CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Most people take gifts to graduation parties. We left with one.

My husband, daughter and I had gone to a high school graduation party for Katie Harman, the oldest daughter of our friends Gale and Jodi. While there, Celeste spotted a baby rabbit in a Build-A-Bear box and asked permission to hold it.

That same rabbit now sits at my feet, meticulously removing chipped polish from one of my toes.

My only prior experiences with rabbits were limited to the times I'd raised hurt or orphaned wild bunnies -- two times with success, and two times I failed. Because those weren't meant to be pets, they were deliberately not tamed so they could go free. Those wild rabbits seemed to reach adulthood almost overnight, and in no time they were out on their own, without so much as a card at holidays. Not even at Easter.

My time with those long-ago rabbits didn't prepare me for the charms of our wily new hare. I expected that Winnie (a name inspired by the poo) wouldn't be much more than a cute little pellet producer, but she's surprised me by being interesting, affectionate and easily hypnotized. Scratch her nose for just a few seconds and she's instantly poseable.

Fortunately, she also seems not to be too easily embarrassed.

Friends were amused when I announced our new addition (which I like to think of as a "hare extension"), and several shared stories of their experiences with rabbits.

One friend, Leigh Shell, warned of the danger of napping with a rabbit. I figured the only danger in sleeping with a bunny would have something to do with that multiplication rumor that rabbits get blamed for, but Leigh told about a woman she knew who used to have hair down to her ankles until, "she woke up one morning, spooning with her pet rabbit, and realized she now looked like an Ewok. Had to go to the beauty salon to get it fixed cuz the rabbit had eaten most of it off."

Another friend, Krista Fink, said she had many rabbits when she was a kid, and two of their family's rabbits had the run of the neighborhood.

"They used to annoy me sometimes, especially when we'd play spotlight or hide and seek," said Krista. "I was always the easiest to find because there would be this big white rabbit with glowing red eyes following me. It was impossible to hide with her trailing me."

When Krista claimed their rabbits would come when someone called them, I laughed.

A rabbit that knew its name? That came when you called it? Uh-huh. Sure. I mean, come on. There's a reason that when something is stupid we call it harebrained. Rabbits are cute, but there's not much going on in those wee bunny brains. Everybody knows that.

Or so I thought.

Winnie began recognizing her name from just a week or so out, and she faithfully comes when you call her. By the end of the first month, she was litter-trained. And by the end of the second month, we learned there are reasons for keeping rabbits in cages that have little to do with their poo. Namely, cords.

Don't worry. She's fine. And our phone service is up and running again, after a nice, quiet weekend of wondering how we were so lucky to not once be interrupted by calls.

It was a gift to us, from our graduation rabbit.

Reach Karin Fuller at karinful...@cnpapers.com.