Read Ruled By Rabbits Page 21

  *thump, thump, thump*

  “HO HO HO …. Sssshhhhhhh, little bunny,” the man laughed.

  Ruby was mad at being told to shush and thumped again.

  Still no one woke up to see what was going on.

  The man reached over and opened Ruby’s cage ... she lunged at him and caught the sleeve of his coat.

  He gently picked Ruby up and petted her head.

  “I’m not a thief, little friend,” he said. “I’m Santa Claus.”

  Ruby twitched her nose. Is that supposed to impress me?”

  Santa placed her on the floor. “ HO HO HO – quite the character you are.”

  Duster and Cola were watching Santa Claus closely now too … what did have for treats in that sack for the bunnies?

  Santa explained to Ruby who he was and what he did. Then he helped himself to some cookies that were left on a plate on the table.

  “Hey! Those are Grandma’s cookies! You can’t just take them – you are a thief!” Ruby thumped.

  Santa picked up a piece of paper that was laying beside the cookies. “Ruby, this letter is from your family … it says “Santa, enjoy the cookies, and here are some sugar cubes for your reindeer!’"

  “I still haven’t seen any ID to prove who you are!” Ruby said.

  Santa sighed and laid his finger beside his nose and disappeared. A moment later he reappeared and

  showed Ruby his ID. She periscoped and looked at the picture.

  “OK, I believe you are Santa Claus.”

  Then Santa went to put the sugar cubes in his pocket.

  “Hey! I don’t know that you actually have reindeer that those sugar cubes are for!”

  “Seriously?” Santa asked.

  Ruby prepared to thump her little foot again, Santa disappeared again … this time he returned with, yes, reindeer. The reindeer were packed into the living room and kitchen.

  “Wow,” Cola said. “And Santa thought human children were demanding.”

  Duster chuckled.

  “Hey! You can’t do that in here!” Ruby hopped over to one of the reindeer who appeared ready to relieve himself on the floor,. I’ll get blamed for that!”

  Santa laughed.

  “OK I believe you have reindeer,” Ruby sighed and the reindeer retreated back to the roof.

  Ruby continued to watch Claus very closely.

  “Have you been a good bunny?” Santa asked Ruby.

  “What’s it to you?” Ruby interrogated him.

  Cola and Duster knew they had to intervene.

  “Psssttt …” Cola motioned for Ruby to come to her cage.

  Ruby kept an eye on Santa and hopped over to Cola.

  “Santa Claus brings treats to all the good bunnies all over the world too, not just gifts to kids! Be nice to him,” Cola informed her.

  Ruby perked up. “Treats? OK, I be nice.”

  She hopped back to Santa.

  “I’ve been the best bunny in the world!” Ruby declared.

  “Now let’s not go over the top!” Cola mumbled.

  Santa laughed. “Oh I think the three of you are wonderful bunnies.”

  “I’m a good boy! Mommy told me so,” Duster agreed with Santa.

  Ruby hopped over. “Anything for us bunnies in there?” She stuck her head in the bag of gifts.

  “Of course there are presents for you!” Santa pulled out three wrapped packages and put them under

  the tree.

  “YAY!” Ruby bounced up and down and was about to rip into her gift when Duster caught her attention.

  “No, Ruby. Grandpa has to get under the tree in the morning and hand out the gifts! He looks forward to this all year long!” Duster said.

  “I have to wait?” Ruby asked. “But I waited all year for this too!”

  Cola rolled her eyes. “You didn’t even know you were getting that gift … so how can you have waited all year for it?”

  Ruby shook her head. “You’re not helping my trying to get us those treats right now, Cola!”

  Santa laughed. “What if I gave each of you a treat to tide you over till Grandpa wakes up?”

  All three bunnies happily hopped. Santa reached into his bag of gifts and brought out a carrot for them.

  Cola, Duster and Ruby happily munched on the carrots while Santa finished placing gifts under the tree.

  “Well, my little friends, I will see you next year. Be good and have a Merry Christmas!” Santa said to the bunnies and then *poof* he was gone.

  Ruby was back in her cage and with a belly full of carrot she was content to wait till all of the people woke up to see what Santa had left under the tree.

  CUTE CONTEST

  Ruby sat on Mom’s chair. She was fascinated by what she saw on TV.

  “Whatcha watching, Ruby?” Mom asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ruby admitted. “These people do things and then other people hold up papers with numbers on them.“

  Mom sat down in the other chair. It was some sort of talent contest. Mom explained the judges and scores to Ruby.

  “Oh … I be right back!” Ruby hopped off the chair.

  A few moments later, Ruby reappeared before Mom, four pieces of paper in her mouth.

  Ruby dropped them in front of Mom. “Please write 10 on them.”

  Mom did as Ruby asked.

  Ruby put one in front of Cola’s cage, one in front of Duster’s cage, left one for Mom and went to get Daddy from the kitchen to join them in the living room.

  The white bunny made sure her Dad sat in the chair beside Mom. “That paper is for you.”

  “What’s it for?” Dad asked.

  “Can’t tell you yet!” Ruby declared and hopped out of the living room.

  Mom and Dad and the other bunnies all looked at each other and shrugged.

  Ruby hopped back into the living room.

  “I need your attention!” Ruby insisted.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  “Thank you for coming to my Cute Contest,” Ruby began. “Today we will crown me Miss Cute.”

  “Aren’t there any other contestants?” Mom asked.

  Ruby’s eyes got big. “No.”

  “Then why are you having a contest if you are the only one competing?” Dad questioned.

  Ruby scrunched up her nose in disapproval. “Because I want to.”

  Duster and Cola applauded Ruby’s honesty.

  “OK, first I will flop,” Ruby said and then she flopped.

  Everyone waited for her to complete the flop.

  “Now you may vote!” Ruby gave permission.

  Dad was confused. “Why do we only have a paper with a 10 rating on it?”

  Ruby was insulted. “Did my flop not deserve a 10?”

  “Well sure … “ Dad said.

  “Then why would you need another number?” Ruby demanded to know.

  Mom cut-in. “No other numbers needed, Ruby. Let’s move onto the next category.”

  For her next competition, Ruby stood completely still for a moment.

  “I was showing I can be patient while waiting for a treat,” Ruby said.

  Everyone scored her a 10.

  “Wow, I am doing really well!” Ruby marveled. “Now I need someone to get me a treat so I can show I how I eat and you can get Cola and Duster one too. Maybe they can learn from my example.”

  Cola was about to reply when she realized she was getting a treat out of the deal so she opted to stay quiet.

  Mom gave each of the bunnies some lettuce.

  Ruby munched happily.

  Everyone scored a 10 when she was done snacking.

  Ruby hopped over the Mom and Dad and sat there.

  Mom and Dad looked at her and then at each other.

  Ruby sighed. “You must pet me so I can show you how nice my fur is.”

  The bunny parents petted Ruby.

  Another 10.

  “OK, I am all done. That was a lot of hard work,” Ruby said. “Now I am officially Miss Cute!”

&nb
sp; She waited while Mom quickly folded some paper into a crown for her and Dad presented her with a bouquet of hay.

  Duster and Cola again applauded Ruby – she had done a great job of getting them treats too!

  RUBY’S RULES

  Ruby watched Mom and Dad move the living room furniture around. She had to get a closer look at what they were doing so out of her cage she hopped.

  The white bunny looked at where the chair was now and the coffee table and a storage bin Mom had.

  Ruby decided she did not like where the storage bin was so she hopped up to it and nosebonked it. It did not move. Then she placed her paws against it and it still would not budge.

  “This will not work!” Ruby exclaimed.

  Mom and Dad had gone into the kitchen and Ruby followed them, needing to discuss the changes.

  “You have to fix it!” Ruby said.

  “Fix what?” Dad asked.

  “You moved all the things around and did not ask me!” Ruby thumped.

  Mom smiled. “It’s OK, we didn’t ask Cola and Duster for their opinions either.”

  Ruby was confused. “My opinion? No, you did not ask my permission!”

  Mom and Dad looked at each other.

  “Who do you think you are?” Ruby asked Mom and Dad.

  Mom looked at Ruby, not sure what to say and ended up repeating what Ruby had asked her. “Who do you think you are?”

  “I am Ruby, I am cute and I asked you first!” Ruby replied. “You cannot rearrange my cage without my permission.”

  “But, Ruby, we moved the furniture in the living room around we didn’t move anything in your cage,” Dad said.

  Ruby was now confused. “The living room is a part of my cage!”

  Mom and Dad exchanged looks realizing now when Ruby said her cage she meant the apartment!

  “Maybe we can work on a compromise?” Mom asked.

  Ruby scrunched up her nose. “I don’t know. My fur is out of place over this.”

  Dad knew the best way to resolve the situation … appeal to Ruby’s stomach … bring out the treats!

  “How about some carrots? Will that put your fur back in place?”

  “Two will …” Ruby replied.

  As Ruby munched on her carrots, Dad gave some to Cola and Duster. When he came back to the kitchen, Ruby had relaxed a bit.

  “OK, you can keep things where they are. But next time you need to consult me first!” Ruby said.

  “We’ll see what we can do,” Mom promised.

  “Aren’t you lucky I adopted you?” Ruby asked and binkied.

  Mom and Dad laughed and nodded.

  THE DREADED SHED

  “Mom, are you awake?” Ruby asked as she hopped on the bed.

  No response.

  Ruby hopped onto Mom’s forehead and put her nose right up against Mom’s nose. “Mom!”

  Mom raised her hand and felt around her head, petted Ruby for a second, mumbled something, and then tried to ignore the bunny.

  But Ruby was not giving up, her whiskers tickled Mom’s nose and feeling like all other efforts were exhausted, Ruby lightly thumped her foot on Mom’s cheek. “This is really important! “

  Trying to get the bunny foot our of her mouth, Mom sighed. “Can Daddy not help you with this?”

  Ruby hopped onto Mom’s stomach. “No! Only you understand this.”

  Mom looked at Ruby. “What’s up?”

  “I woke up this morning and found that my fur was trying to leave me,” Ruby said.

  The look on Mom’s face made it obvious that Ruby needed to explain.

  “I opened my cute eyes and looked around my cage. Right beside the door was a fluff of my fur. It had been trying to get out the door when I caught it!” Ruby exclaimed. “I tried to reattach it to myself and it kept falling off! I put it in my pellet bowl for safe keeping.“

  Mom reached out and removed a fluff of fur from Ruby’s forehead. “Did it look like this?”

  Ruby was horrified. “YES! Why did you just steal my fur?”

  “Ruby, it was just hanging there. It was going to fall off the next time you hopped,” Mom tried to explain.

  Ruby would have none of it though. “You are helping my fur escape!”

  Mom sighed. “Ruby, you are shedding.”

  And then Mom explained what shedding meant.

  “I do not want to do that!” Ruby stated.

  “Well, unfortunately, it’s going to happen quite a bit. Now why couldn’t you ask Dad about this?”

  Ruby sighed. “Because he shaves off the fur on his head. He likes to be bald. I do not want to be bald!”

