“On your father’s side of the family, of course. And what about your mother’s family?” the polite conversationalist would continue.
“Oh, she just had two sisters.”
I have heard the story many times about my husband’s name. He is Franklin Webster Maddux, IV. His father, of course, is F. W. Maddux, III. His namesake? Well, F. W. Maddux was fondly called “Whiskers.” I’m just going to have to politely ask for a picture.