  “You won’t be bald,” Mom tried to assure her.

  “What if all my fur decides to leave me?”

  “I’m pretty sure it won’t,” Mom replied.

  “I do not want to be furless!! I cannot be cute if I have no fur!!” Ruby was getting quite excited now.

  Mom sighed again. “Have you ever seen Cola and Duster without fur? They shed too.”

  Ruby was not convinced and started to pace on Mom’s belly.

  “All bunnies shed!” Mom exclaimed.

  “Wait … if I cannot be cute without my fur then my fur cannot be cute without me!” Ruby said.

  “OK …” Mom wasn’t really following.

  “It is in my fur’s best interest to stay attached to me! I will go explain that to the fur fluff in my cage. Perhaps it will understand and can tell the rest of my fur not to leave!”

  “Good idea,” Mom said.

  Ruby nosebonked Mom,. Thank you. You can go back to sleep till I need you again.”

  Mom smiled and watched Ruby hop out, heading to negotiations with her fur.

  LITTER LESSONS

  Ruby was sprawled out near the patio door when she saw Mom approaching her cage. Always curious, Ruby hopped over to see what was going on.

  Mom was kneeling, reaching into Ruby’s cage when the white bunny nosebonked her. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m cleaning your cage,” Mom explained.

  “Oh wow, I did not know we had a bunny maid service here!” Ruby hopped excitedly.

  Mom smiled. “Bunny maid service … sure …”

  Mom stood up and walked away from the cage and Ruby hopped in. She examined the fresh water, pellets, big pile of timothy hay and the Romaine lettuce.

  But the bunny felt something was missing. She looked all over her cage and then it became so obvious …

  “I have been thiefed!” Ruby exclaimed.

  Mom looked over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone stole my litter box!” Ruby was sitting where her litter box had once been.

  “I have it …” Mom started to say.

  “Why would you steal my litter box?” Ruby demanded. “You can get your own litter box!”

  “Ruby, I have my own litter … um, bath room and I did not steal it,” Mom said.

  “Did you ask if you could have it?”

  “Well no, but I clean it every day …”

  Ruby cut her off. “If you have your own litter box why would you take mine? Shame on you taking a litter box from a baby bunny! Especially one as cute as me!” Ruby thumped her foot.

  “Ruby, calm down, I am going to bring it back as soon as I clean it out,” Mom said.

  “What are you doing with it?” Ruby demanded to know, hopping out of her cage and joining Mom beside the garbage can. “It looks to me like you are throwing my litter box in the trash!”

  Mom assured Ruby the only thing going in the trash were the contents of the box.

  Ruby was horrified.

  “I worked very hard to fill that litter box! Do you know how much hay I had to eat?”

  “Ruby, believe me, I know how hard you work every day to fill it because I clean it every day,” Mom repeated.

  “Do Cola and Duster know that you take their litter boxes too?” Ruby was on a mission now.

  The other two bunnies nodded, trying to assure Ruby it was OK that Mo
m did this.

  Ruby paced back and forth in front of the trash can, not allowing Mom to get too close to finish cleaning the box.

  “Ruby, look at all the yummy hay and lettuce in your cage. If you work really hard you can have another full litter box by tomorrow!” Mom was trying to reason with the baby rabbit.

  Ruby stopped pacing, thinking that she got to munch on a lot of good food.

  “Fine, you may clean my litter box everyday but I am not impressed with your maid service and I will not be leaving you a tip!” and with that she hopped back to her cage to sample the lettuce.

  SAVED BY THE FRIDGE

  “Can you stop doing that?” Ruby asked, placing her white paws onto Mommy’s nose.

  Mom’s eyes popped open once her air supply was cut off.

  She moved Ruby’s paws. “Why did you do that?”

  Ruby laid back down on Mom’s belly. “You are disturbing my cutie sleep every time you blow air on me.”

  “It’s called breathing,” Mom explained.

  “Maybe you could do it somewhere else,” Ruby suggested.

  Mom looked at the white bunny, stretched out on top of her blankets. “There’s the whole bed you can lie on. Why not try over there?”

  Ruby shook her head. “No, I need to be here. You are nice and warm.”

  “And you are covered with fur,” Mom smiled.

  Ruby wasn’t budging. “Speaking of fur - my fur is resting right now and can’t be disturbed. If I move, my fur will be unhappy.”

  Mom sighed. “OK, well, maybe I’ll get up and let you have this spot on the bed. It’ll be warm for awhile.”

  “Did you not hear me?” Ruby asked.

  Mom blinked.

  “We can’t move or my fur will be bothered,” Ruby stated.

  Mom wasn’t really sure how to respond to that but asked. “When do you think your fur will not be bothered if I move?”

  Ruby sighed. “I don’t know and I can’t ask it because that would involving bothering it.”

  Mom resigned herself to being stuck attempting to nap until Ruby’s fur felt it was time to rise and shine.

  Then Ruby’s ears twitched. She heard something that caught her attention.

  “What’s up?” Mom asked.

  Ruby scrunched up her nose. “Shh, my fur is listening.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Mom mumbled, not believing she was apologizing to fur.

  All of a sudden Ruby was hopping off the bed and towards the door. “I heard Daddy open the fridge!”

  Mom sat up. “Uh, did your fur say it was OK to move?”

  “No, my belly did and it overrules my fur!” Ruby was out the door and heading for a snack attack.

  CAMOUFLAGE CAPER

  “Oh my gosh!” Cola exclaimed, staring at Ruby.

  Ruby’s ears perked up and she hopped over to Cola’s cage.

  “What’s wrong, Cola Bear?” Ruby asked.

  “Nothing! This is perfect!” Cola hopped excitedly in circles.

  Ruby and Duster exchanged confused looks.

  “What’s perfect?” Duster asked, he was in his cage next to Cola.

  “Ruby’s fur!” Cola exclaimed.

  Ruby hopped back from Cola’s cage. “My – fur – is – perfect?”

  Every bun knows how Cola feels about her own fur – it’s as precious as treats to her.

  “Your fur is white!” Cola cheered.

  “You just figured that out now?” Ruby asked.

  “Are you OK?” Duster questioned Cola.

  Cola was still hopping around in circles. “You don’t understand.”

  “No, but you are making us dizzy!” Duster said.

  “Ruby’s fur is white and so is the fridge!” Cola stated.

  “Did you just figure that out too?” Ruby was getting concerned about Cola now.

  “No, Ruby and Duster – think about it, Ruby is the same colour as the fridge!” Cola said.

  Ruby and Duster still weren’t seeing the big picture that Cola was.

  Cola sighed, disappointed the other two bunnies weren’t sharing in her stroke of sheer genius.

  “Ruby’s fur can blend in with the colour of the fridge. Ruby’s fur is fridge camouflage,” Cola said.

  “I can sneak up on the fridge and it won’t see me?” Ruby asked.

  “Better than that, you could duck along the side of the fridge and when Mom and Dad open the fridge door, they wouldn’t notice you! You could grab treats and run before they see you!” Cola declared.

  “Wow!” Duster gasped. “Brilliant!”

  “OK! We have to try this!” Ruby agreed and started to hop in circles too.

  “Mom and Dad are in the kitchen,” Cola said. “Go get us some treats!”

  And off Ruby hopped. She approached the treat line and crouched down. She carefully made her way to the edge of the fridge and sat as still as she could.

  Dad stopped talking and nodded towards the fridge, he saw Ruby trying to hide there and wanted Mom to see this too.

  Mom carefully peeked in the direction Ruby was. Ruby had such a determined look on her face. And

  her fridge fascination was so well-known. How could they not guess what she was waiting for.

  “Guess I should check the fridge,” Mom said, loudly.

  Ruby’s whiskers trembled with excitement.

  Mom opened the fridge door, wide enough for Ruby to see the Romaine lettuce!

  Mom winked at Dad. “Hmmm, I think I’ll need a minute to decide what we should have for lunch.”

  “Definitely,” Dad agreed.

  Ruby couldn’t believe her luck! They hadn’t noticed her and the fridge door was being held open for her with Romaine lettuce in reach!

  Ruby took a deep breath and hopped to the open door. She quickly sunk her teeth into the lettuce and

  made a mad dash for the living room.

  Mom and Dad were trying not to laugh out loud as they watched her retreat with the treats!

  “Wow! Great work!” Duster congratulated Ruby as she pushed a leaf into his cage and one into Cola’s cage.

  “Thanks!” Cola binkied.

  All three bunnies munched happily away while Mom and Dad watched them from the kitchen.

  “Something’s are best left unknown,” Dad said.

  Mom agreed, they were happy to let the bunnies think the camouflage caper was unknown to the parents.

  RUBY'S REASONING

  Mom watched as the white rabbit followed her to the kitchen and sat in front of the fridge.

  “Ruby, this is a rather unhealthy obsession you have with the fridge,” Mom said.

  Ruby shook her head. “No, it's not. All the good healthy treats like my Romaine lettuce are in the fridge.”

  “What are you going to do when you eat all the treats in the fridge?” Mom asked.

  “Mom, please, you will buy new food to go in the fridge just like you do when we run low on hay and pellets,” Ruby said.

  Mom smiled, her bunnies were very smart.

  “Now please, treats,” Ruby said.

  Mom gave in and Ruby, Duster and Cola enjoyed some lettuce. Awhile later, Mom went back into the kitchen and Ruby was right behind her.

  “Ruby, no more treats,” Mom said firmly. “Remember what I say - if there are no Mommies in the kitchen, there are no bunnies in the kitchen.”

  “But you are in the kitchen so it is OK for me to be here,” Ruby replied.

  “But now I am leaving the kitchen and you need to follow me,” Mom said, otherwise she knew Ruby would loiter beside the fridge till Mom's next walk into the kitchen.

  “But we need food,” Ruby said. “Food from the fridge.”

  “You have lots of food in your cage,” Mom said. “I'm sorry but I am putting my foot down on no treats right now.”

  “I have four feet and they are already down, I win,” Ruby said.

  Mom was trying not to smile.

  “The fridge is white like my fur, that means I own the fridge,” Ruby revealed and
hopped over to chin the fridge.

  Now Mom had to smile.

  “Mom, can you please pet me?” Ruby asked.

  Mom leaned down to pet Ruby and Ruby quickly chinned her hand. “Now I own your hand.”

  “Excuse me?” Mom asked.

  “Everyone knows when a bunny chins something they own it. I chinned the fridge just to make sure you know I own it and now I chinned your hand so I own it too. Now please take your hand that I now own and open my fridge and give me and Duster and Cola some of our food,” Ruby instructed.

  “Ruby, you are being unreasonable,” Mom sighed.

  “No, I explained it to you. You are being unreasonable,” Ruby said.

  Mom sat on the floor with Ruby. “It would be a bad thing if Mom had a treat every time she came into the kitchen. So if I can't have a treat every time I come in here, neither can bunnies.”

  Ruby scrunched up her nose. “Fine, no treats this time. Now if there are no bunnies in the kitchen, there can be no Mommies in the kitchen.”

  Mom and Ruby left the kitchen together.

  “Next time you we go to that room, you can have a treat,” Ruby promised Mom.

  Mom smiled. “I appreciate that, Ruby.”

  Ruby flopped where the living room carpet and the kitchen tile met, waiting for the next excursion to the kitchen.

  REUNION AT THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

  Ruby opened her eyes and looked around. She appeared to be in a field – green grass as far as her eyes could see, the sun was shining, it was beautiful.

  “Where am I?” Ruby asked no one in particular.

  “You’re at The Rainbow Bridge,” a voice answered.

  Ruby turned to see a brown and white Dutch bunny and a light grey lop coming towards her.

  “Where are Mom and Dad and Duster and Cola?” Ruby wondered.

  “Mom and Dad are still with Cola and Duster at home,” the lop answered. “I am Dusty and this is Hopper.”

  “But you’re angel bunnies,” Ruby said.

  “And now you are too,” Hopper said. “It was your time to come to the Bridge, dear Ruby. We get to watch over our parents and Cola and Duster for awhile.”

  “Will I ever see them again?” Ruby was concerned.

  “You can see them whenever you want to,” Hopper said. “Just close your eyes and let all of the wonderful memories come to you. And they can do the same. And then someday, we will all be together again.”

  “Oh, so they are OK?” Ruby asked.

  “They will be in time. They miss you, just like you miss them, but they know it was your time to make this journey,” Dusty said. “Just like Hopper and I did.”

  “And now we are here to help you get used to your new home,” Hopper said. “Follow us, there is much for you to see.”

  Ruby started to hop after Hopper and Dusty, then paused.

  “What’s wrong?” Dusty asked.

  “Am I still cute?” Ruby wondered.

  Hopper laughed. “You are eternally cute!”

  “Whew, that was a close one,” and Ruby followed her sisters.

  Dusty stopped in front of a patch of the greenest grass Ruby had ever seen. “This is the Stop-To-Flop area. This is the softest grass anywhere. You can come here and flop as much as you want, we encourage it.”

  “Wow,” Ruby was in awe.

  They hopped along, coming to an endless garden.

  “This is the Bunny Buffet,” Hopper explained. “Any and all sorts of fresh veggies. Help yourself to whatever you feel like.”

  Ruby was already checking out the carrots.

  The next stop was a field of timothy hay.

  “Oh my gosh!” Ruby was so excited.

  Dusty smiled. “I love timothy hay too. And just beyond the timothy hay is wild vegetation like our non-domesticated relatives eat. Eat as much as you would like.”

  Hopper and Dusty then showed Ruby the play area, bunny toys of all kinds were there for her to use.

  “Are we the only bunnies here?” Ruby asked.

  “No, there are lots of bunnies waiting to meet you. They are planning your Welcoming Party, Ruby. We wanted the chance to meet you and show you around,” Hopper said.

  “Now there is one more stop to make before we get to your party,” Dusty said. “Hopper, would you like to do the honours?”

  Hopper nodded. “This way, cute bunny.”

  “OK!” Ruby binkied.

  Hopper, Dusty and Ruby came to what can only be described as a large white room. Ruby followed her sisters inside.

  The walls were lined with bunny-sized refrigerators.

  “I always admired your determination to get in to the fridge without Mom and Dad’s help,” Hopper said. “So much like me!”

  “There’s more veggies in the fridges,” Dusty explained.

  “But how do we get to them?” Ruby hopped up to one of the fridges.

  Hopper smiled. “Say ‘open, please’ to any fridge you want.”

  “OK,” Ruby said and turned to face a fridge. “Open, please!”

  The door slowly swung open, revealing shelves of Romaine lettuce.

  Ruby binkied about a thousand times.

  Dusty and Hopper both laughed.

  “See, this place isn’t so bad,” Hopper said.

  Ruby smiled. “I miss our parents and Cola and Duster, but I guess this’ll do till we are all back together again.”

  Dusty smiled. “Yes, it will. Now, come on, time to go to your Welcome Party.”

  Hopper, Dusty and Ruby made their way where all of the other bridge bunnies were assembled. Ruby felt the love of her fellow bridge bunnies and also that of her parents, Cola and Duster.

  “I’ll be OK, we’ll all be OK,” Ruby said. “Till we meet again.”

  For all of us who have lost a beloved bun

  It’s okay, Mommy and Daddy,

  Please don’t cry

  With the angel bunnies

  I now fly

  You did everything

  You could for me

  Even though I had to go

  I’ll always be your bunny

  It’ll take some time

  Till you smile again I know

  But remember

  I am with you everywhere you go

  ZOOMER

  SILLY SHADOWS

  Zoomer zipped around the living room.

  “Wow, you keep up with me!” Zoomer said.

  Mom and Dad looked around, not really sure who the baby bunny was talking to as they certainly weren't able to keep up with Zoomer.

  “Come on! Wheeee!” and off Zoomer went.

  A few more minutes of making Mom and Dad dizzy and Zoomer stopped.

  “We need a carrot,” Zoomer said.

  “Sure,” Mom agreed. “But who are “we”?”

  Zoomer looked to his right.

  “Me and my friend,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Oh your friend, that's right,” Dad said, both parents assuming Zoomer had a make-believe best buddy.

  Mom gave Zoomer the carrot and he munched happily away.

  “Thanks! We needed to refuel!” and Zoomer raced around the living room again.

  Zoomer paused and flopped.

  “We do everything at the same time!” Zoomer exclaimed to his friend.

  Mom and Dad were curious and wanted to know more about Zoomer's friend.

  “So where did you meet your friend?” Mom asked.

  The baby bunny thought for a moment. “He's always been with me.”

  “What does he look like?” Dad asked.

  Zoomer looked to his right again. “Just like me! Well his fur is a bit darker.”

  “Does your friend have a name?” Mom questioned.

  “I don't know,” Zoomer whispered. “He doesn't talk to me.”

  Mom and Dad were still confused.

  “Well we'd love to meet your friend,” Dad said.

  “He's right there,” Zoomer motioned with his nose.

  Mom and Dad stepped closer to whe
re Zoomer was now sitting and bent down, pretending to pet the make-believe rabbit.

  Zoomer's eyes got big. “What are you doing?”

  “Petting your friend,” Mom explained.

  “No ... you're standing on him!” and Zoomer thumped.

  Mom and Dad jumped back.

  Zoomer hopped to the other side of the room and checked on his friend.

  “Is everything OK?” Dad asked.

  The baby bunny shook his head no. “I think you and Mom are tired. You were both seeing a bunny that wasn't there and even worse you tired to pet a bunny that wasn't there!”

  Duster and Cola were watching the whole adventure unfold.

  “Zoomer, we are confused ...” Mom started to say.

  Zoomer cut her off. “No kidding! You and Daddy are both confused!”

  Dad sighed. “Zoomer, can you right now show us your friend?”

  Zoomer looked again to his right. “He's right there.”

  Mom and Dad looked to the floor where Zoomer was pointing with his nose.

  “Your shadow?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer smiled. “Is that what he is? I just call him my friend!”

  Mom and Dad laughed, happy Zoomer had a friend that can keep up with a baby bunny!

  FEET FACTS

  Zoomer raced around the living room, under the chair Mom was sitting on and oops …

  “What the heck is that?” Zoomer asked, shaking his head.

  Mom leaned over to check on the baby bunny. “That was my foot you crashed in to. Are you OK?”

  “Yes. That’s your foot?” Zoomer was amazed.

  Mom nodded.

  “Wow, your feet are huge!” Zoomer exclaimed and he extended his back leg to compare his foot to Mom’s.

  “I am a bit bigger than you,” Mom said in defense of her feet.

  “My feet are so small and furry,” Zoomer said.

  “Uh huh, you do have wonderful feet,” Mom agreed.

  Zoomer quickly tucked his foot underneath him. “You can’t have my feet!” and a little thump.

  Mom sighed. “I don’t want your feet.”

  “Why not? You just said they are wonderful feet! Why wouldn’t you want my feet?” Zoomer was almost offended.

  Cola snickered and said to Duster. “Mom forgot what it’s like to have a baby bunny around.”

  Duster nodded and the lop and dwarf bunny continued to listen to Mom try to defend her feet and unoffend Zoomer.

  Mom gave Zoomer a noserub. “Your feet are too small for me.”

  “Oh, OK. Are you really old?” Zoomer asked Mom.

  “No! I am not that old!” Mom sighed.

  “But you must be really old,” Zoomer reasoned.

  “Why do you think I must be old?” Mom was curious.

  “I know when I grow up and get older I will get bigger and so will my feet. With feet that big, you must be old,” Zoomer said.

  Mom felt it was time to change the topic. “Zoomer, look – a carrot! “

  Zoomer spun around. “Where?”

  “I think it ran to the bedroom,” Mom said.

  Off Zoomer hopped, only to return a few seconds later.

  “No carrot?” Mom asked.

  “The bedroom door is closed, “ Zoomer looked at Mom suspiciously. “And carrots don’t have hands to open the door with.”

  “And they don’t have feet to run across the floor with either,” Mom smiled.

  “How come?” Zoomer asked.

  “I don’t know,” Mom replied.

  “How come you don’t know?” Zoomer questioned.

  “Well sometimes parents just don’t have the answers,” Mom replied.

  Zoomer sat down and looked at Mom. “Now I know you aren’t that old.”

  Mom smiled. “Oh good.”

  “Yeah, because old people are supposed to be wise and a wise person could tell me why carrots don’t have hands or feet and you couldn’t answer that,” Zoomer said.

  Mom couldn’t help it and burst out loud, baby bunny logic at its best!

  “How about I get you a carrot? Will that make everything better?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer hopped up and down happily, Mom took that as a yes and all three bunnies got their carrots.

  OVER-ZEALOUS ZOOMER

  Zoomer hopped out of his cage and right to Cola’s. He sat outside her cage, staring at her. Cola sighed and laid down, she was getting used to the baby bunny’s daily visits.

  “Cola, I love you,” Zoomer said and binkied around the room.

  Duster wasn’t all that impressed but flopped and took a nap.

  Mom and Dad were watching TV when Zoomer flew by them.

  “Whatcha doing, Zoom Zoom?” Dad asked.

  “Showing Cola how fast I can hop,” Zoomer replied. “She is such a pretty bunny.”

  “Yes, she is,” Mom agreed. “And she is so lucky to have you and Duster to love her.”

  Zoom binkied. “I love her so much. She has the prettiest fur, too!”

  The baby bunny turned his attention to what Mom and Dad were watching on TV – music videos.

  “Do you think Cola would like me to write her a song to sing to her?” Zoomer asked.

  Knowing that would keep Zoomer from finding something to bunstruct, his parents encouraged him to write Cola a wonderful song.

  “I bet she’d love that,” Dad said.

  Zoomer binkied. “And then she’ll love me! OK, I write a song.”

  The Dutch bunny watched a few minutes of the music video and then hopped off to write his tribute to Cola.

  Five minutes later …

  “That was really fast,” Mom said.

  Zoomer nodded. “It’s not that hard to write a song.”

  He hopped to Cola’s cage and announced. “Cola, I wrote a song to sing to you! Every bunny listen!”

  Mom and Dad and Duster and Cola waited …

  “OK,” Zoomer said and started to sing. “Cola Bear, Cola Bear, Cola Bear …” repeating the same two words over and over and over.

  Cola’s eyes got big, Duster chuckled and flopped again and Mom and Dad understood why it didn’t take Zoomer too long to write the song.

  Zoomer finally paused and everyone clapped.

  “I’m not done yet …” Zoomer said.

  “Oh, but that was so wonderful – how can there be more?” Mom asked.

  “But there is more! And it’s better than that!” Zoomer exclaimed.

  Zoomer hopped away from Cola’s cage and started to tap his little foot on the carpet. “I am finding my rhythm.”

  Mom and Dad nodded and waited …

  “Cola Bear, over there, has pretty fur, I love her,” Zoomer crooned.

  Zoomer jumped onto a storage bin and started to thump, loudly. From there he hopped onto the phone book and started to shred it. Then he grabbed the toss toy and rattled it around.

  Mom and Dad’s eyes got big, Duster’s ears went straight out to the side and Cola’s fur started to form the somewhat infamous mohawk on her back.

  “Zoomer, Zoomer, what are you doing? Why are you making so much noise?” Dad asked.

  Zoomer was confused. “That’s not noise, that’s my music.”

  “Ohhhh,” Mom said.

  “People bang things on the TV and make sounds like I did and they shake things like the toss toy. I was making music for Cola and you interrupted me,” Zoomer said.

  And the baby bunny started to pout.

  “Pssst,” Duster motioned for Zoomer to hop close to his cage.

  Still pouting, Zoomer did.

  “That was pretty good,” Duster said. “I’ve never written Cola a song.”

  “Really?” Zoomer asked, the pout slowly disappearing.

  Cola hopped to the side of her cage where Zoomer was. “No, he hasn’t. I liked it. I like that you sang about my fur.”

  Zoomer binkied.

  Mom and Dad clapped, happy to see Zoomer zipping around the living room again.

  KNOW NO

  “Zoomer, n
o chewing on the carpet!” Mom said.

  Zoomer hopped up onto the couch.

  “No chewing on the pillow,” Mom sighed.

  Zoomer hopped into the bedroom, onto his igloo and into the laundry basket, Mom was close behind.

  “And no chewing on the towels either. Play with your phone book.”

  Zoomer hopped out of the basket and scrunched up his nose. “I don’t like that word.”

  “What word?” Mom asked.

  “I won’t say it. It ruins all my fun,” Zoomer said.

  Mom smiled. “You mean you won’t say no.”

  “You say it enough for all of us,” Zoomer pouted and hopped back out to the living room and flopped in front of Cola’s cage.

  Mom sat on the floor beside the baby Dutch bunny. “I say no when you are doing things you shouldn’t be doing, things that could hurt you.”

  “Towels are soft – they can’t hurt me,” Zoomer pouted

  “Well I still don’t think they make a good choice for a snack. Let’s stick to good old timothy hay,” Mom said.

  “The green towel looked like my hay,” Zoomer said.

  “Good try,” Mom replied and got up and went to the kitchen. When she came back in to the living room, she sat on the couch to watch TV with a bowl of chips.

  Zoomer stretched and hopped onto the couch with Mom.

  “What are you eating?”

  “Potato chips,” Mom replied.

  Zoomer was curious. “Are they good for you?”

  Mom paused. “Potatoes are a veggie and veggies are good for you.”

  “That doesn’t look like a veggie. So is it good for you?”

  Mom sighed. “No, not really.”

  “If it’s not good for you then it is bad for you and if it’s bad it could hurt you and if it can hurt you, you can’t eat it,” Zoomer reminded Mom.

  Without her chips to munch on, Mom decided to channel surf. She stopped at a commercial for the potato chips that she wasn’t supposed to eat.

  Zoomer looked at Mom, the TV, the chips and then back at Mom.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know, keep surfing,” Mom mumbled.

  Zoomer flopped beside his Mom. “I take good care of you.”

  Mom petted Zoomer’s head. “Yes, you do.”

  Zoomer smiled. “I bet carrots are good treats even for bunny parents …”

  Mom laughed. “HA! You had ulterior motives!”

  “I don’t know what that is but I hope it means carrots for me and Cola and Duster and you too!” Zoomer hopped up and binkied, heading to the kitchen for carrots.

  Dad had overheard the conversation and met Mom and Zoomer with a plate of carrots, just enough for the bunnies and the bunny parents to share.

  “At least they’re crunchy like my chips,” Mom said.

  Dad laughed while he and Mom listened to the bunnies happily eating the carrots.

  BLOSSOMING BUNNIES

  “Mom, what are you doing” Zoomer periscoped to see why Mom was pouring water in a container.

  “I’m watering our flowers.” Mom explained.

  “Why?” baby bunny curiosity was on full alert.

  “They need water to grow, just like you do. “

  “They get thirsty?” Zoomer was fascinated.

  “Yep.”

  “How does this happen?” Zoomer asked, wondering how the whole process of growing something worked.

  “You plant a seed in the ground and water it and make sure it gets sunlight and pretty soon you’ll have a beautiful flower,” Mom said.

  Zoomer binkied and hopped away, he had an idea! He hopped around the living room till he found what he had seen earlier. He was quick to pick it up and go to his cage.

  The Dutch bunny dug a hole in his litter area, dropped the item in and quickly covered it up. Then he nosebonked his water bowl over to the recently dug area and poured a little bit of water. For good measure, he even added some hay to the pile.

  And then he sat and waited.

  However, being a baby bunny, Zoomer isn’t very patient.

  He hopped over to the pile and stared at it. Then he hopped back to the corner.

  Zoomer repeated this every few minutes until Mom and Dad were curious.

  “What’s up?” Dad asked.

  “Why is it taking so long?” Zoomer demanded.

  “Why is what taking so long?” Mom questioned.

  “I put the fur in the ground, well it’s kind of the ground, and I added water and the sun is coming in the window. I even put hay there and she’s not growing!” Zoomer was frustrated.

  “Who isn’t growing?” Dad was confused.

  Zoomer sighed. “Cola two.”

  “Cola two?” Mom asked.

  “Yes! You said if I put a seed in the ground and water it and give it sunshine, it will grow.” Zoomer insisted.

  “But fur isn’t a seed,” Mom said.

  Zoomer periscoped. “I don’t know what a seed is!”

  “Where and how did you get Cola’s fur?” now Dad was even more curious.

  Cola was staring at Zoomer, waiting for the answer too.

  “Oh! I’m not a vet!” Zoomer exclaimed. “It was fur that had escaped. I found it on the carpet so I figured it was OK to use it.”

  Cola was still looking a bit alarmed by the whole planting of the fur she had shed.

  “So I can’t grow my own Cola?” Zoomer asked.

  Mom and Dad shook their heads no.

  Zoomer flopped and sighed. “I just wanted a Cola to be my friend and love me as much as I love the first Cola.”

  “Aw,” Mom said.

  “I wonder if we could clone her, get some DNA from her fur …” Dad joked.

  Cola thumped. “Enough with my fur! There is only one Cola Bear and that is ME!”

  Duster couldn’t help himself and laughed out loud at all this.

  “You know, I bet if you give it some time,” Mom said.

  “And you stop loitering outside her cage so much,” Dad added.

  “Cola would love to be your friend,” Mom said.

  Both parents, Zoomer and Duster all turned to look at Cola.

  “No pressure,” Cola muttered. “Reduce the time spent in front of my cage and share your treats with me …”

  “Cola,” Mom scolded the black bunny.

  “OK, OK, I had to try,” Cola sighed. “Just give me some space and we can be friends.”

  Zoomer binkied and hopped to the other side of the room. “Cola, I love you!”

  Everyone laughed, including Cola.

  Dad summed it up perfectly. “Well he is giving you your space.”

  LAUNDRY LAUGHS

  Zoomer was “helping” Mom fold the laundry when the phone rang. Mom answered it.

  “Zoomer, it’s Grandma. You keep an eye on the laundry while Mommy talks to her, OK. Don’t let the laundry go anywhere!” Mom said to the baby bunny.

  “OK!” Zoomer hopped onto the pile of clothes and towels, taking his laundry security job very seriously.

  Now baby bunnies get bored very easily. And although Mom had only been out of the room for about a minute, Zoomer was finding the laundry-sitting job boring. He started to move the laundry around, looking for the perfect towel or blankie to curl up on.

  That’s when his adorable eyes settled on it - the large piece of fabric curled up near the bottom of the pile.

  “Uh oh,” Zoomer whispered. “It’s a curtain! It must have snuck in here with our laundry and no one knows but me!”

  Then a little light bulb went off.

  “I can tell Cola about the curtain and she will love me forever!” Zoomer binkied towards the door.

  A baby bunny pause.

  “Oh! Even better I can show it to her. Mom said not to let the laundry go anywhere but she didn’t say I couldn’t take it somewhere!” Zoomer headed back towards the suspected curtain.

  Zoomer nosebonked the fabric till he discovered the elasticized corner. He crawled under it and started to hop towards the door,
dragging the bed sheet behind him.

  Meanwhile, Cola was rearranging her litter area and Duster was snacking on his hay.

  A squeaky little voice called out. “Cola.”

  Cola looked at Duster, who looked right back at her.

  “Wasn’t me,” the grey lop said.

  Cola shrugged and went back to her organizing.

  Zoomer tugged the sheet around the corner of the bedroom door, trying to make his way to Cola’s cage.

  “Cola,” the same squeaky voice repeated.

  “What?” the dwarf bunny asked Duster.

  “It wasn’t me,” Duster insisted.

  Cols scrunched up her nose. At least Duster had heard it too and she wasn’t imaging things.

  Then something caught Duster’s attention out of the corner of his eye. It was a curtain moving across the floor. Duster’s ears went straight out to the side.

  “Cola,” Duster whispered.

  Cola was getting grouchy. “Now that was you!”

  “Uh huh,” Duster nodded, barely moving.

  “What?” Cola demanded to know.

  Her back was to the front of her cage so she didn’t see the fabric approaching.

  “Um … you might … um … ahhh …” Duster was muttering.

  By now, Zoomer was in front of Cola’s cage. The bed sheet was still over his head, but he periscoped and put his paws on the door to Cola’s cage.

  Then Cola turned around.

  “Cola,” Zoomer squeaked.

  Cola jumped back.

  “It’s the ghost of curtain’s past and it knows your name!” Duster managed to say.

  “Eek, curtain … ” Cola stammered, watching the fabric wave back and forth in front of her cage.

  Duster thumped.

  Cola thumped.

  Mom was still on the phone when she entered the living room to see what was going on.

  “Um, Mom, I have a Cola and curtain situation going on, yep, gotta let you go. Bye,” and Mom hung up the phone.

  “Cola, look!” Zoomer was still under the bed sheet.

  “No, I don’t want to look!” Cola exclaimed.

  Mom went over to the scene and gently pulled the bed sheet off Zoomer. “Whatcha up to?”

  “Thanks,” Zoomer sighed. “I found that curtain in with the laundry and I had to show it to Cola so she would love me forever for helping get rid of it.”

  Mom couldn’t help it and burst out laughing. “This is a bed sheet. And I think Cola would love you even more if you didn’t bring curtains to her cage.”

  “Really?” Zoomer asked.

  “Yes! No more curtain deliveries,” Cola agreed, still rather grouchy. “That really stressed out my fur!”

  Duster lost the battle against not laughing out loud. “Everything stresses out your fur.”

  Cola glared at Duster for a minute and then started to groom her fur, making sure it was alright.

  Zoomer felt really bad. “Is your fur OK?”

  Cola sighed. “It seems to be fine.”

  Mom cleared her throat and looked at Cola, encouraging her to be extra nice to the baby bunny.

  “Oh, thanks for asking,” Cola said to Zoomer. “Good catch on the almost-curtain. I think you’ll soon be ready for your own curtain patrol route.”

  “Wow!” Zoomer binkied.

  “Zoomer, we have clothes to fold. You better come with me to make sure no curtains got in without us knowing it. This can be your first curtain patrol,” Mom said.

  Zoomer binkied all the way to pile of clothes.

  “Wish I could get that excited about doing laundry,” Mom chuckled.

  BABY BUNNY BOYCOTT

  “Mom, I have a question,” Zoomer said.

  Mom listened.

  “What does “absence makes the heart grow fonder” mean?” Zoomer asked.

  “You've been watching commercials again,” Mom said. “It means when you are away from something or someone they love you more.”

  Zoomer was still confused.

  “When you don't have treats for awhile, it means more to you when you get them, right?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer binkied, now he understood. He started his bunny super sprints around the room and came to a sudden stop.

  “Mom, would that work with Cola?”

  Mom tried not to smile. “You never know. Are you going to boycott Cola Bear?”

  Zoomer looked at Mom, she had to explain what “boycott” meant.

  Zoomer binkied. “YES! And then she will love me a whole bunch.”

  Zoomer hopped over to Cola's cage and announced his plans.

  “Cola, I am doing this because I have no other choice. I won't flop beside your cage anymore. You won't get to see my cute feetsies every day. What are you going to do when you look outside your cage and I'm not there?” Zoomer didn't give her the chance to answer and hopped to the other side of the room.

  Cola yawned and stretched and munched on her hay, not quite sure what Zoomer had been rambling on about.

  Zoomer spent a few minutes grooming his fur and rearranging a blanket. Then he hopped over to Mom.

  “Do you think it worked?”

  Mom looked over at Cola, still munching on her hay.

  “Um, she may need a bit more time,” Mom replied.

  “Oh, okay. This takes longer than I thought,” and Zoomer stretched out beside Mom's chair.

  Zoomer is not known for his patience and nosebonked Mom's ankle a few minutes after he laid down.

  “How about now?”

  “Zoomer, I think the absence is meant to be days or weeks, not minutes,” Mom said.

  Zoomer sat straight up. “That long?! But I miss her so much! I thought she is supposed to miss me, not me miss her. This is working backwards! ”

  Mom petted Zoomer. “It's alright.”

  “No, I must see Cola!” and off he hopped.

  Cola sat up when she saw Zoomer making a mad dash for her cage.

  “I'm sorry I was away for so long!”

  Cola scrunched up her nose. “You were gone?”

  “You missed me so much time stood still when I wasn't outside your cage!” Zoomer exclaimed.

  “Okay ...” Cola was still confused.

  Zoomer, convinced Cola had really missed him, flopped beside her cage.

  Mom rewarded Zoomer, Cola and Duster with treats.

  When the baby bunny is happy, everyone is happy.

  BUNNY BEDTIME BREAKFAST

  “Good night, Bunnies,” and Mom was off to sleep.

  Her head no sooner hit the pillow when she heard a squeaky baby bunny voice.

  “I can’t believe she forgot,” and a long sigh.

  Mom sat up.

  Then Cola. “Sometimes parents just don’t have their priorities set.”

  “We’ll ask Dad when he gets home from work,” Duster said to Cola and Zoomer.

  Mom was confused, what had she forgotten? The cages were cleaned, lots of pellets and hay and water. Now she had to investigate.

  “Hi, Bunnies. What did I forget?” Mom asked.

  “I have growing feet!” Zoomer declared and showed Mom his feet.

  Mom was even more confused.

  “You forgot breakfast!” Zoomer explained.

  “No, I gave you breakfast this morning,” Mom replied.

  Zoomer shook his head. “You forgot bunny bedtime breakfast.”

  Mom repeated the last three words slowly.

  Cola and Duster were nodding in agreement with Zoomer.

  “Well breakfast is in the morning,” Mom said.

  “Why?” Zoomer asked.

  “Um, it always has been,” Mom answered.

  “Why?” Zoomer was on a mission.

  “I don’t know,” Mom sighed. “But I’ll give you bunny breakfast when I get up.”

  Zoomer was relentless. “But you’re up now and we need our bedtime breakfast.”

  Mom just wanted to get some sleep.

  “Is there a law that you can’t give bunnies
a bedtime breakfast treat?” Zoomer asked.

  “No,” Mom said.

  “Then I don’t see the problem,” Zoomer binkied.

  “Trust me, just give in,” Cola whispered to Mom. “We know how persistent this baby bunny is.”

  “And I am just too darn cute to say no to!” Zoomer added.

  Poor Duster couldn’t help but laugh at Mom and Cola now. “Ha, the baby bunny is winning.”

  “Do you want bunny bedtime breakfast?” Mom asked Duster.

  “Um, yep, sure do,” Duster was trying to stop laughing.

  Zoomer binkied again. “Yay, I won!”

  “Not yet,” Mom said. “We are going to compromise.”

  “Can I eat that?” Zoomer asked.

  Mom laughed, “No. It means I give you a treat for bunny bedtime breakfast and you let me sleep till it’s time for my breakfast.”

  “Oh OK!” Zoomer agreed. “And we get breakfast then too!”

  Mom gave each of the bunnies a carrot. “OK, nothing has been forgotten, good night, my bunnies.”

  “Thanks, Mom. Good night!” the three bunnies chorused.

  Zoomer did a small binky and whispered to Cola and Duster. “Breakfast is only a few hours away!”

  And then the bunnies drifted off to dream of their morning breakfast.

  FUR FRUSTRATIONS

  Mom heard the noise coming from the kitchen and went to see what was going on. There sat Zoomer, his nose scrunched up, his eyes closed and he was kind of growling.

  “Zoomer, you OK?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer opened his eyes. “No.”

  “What's wrong?” Mom sat on the floor next to the baby bunny.

  Zoomer sighed. “I need a moose.”

  Mom was confused. “It sounds more like you need a litter box from the noise you were making.”

  Zoomer pretty much rolled his eyes. “Mom, Cola and I don't do litter boxes.”

  “Right, my mistake, let's get you to your litter area.”

  “Why? I need a moose!” Zoomer insisted.

  Mom, still confused. “What do you need a moose for?”

  “To help me make a fur mohawk,” Zoomer said.

  “You mean hair mousse ...” Mom said.

  “That's what I said,” Zoomer stared at Mom.

  Moving the conversation along, Mom discovered Zoomer wanted a fur mohawk like Cola had, but his fur wasn't co-operating, no matter how hard he concentrated.

  “Well, Cola's mohawk shows up when she gets mad,” Mom said.

  “Then I need to get mad and you need to help me,” Zoomer stated.

  Mom smiled. “Alright, what would make you angry. What if I were late with bunny breakfast?”

  Zoomer thought. “It's just late, right? I'd still get it?”

  “Of course,” Mom agreed.

  “No, that won't make me mad as long as I get breakfast eventually,” Zoomer said.

  “What if I didn't tell you for a week that you have the cutest baby bunny feet?” Mom asked.

  “But you'd still know that they are the cutest baby bunny feet?” Zoomer asked.

  Again, Mom agreed.

  “No, that wouldn't make me mad either as long as you still know it,” Zoomer sighed.

  “What if Cola went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa?” Mom was sure she had found the right scenario.

  “I'd be OK till she came home,” Zoomer said.

  “No, she is going to live with them forever,” Mom told the Dutch bunny.

  “Well then I'd go too,” Zoomer replied.

  “Nope, Grandma and Grandpa only want Cola to live with them,” Mom said.

  “WHAT? Why? Why would they not want a baby bunny like me?” Zoomer was getting mad!

  Mom waited. Zoomer was getting frustrated and hopping around her.

  “That made me mad! Is it working? Do I have a fur mohawk?” he was hopeful.

  Mom shook her head. “Sorry, Zoomer, no fur mohawk.”

  “And Cola isn't moving, right?” Zoomer asked.

  “No, Cola and you and Duster are staying with us forever,” Mom assured Zoomer.

  “Cola is so lucky. She has me and Duster that love her and she is so pretty and she has a fur mohawk ...” Zoomer looked so sad that his fur just would not co-operate.

  Mom couldn't bear to see Zoomer so devastated, she knew she had to think of something.

  “Stay right here, I have an idea,” and Mom disappeared.

  She came back a few minutes later with a bunny brush. With a bit of brushing and Zoomer actually sitting still, Mom managed to make a very small fur mohawk on his back.

  “But it's not real,” Zoomer complained.

  “It is your fur?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer nodded.

  “Does it look like Cola's fur when she has a mohawk?” Mom questioned.

  Zoomer nodded again.

  “Then it's not a fake mohawk,” Mom replied. “And we can brush your fur like that anytime you want.”

  “Really?” Zoomer was so happy.

  “Of course,” Mom promised.

  Zoomer binkied and was off to show Cola his very own fur mohawk.

  THE PAWS-ABILITIES

  Mom looked over at Zoomer, he was being too quiet.

  He had a devastated look on his face.

  “Zooms, what’s wrong? It looks like it’s the end of the world from the look on your face,” Mom said.

  “It might as well be,” Zoomer said sadly.

  “Is this about Cola?” Mom asked.

  “No, I don’t think even Cola can make this all better,” Zoomer sighed.

  “Well I think you need to give me a hint so I can help,” Mom told Zoomer.

  “I don’t want to cause you as much heartache as I am feeling,” Zoomer said quietly.

  “Can you maybe show me instead of telling me?” Mom questioned.

  Zoomer nodded. The he slowly extended his right paw. He looked from his paw to Mom.

  Mom had a blank look on her face.

  “It’s really bad isn’t it?” Zoomer sighed.

  “I think you need to tell me what’s wrong … exactly … be very specific, lots of details,” Mom said, having no idea what was wrong with the bunny paw.

  Zoomer sighed again. “I don’t know how it happened. I was hopping around the apartment and I looked at my feeties and all of a sudden, there is was,” long pause. “There’s dirt on my white paw and it won’t come off.”

  “Your paw is dirty? That’s the crisis?” Mom asked.

  “I know, it’s a sad day for all of us,” Zoomer agreed.

  “Have you tried grooming your paw?” Mom wondered.

  “No, this is just too much for a baby bunny,” Zoomer said.

  Mom smiled. “This one we can fix.”

  Zoomer perked up. “Really?”

  Mom left the room and came back with a damp face cloth. She gently wiped Zoomer’s paw and when she was finished …

  “Ta Da! You have a white paw!” Mom revealed.

  Zoomer binkied,. “That was such a close call. My paw could have been dirty forever and I think that’s a really long time. Thanks, Mom.”

  “You’re welcome. Me and Dad are always happy to help our bunnies,” Mom replied.

  “Can you help me get a treat?” Zoomer was hopeful.

  Yep, asking for a treat, Zoomer was back to normal and off Mom headed to get her three bunnies some treats.

  BUNNY SEE, BUNNY DO

  “Watch out! Feet coming through!” Zoomer said and slid on the tile floor, coming to a stop near Mom.

  Mom looked down. “And they are the cutest baby bunny feet ever.”

  “I know!” Zoomer agreed excitedly, admiring his feet. “What are you doing, Mom?”

  Mom was looking at the calendar. “I just realized you are soon going to be six months old.”

  Zoomer stopped, all he heard was “you’re soon going to be old.”

  “I am?” he questioned.

  “Yep, you sure are growing up fast,” Mom sighed.

/>   But all Zoomer heard was “growing up.”

  Mom gave the brown and white Dutch rabbit a noserub and set about her morning routine.

  “I’m growing up and getting old,” Zoomer thought. “I guess I need to learn how to act like an adult.”

  And at that moment, Mom was the only adult around.

  Mom had breakfast and so did the bunnies.

  Then Mom went into the bathroom and Zoomer peeked around the corner. He watched Mom wash her face.

  “That’s easy,” Zoomer thought and hopped to his cage. He splashed water from his water bowl onto his paws and then onto his face.

  Then he hopped back to the bathroom. Mom was brushing her teeth and then rinsed with mouthwash.

  Zoomer went back to his cage, no toothbrush or mouthwash in site, so he drank some water. “Close enough.”

  Back to the bathroom.

  Mom was brushing her hair.

  “Now that’s really easy,” Zoomer sighed and started to groom his fur.

  Mom had seen Zoomer in the mirror, copying what she had been doing, making a mental note to ask him what was going on later.

  Mom left the bathroom and went to the front closet. She got her slippers.

  Zoomer looked at the slippers and then at his feet. “Uh uh, no slippers covering up my feeties!”

  Then Mom sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

  Zoomer hopped over. “Shouldn’t you be going to work?”

  “It’s Saturday, Zooms. Mommy doesn’t have to work today,” Mom replied.

  “OK,” Zoomer bounced onto the couch to spend some time with Mom.

  Zoomer settled in beside Mom, happy to have noserubs, when all of a sudden he jumped to his feet.

  Mom stared at the rabbit. “Are you OK?”

  “I need a job!” Zoomer declared.

  Before Mom could ask why, he was sprinting around the living room.

  “I’m all grown up now. I have bills. I have to buy groceries and pay for a cell phone, even though I

  don’t know how to use one. And I have to pay rent and when Cola realizes she loves me it’s going to be expensive because she is pretty high maintenance.”

  Mom burst out laughing and then sat on the floor, Zoomer stopped in front of her. “Zoomer, you’re still a baby bunny. “

  “No, I am all grown up! You said I’m going to be six months old. I’m old and a grown up,” Zoomer sighed.

  Mom repeated exactly what she had said earlier and explained to Zoomer he was far from being old. “So that’s why you were copying what I was doing earlier.”

  “Yes, you are the oldest adult I know that was here,” Zoomer let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I am way too cute to be old.”

  “Yes, you certainly are,” Mom agreed.

  CHRISTMAS CURIOSITY

  Zoomer watched Mom set the colourful paper and bows and tape and various items on the table. Baby bunny curiosity kicked in and he was in full interrogation mode.

  “I’m wrapping Christmas gifts,” Mom said and then had to explain Christmas and gifts and Santa Claus and Santa Paws and any other question that Zoomer sent her way.

  “So if I am a good baby bunny, this Santa Paws brings me gifts?” Zoomer asked.

  Mom nodded.

  “Anything?” Zoomer was liking this gift concept.

  “Within reason,” Mom said.

  Zoomer hopped over to his igloo to consider what he thought to be reasonable gifts.

  The baby bunny exited the igloo to run some ideas by Mom when he became sidetracked by the whole gift wrapping process.

  “Why do you put paper on the present?” Zoomer asked.

  “So it’s a surprise for the person, or bunny, opening it,” Mom replied.

  Zoomer saw a few pieces of wrapping paper on the floor. “Can I have those?”

  “Sure,” Mom replied, assuming the paper would soon be bunstructed.

  Zoomer gathered the paper up and hopped over to Cola’s cage and arranged it around the cage as best as he could.

  Then he hopped back to see what else Mom was doing.

  Mom was writing a name on a piece of paper.

  “What’s that for?” Zoomer asked.

  “That’s the name tag. You put the name of the person the gift is going to and the name of the person the gift is from and then it goes under the tree,” Mom replied.

  “Tree? What tree?” Zoomer hopped around the apartment looking for a tree.

  Then Mom had to explain Christmas trees.

  “Do you have a tag with a picture of a tree on it?” Zoomer wanted to know.

  Mom looked and found one.

  “Can you write my name on it?” the Dutch bunny asked.

  Mom quickly wrote Zoomer’s name on the tag and gave it to him.

  Zoomer hopped to Cola’s cage and put the name tag on her cage.

  By now Cola was getting concerned about why her cage was being decorated.

  “It’s OK, Cola,” Zoomer said. “It’s for Christmas and this is how Santa Claus does the presents thing!”

  And Zoomer hopped back to where Mom was still working on the present.

  This time he saw her put a bow on it.

  Anticipating Zoomer asking for a bow, Mom sat one down on the floor for him.

  “Thanks!” Zoomer binkied to Cola’s cage and did his best to attach the bow.

  Cola was pretty much frowning by now. She did not appreciate her cage being decorated let alone being classified as a gift.

  Duster was admiring Zoomer’s “wrapping” abilities and trying not to chuckle as the fur mohawk started to appear on Cola’s back.

  Zoomer hopped back over to Mom,. Why are you taking so long? I wrapped my gift so much quicker than you did!”

  Mom looked at Zoomer. “Your gift? What did you wrap?”

  “What I want Santa Paws to bring me for Christmas!” Zoomer said.

  Zoomer then hopped back to Cola’s cage.

  Mom pretty much doubled over laughing, “But Zoomer, Santa wraps the gift for you, that way it’s a surprise.”

  “But this way I get what I want – Cola!” Zoomer stated.

  “Cola, tell your fur to calm down,” Mom smiled.

  Cola was glaring from Mom to Duster to Zoomer. “This has to put you on Santa’s naughty list…”

  “Zoomer, I don’t think Santa can give you Cola for Christmas,” Mom said. “I don’t think she falls into the ‘within reason’ category.”

  Zoomer shrugged. “Oh well, I tried. I did good job of decorating her cage!”

  “Yes, you did,” Mom agreed, as Dad joined them in the living room.

  “Even if I don’t get Cola for Christmas, I got the bestest gift a baby bunny could ask for already,” Zoomer said.

  Mom was curious. “And what’s that?”

  “I got a wonderful forever home with you and Dad and Duster and Cola!” Zoomer binkied.

  A chorus of “awww’s” from everyone made Zoomer binky again.

  Mom looked at Cola, noticing the black bunny wiping her eyes with her paws. “Cola, did Zoomer bring you to tears with what he just said?”

  Cola regained her composure. “Uh, no … I got fur in my eyes … silly fur, has a mind of its own …”

  Mom and Dad smiled at each other. “OK, Bear, you get that fur under control.”

  “Yeah, I will. I’ll have a talk with it,” Cola assured her parents.

  “I wish Santa Paws could bring every bunny a wonderful forever home,” Zoomer said.

  “So do we,” Dad said.

  “And can I ask for one more thing?” Zoomer wondered.

  Mom and Dad looked at him.

  “I want to wish all of our friends a Merry Christmas (or however they celebrate the holidays) from our family to theirs - is that within reason?” Zoomer asked.

  “It definitely is!” Mom said.

  So from our family to yours ~ Merry Christmas, happy holidays, season’s greetings and all the best for the New Year.

  TREATS FO
R THE FEETS

  Mom looked at Zoomer. She wasn’t hearing things, he was definitely talking to his feet.

  “You just can’t take off like that,” Zoomer scolded his feet.

  “Everything OK, Zoomerang?” Mom asked.

  “My feet,” Zoomer said. “They are giving me a headache.”

  “How’s that?” Mom was extremely curious.

  “They keep taking off on me. Zip, they’re gone and I have no choice but to follow them!” Zoomer said.

  Mom smiled. “Wow, that is quite the problem.”

  “Yeah, sometimes I just want to rest but noooo, my feetsies want to binky,” Zoomer sighed. “What if they hop so fast I can’t keep up with them?"

  “Maybe you can ground them,” Mom suggested.

  “Do you think that would work?” Zoomer asked hopefully.

  “It might,” Mom said.

  “OK, feet you are grounded! No going anywhere,” Zoomer said firmly.

  A few minutes passed and Mom looked at Zoomer. He wasn’t looking too happy.

  “Zoomer, what’s wrong now?”

  “I want to go see Cola,” Zoomer said.

  “And?” Mom asked.

  “And my feet are grounded so I can’t move! I have to admire Cola from way over here. It’s not fair,” baby bunny pouting.

  “Zoomer, um, they’re your feet so you can un-ground them if you want to,” Mom was trying not to laugh.

  “Oh! Good point. OK, feetsies – let’s go see Cola!”

  But Zoomer still didn’t go anywhere.

  “Problems?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer looked at his feet and then at Mom. “They said they won’t go anywhere till I get a treat that I have to share with them.”

  “Wow, that sure is demanding. I don’t think that’s very fair of your feet not letting you see Cola till they get a treat,” Mom replied. “I don’t think a treat is deserved. Do you?”

  Zoomer was put on the spot. “Um, well, my feetsies are usually pretty good.”

  “I don’t know …” Mom said.

  Zoomer looked at his feet. “They said please! I know you didn’t hear them but they did!”

  Poor Mom was trying so hard not to smile or laugh. “Alright, just this one time but if your feet ever misbehave again, no more treats for the feets.”

  Zoomer tipped his ear towards his toes. “They promise to be good forever.”

  Mom finally had to laugh and got Zoomer and Cola and Duster treats, the baby bunny never ceasing to amaze her with the things he came up with.

  ZOOMER’S NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION SOLUTION

  “Zoomer, your New Year’s Resolution is to use your litter area more,” Mom said as she finished vacuuming up the poop under the desk.

  “Why?” Zoomer asked.

  “Mom and Dad spend too much time vacuuming it up,” Mom replied.

  “But it gives you something to do,” Zoomer said.

  “I have lots of other things I can do,” Mom assured the baby bunny. “And so does Dad.”

  “I don’t want to use my litter area,” Zoomer stated.

  “Why not?” Dad questioned.

  Zoomer smiled at Cola. “Because Cola doesn’t. And if Cola doesn’t then I don’t think I should either.”

  “Well, Cola should be using her litter area,” Mom said.

  Zoomer scrunched up his nose. “I don’t want to poop where I sleep. I sleep in that cage!”

  “Your litter area is at the opposite end of where you sleep,” Dad pointed out.

  “You don’t poop where you sleep,” Zoomer argued. “You have a separate room to sleep in and a huge room for your litter area! That’s the biggest litter area I have ever seen.”

  Mom and Dad were trying not to laugh as Zoomer described the bathroom as a litter area.

  “Well, we’re a bit bigger than you so we need a bigger, um, litter area,” Mom explained.

  Zoomer was not convinced, but he was willing to compromise.

  A short time later …

  Zoomer bounced up to Mom and Dad, obviously very excited to share something with them.

  “I did so much better!” Zoomer exclaimed.

  “Better with what, Zoomerang?” Mom asked.

  “Come on! I’ll show you!” Zoomer said excitedly.

  Mom and Dad followed Zoomer into the living room. The brown and white Dutch bunny proudly sat beside a rather impressive pile of poop under the desk.

  “Look!” Zoomer said.

  “Oh we can see it…” Mom said as Dad started to go get the vacuum cleaner.

  “I pooped in a group instead of all over the place. Much easier for you to vacuum!”

  “That was very … considerate,” Dad agreed, quickly cleaning up Zoomer’s effort.

  “I deserve a treat!” Zoomer stated. “And so do Cola and Duster too.”

  And treats they got … who can argue with a baby bunny?

  HAY, MOM!

  Mom felt baby bunny whiskers on her cheek.

  “Mom, why are you sleeping? It’s too early for you to snore,” Zoomer said.

  Mom opened her eyes. “I’m not sleeping, just resting. Mommy isn’t feeling good right now.”

  Zoomer’s eyes got wide. “You are feeling bad? I am telling Daddy that you are being bad!”

  Mom laughed. “Not being bad, feeling bad – my tummy is feeling yucky.”

  Baby bunny curiosity kicked in. “Why?”

  “I guess I ate something that doesn’t agree with my tummy,” Mom explained.

  “Your tummy and your food are having an argument?” Zoomer was amazed. “My food never argues with my belly!”

  Mom patted Zoomer’s head and closed her eyes again.

  A second later she felt Zoomer on her belly, and then he was thumping on her belly.

  “Stop arguing with my Mommy!” Zoomer thumped.

  “Ack!” Mom gasped.

  Zoomer jumped off her belly. “Did that help?”

  “Not quite,” Mom admitted.

  Zoomer launched himself back onto Mom’s belly. “I’ll do it again!”

  Mom stopped him mid-thump. “No, it’s OK. I took some medicine, I’ll be all better really soon.”

  “Oh, OK,” Zoomer flopped beside Mom and she closed her eyes again.

  A few moment passed, baby bunny paws on her cheeks now. “Are you all better yet?”

  Mom shook her head no.

  Zoomer was losing patience. “That medicine is too slow, I gotta help Mommy feel better now.”

  Zoomer hopped off the bed, appearing to leave Mom in peace so she could recuperate.

  Mom closed her eyes again and was drifting off and didn’t feel Zoomer hop back up on the bed. The little Dutch bunny crept up close to his Mom.

  And then he dropped a few pieces of timothy hay on Mom and started to use his paws to push it in her mouth.

  Mom’s eyes popped open and she started to spit out the hay.

  “Don’t waste my hay!” Zoomer said.

  “Why are you feeding me hay?” Mom asked, between coughs of trying to clear the hay from her mouth.

  “Timothy hay never upsets my belly. If you eat it, you’ll be all better!” Zoomer binkied around Mom.

  “You know what, I feel great, never been better, let’s go find a phone book for you to destroy,” Mom said to Zoomer, kind of afraid of what the baby bunny would try next if he thought his Mom still wasn’t feeling better.

  “See, timothy hay made you all better again,” Zoomer said and hopped off the bed, honing in on an unsuspecting phone book just outside the bedroom door.

  Mom smiled and followed Zoomer, baby bunny adventures can make anyone feel better.

  A HARE-Y EXPERIENCE

  “Zoomer, you’re gonna give Mommy grey hair if you keep doing things like that,” Mom sighed.

  Zoomer was hopping around the living room at full speed, binkying off the couch and anything else he could land on, leaving Mom holding her breath more than once that he wouldn’t miss the next binky landing area he was a
iming for.

  The baby Dutch bunny stopped and looked at Mom. “You already have a grey hare.”

  “I do? Where?” Mom asked.

  “Right over there,” Zoomer pointed with his nose.

  Mom started to separate sections of her hair, trying to narrow down the area. “Here?”

  “No,” Zoomer said.

  “How about here?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer shook his head.

  “Can you give me a general direction?’ Mom asked.

  “Your right shoulder,” Zoomer replied.

  Mom started to try to move her hair forward so the baby bunny could help her isolate the grey hair.

  “Mom, you’ve had him for a long time,” Zoomer said.

  Zoomer left Mom searching through her hair and went back to binkying around the living room.

  Mom disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a mirror. She sat on the floor, mirror in front of her and called Zoomer over.

  “I still can’t see this grey hair and it’s my first one! You have to help me find it,” Mom insisted.

  Zoomer was now getting worried. “Mom, maybe you need new glasses, he’s pretty hard to miss.”

  “I just got new glasses, Zoomer. Now come on, help Mommy.”

  Zoomer looked in the mirror. “Mommy, he’s right there! Remember I said your right shoulder?”

  Mom scrunched up her nose and looked in the mirror, over her right shoulder and there was Duster, munching on his timothy hay.

  “Hold on, you mean, my grey hair is Duster?”

  Zoomer was a bit annoyed. “Yes, he is a grey hare. What did you think I meant?”

  “I thought you meant the hair on my head was grey!” Mom exclaimed.

  Now Zoomer scrunched up his nose. “No silly Mommy. But I think next time you colour your hair it should be green.”

  “Green?” Mom asked, it had been a long time since she had changed the colour of the brown hair she was born with.

  “Yeah, like timothy hay, that’s a more natural colour than your hair now,” Zoomer said.

  “Um, this is my natural hair coloru,” Mom said.

  “Oh,” Zoomer was at a loss for words. “I think I’ll work on giving you your first grey hair again!”

  Mom couldn’t help but laugh. “That sounds like a great idea and I’ll give you and your high-lying binkies full credit for it.”

  Binky, binky binky …

  COOKING CALAMITY

  “What are you doing?” Zoomer asked as he hopped into the kitchen.

  “Cooking supper for me and Dad,” Mom replied.

  “Did Daddy make you mad?” Zoomer questioned.

  Mom was confused. “No … why?”

  “Well you’re cooking for him and Cola says you said you can’t cook and that eating your cooking is punishment,” Zoomer said. “So I thought Daddy made you mad and you’re punishing him with supper.”

  Mom glanced over at Cola, whom she was pretty sure smiled and waved from her cage. I’m eating it too. I did say that I can’t cook but I can cook. Kind of. I just prefer not to and it’s edible … sort of …”

  Zoomer had a confused look on his face.

  “Put it like this, nothing bad will happen because I am cooking,” Mom assured the baby bunny.

  “Can I watch?” Zoomer asked.

  “Sure, just stand back,” Mom said.

  “Why?” Zoomer was curious.

  “Just in case something happens,” Mom replied, without thinking how she previously said nothing would happen.

  “But …” Zoomer started to say. “Never mind, Mom. I stay way over here, just in case.”

  “Perfect, good bunny,” Mom smiled.

  Zoomer watched from the sidelines.

  She got out some lettuce (of course giving a piece to each of the bunnies), washed her hands and set about making a salad. Zoomer watched her closely and then gasped in horror as she put on the dressing.

  “Why are you ruining the lettuce?” the baby bunny demanded to know.

  “This makes it taste good,” Mom replied.

  “It already tastes good,” Zoomer argued.

  “OK it makes it taste better, in some people’s opinions,” Mom defended.

  “Those people are silly,” Zoomer said. “Us bunnies know lettuce doesn’t need anything added to it.”

  Then Mom put some water in a pot and put it on the stove. From there she opened a can of veggies. One of the veggies fell to the floor and rolled towards Zoomer.

  Zoomer stretched to see what it was. “Ewww, yucky! Why are you cooking bunny poop? And why is it green?”

  Mom looked at the veggie. “Oh that’s a pea, Zoomer.”

  “My pee doesn’t look like that!” Zoomer shook his head, backing away from the pea. “That looks like green bunny poop!”

  Mom sighed. “Trust me, it’s a vegetable and it’s OK for me and Daddy to eat.”

  Mom checked on the pot on the stove and then resumed working on adding to the salad. She was interrupted by Zoomer’s thumping.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Zoomer kept thumping. “The water is on fire! How do you burn water?”

  Mom looked at the steam coming from the pot that was finally boiling. She then had to explain that to Zoomer.

  “Cooking sure is a lot of work,” Zoomer said and stretched out in the corner, still observing Mom.

  Mom wasn’t sure what to say to that so she kept working on supper and finally finished.

  “It’ll be ready just in time for Dad to get home from work,” Mom said. She decided to make a tea and plugged in the kettle.

  As the kettle boiled, it whistled and Zoomer thumped again.

  “Now what?” Mom questioned.

  “That machine is hurting the water! Listen to it yelling for help!” Zoomer was periscoping. “You have to save it!”

  Mom unplugged the kettle and saved the day.

  “Whew, that was close,” Zoomer sighed.

  Mom smiled and made her tea. Just then Dad came through the door.

  “How was your day?” Dad asked Mom.

  Zoomer hopped over to him before Mom could answer. “It was terrible. Mom cooked!”

  Dad just smiled as Zoomer described Mom setting water on fire and the pea and the trauma of the water in the kettle.

  “Well you certainly had a busy day,” Dad said to Mom.

  Mom nodded.

  Zoomer had left the kitchen and was making his way back to Mom and Dad, pushing his pellet bowl.

  “I don’t think you should eat what Mom cooked. I’ll share my hay and pellets with both of you. I don’t want anything happening to you two. And believe me, anything can happen!” Zoomer insisted.

  The baby bunny was adamant that they not eat Mom’s cooking.

  “How about if we order a pizza?” Dad asked, and whispered to Mom that they’d have the supper for lunch the next day. Mom had no problem with that at all!

  “Good idea,” Zoomer agreed.

  So while Mom and Dad had pizza for supper (and a pretty good lunch the next day), the bunnies enjoyed a nice Romaine salad of their own.

  “Whew, good thing Mom doesn’t have to cook the lettuce,” Zoomer whispered to Cola and Duster.

  Mom and Dad exchanged grins, having heard what Zoomer whispered, and then listened to the three bunnies munch away on their lettuce.

  THE TALE OF A TIMEOUT

  Rip, tear, rip …

  Mom heard the noises of carpet being pulled up and scurried into the living room. There was Zoomer, happily yanking on a corner of the carpet.

  “Zoomer, you need to stop,” Mom said.

  Zoomer looked up for a minute. “No, it’s OK for me to do this.”

  “How do you figure that?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer stopped pulling on the carpet. “Cause I’m a baby bunny.”

  “Um, that’s not a good reason,” Mom said.

  “Sure it is, I’m too young to know better!” Zoomer replied.

  “But you just said yo
u know you’re not supposed to do that.”

  “Yes, but it’s OK cause I am a baby bunny,” Zoomer insisted.

  “You’ll be one year old in May,” Mom said. “That’s not really baby bunny status anymore.”

  “But you said cause I am so cute and small I’ll always be your baby bunny,” Zoomer repeated word for word what Mom had indeed said.

  “Drat,” Mom muttered, he was right- she did say that. “Maybe you need a time out.”

  “No thanks. I’m kind of busy,” Zoomer replied.

  “Let’s find something else to do. How about you go do some bunstruction on your cardboard condo?”

  Zoomer shook his head. “This is fine for now.”

  And he started to scratch at the carpet.

  “Zoomer, that wasn’t a suggestion,” Mom said.

  Zoomer pouted. “Fine, I go do bunstruction where it is appreciated.”

  And off he hopped to the cardboard condo.

  Mom shook her head, noticed the carpet strands and headed to the kitchen to get the scissors to trim the strands. She knelt on the carpet and set about getting rid of the strands.

  Zoomer was curious to see what she was doing so he joined her.

  “MOM!” Zoomer exclaimed.

  “What’s wrong?” Mom was startled.

  “You shouldn’t be cutting the carpet!” Zoomer scolded her.

  Poor Mom, she realized Zoomer was only scolding her for doing what he had done, even if she was fixing the carpet.

  “Well, I guess we both deserve a time out,” Mom sighed.

  “Yes, yes we do,” Zoomer agreed.

  Mom put her scissors on the table and sat on the couch, Zoomer jumped up beside her.

  And they sat there, quietly for about two minutes, till Zoomer couldn’t take it anymore …

  “I love you, Cola!” Zoomer called out.

  Cola nodded and went back to eating her hay.

  “Shhh, you can’t talk during a time out,” Mom said.

  “Why not?” Zoomer demanded to know.

  “Because we are being punished for doing something we shouldn’t do. We have to be quiet,” Mom replied.

  “I don’t like time out,” Zoomer sulked.

  Two more minutes passed, Zoomer was bored and started to groom his feet. Mom shook her head no.

  Zoomer sighed and stopped.

  Another minute passed, Zoomer periscoped to see what Duster was munching on. Mom again shook her head no.

  Zoomer sulked some more and sat back down.

  As another minute went by slowly, Mom could see Zoomer was getting antsy. “Have we learned not to chew on the carpet or we have to have a time out and they are very boring.”

  “Yeah time out with you is REALLY boring,” Zoomer agreed.

  Mom tried not to laugh. “But did we learn anything?”

  “Yes, not to chew the carpet when you are around so I don’t get caught,” Zoomer replied.

  “Anything else?” Mom asked.

  “The being a baby bunny doesn’t let me get away with everything?” Zoomer questioned.

  “Close enough,” Mom said.

  Zoomer hopped off the couch, happy that time out was over. “Mom, will being a baby bunny get me a treat? I was pretty good during the time out!”

  Now Mom laughed out loud. “A treat? I should have known that was coming.”

  “Yeah, you really should have,” Zoomer hopped along behind Mom to get treats for himself and Cola and Duster.

  REMOTE CONTROL RABBIT

  Zoomer heard a sniffle. He looked up at Mom and then catapulted himself through the air and landed beside her on the couch. He put his little paws on her leg and stretched close to her face.

  “Why are you raining?” he asked.

  Mom wiped the tears away with a Kleenex. “Mommy is watching a sad movie.”

  “And it makes you rain?” Zoomer was curious.

  Mom nodded.

  Zoomer did not like to see Mommy sad. “Use that thing I am not allowed to chew to make the sad movie go away!”

  Mom looked at the remote control. “You mean this?”

  Zoomer put his paws on a few buttons. “Yes, make the sad stop!”

  “But I want to see the ending,” Mom sniffed.

  “And I want the sad to end,” Zoomer said. “I make you laugh if you stop the movie.”

  “I'll fast-forward to the end,” Mom negotiated and so she did.

  When the movie was over, Zoomer nosebonked Mom. “Now I make you laugh.”

  He hopped on the floor and did bunny super sprints around the couch. “See I fast forward like the remote control!”

  Mom grinned.

  Then Zoomer started to try to get at the curtains. He had to crawl his way in between two storage bins.

  Mom cleared her throat. “Not supposed to be in there.”

  “I know that,” Zoomer said. “But I had to go there so I can hop backwards and rewind like your remote!”

  And he hopped backwards to demonstrate.

  “Oh,” Mom said.

  “Yeah, I'm pretty smart,” Zoomer said.

  The now one year old but still referred to as baby bunny started to throw around a toss toy. Then he abruptly stopped and sat perfectly still.

  Mom looked at him.

  “I can do play and stop too, just like the remote!” Zoomer revealed.

  Mom laughed out loud.

  “See I make you laugh. Much better than raining because of a sad movie,” Zoomer hopped back up beside Mom.

  Mom petted the Dutch rabbit. “Yes, you did.”

  “Does that mean me and Duster and Cola get a treat now?” Zoomer was hopeful.

  “Of course you do!” and Mom was on her way to get the well-deserved treats for her bunnies.

  THE LETTUCE LETDOWN

  Zoomer was watching Mommy closely. She was watching a movie and kept pulling a blankie up over her eyes.

  Bunny curiosity kicked in. “Why are you covering your eyes? Pretty hard to watch your movie that way.”

  Zoomer hopped up on the couch beside Mom.

  “It's a scary movie. I cover my eyes when there are scary parts,” Mom explained.

  “If it scares you, why are you watching it?” Zoomer asked.

  “Because Mommy likes scary movies,” Mom replied.

  “You like being scared?” Zoomer questioned.

  “Well, no,” Mom said.

  “Then why you watch scary movies?” Zoomer was so confused.

  Poor Mom was at a loss to explain so she tried another approach. “Why don't you watch the move with me?”

  “OK,” Zoomer agreed.

  As the movie continued, Zoomer found it more interesting to watch Mom.

  “Ahhh!” Mom exclaimed and covered her eyes.

  “Are we supposed to be scared now?” Zoomer asked.

  Mom nodded, not uncovering her eyes.

  Zoomer covered his eyes with his paws, peeking to see when Mom started to watch TV again.

  Mom lowered the blanke. “OK, safe to watch.”

  Zoomer moved his paws.

  A few minutes later, Mom's eyes were covered again.

  This time Zoomer kept his eyes on Mom. “How do you know what the movie is about? I think you have your eyes closed more than you are watching the movie.”

  “Alright, I'll try to be braver,” Mom said sheepishly.

  About ten minutes passed and no eyes were covered or blankets used as cover when all of a sudden, Zoomer started to thump.

  Mom's hands flew to her eyes. “Let me know when it's over.”

  Zoomer continued to thump and Mom had to see what the fuss was about. When she uncovered her eyes, the scene was of someone making a sandwich in the kitchen.

  “What's scary?” Mom asked.

  “Scary! Scary is how he just wasted a whole bunch of lettuce! He didn't put it on his sandwich or make a salad – he threw it out!” Zoomer was mad, not frightened.

  Mom watched as the baby bunny hopped back and forth on the couch,<
br />
  “This is the worst movie ever! Shame on that man for wasting lettuce!” Zoomer turned his back to the TV. “You tell me when it is over.”

  Mom waited a few minutes and assured Zoomer the lettuce letdown was over.

  Zoomer turned to face the TV. “Terrible movie. I think we should just shut it off and never watch it again.”

  “I agree,” Mom said. “I think it's time for a treat.”

  “I think I need two after that,” Zoomer confessed.

  Mom smiled. “I think we can arrange that.”

  Zoomer hopped happily along beside Mom as she went to the kitchen to get treats for the bunnies.

  TOE TROUBLES

  THUD.

  Duster's ears went straight out to the side, Cola's fur stood up on end and Zoomer periscoped to see what the noise was.

  What the three bunnies saw was Mommy's face turn red, her eyes get really big, she grabbed her right foot and hopped on her left foot into the living room where she collapsed onto the couch.

  “Ouch,” she squeaked.

  Zoomer was out of his cage and quickly hopped over to check on Mommy. “What's wrong?”

  Mom put her right foot on the floor, still in pain and not really wanting to talk.

  Zoomer moved in closer, which basically meant he hopped onto Mom's right foot.

  “Ouch,” Mom squeaked again.

  “Sorry,” Zoomer hopped off her foot. “What did you do?”

  “I...stubbed...my...big...toe...” Mom whined.

  “Well that wasn't very nice of you,” Zoomer said.

  Mom looked at the baby bunny.

  “Why would you hurt your toe?” Zoomer hopped close to Mom again, taking a look at her toe that was swelling a little bit.

  Mom shook her head. “I didn't do it on purpose.”

  “Well thank goodness because that would just not be nice,” Zoomer said.

  “How about you go play,” Mom suggested to Zoomer.

  “No, I think I am OK here,” Zoomer hopped up onto the couch beside his Mom. “Maybe your toe was trying to trip you.”

  Poor Mom, trying to wallow in her agony just wasn't happening. “Why would you think that?”

  “Well maybe you need to pay more attention to your feet. I spend a lot of time with my feet,” Zoomer said and stretched his back leg out and started to groom his foot.

  Mom managed a smile.

  “My toes or feet have never tried to trip me,” Zoomer stated and started to groom his other foot.

  “I'm pretty sure this was an accident,” Mom said.

  “I don't know,” Zoomer shook his head. “I think your feet may be mad at you.”

  Mom sighed. “Maybe you're right, Zoomer.”

  “Of course I'm right. Bunnies are always right,” Zoomer had moved on to grooming his front paws now. “See how much I love my feet!”

  Mom couldn't argue with the baby bunny logic. “I think my toe is all better. I think I can even manage to walk to the kitchen and get you and Cola and Duster a treat.”

  Zoomer binkied. “That's wonderful!”

  And off Mom limped to the kitchen to get the bunnies their treats, with Zoomer binkying beside her all the way.

  STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

  Zoomer sat up.

  “Oh my gosh!”

  Mom and Dad looked at the brown and white Dutch bunny.

  “Do you understand what this means?” Zoomer asked.

  The famous “maybe you could tell us” line came from the bunny parents.

  “I have Cola to my left and Belle to my right,” Zoomer exclaimed.

  “Belle has been here almost a month and you just realized that?” Dad asked.

  Zoomer sighed. “Oh this is so difficult.”

  “What is?” Mom asked her baby bunny.

  “I love Cola so much, she is so pretty. And now I love Belle too, she is so adorable.” Zoomer sighed. “And now I am in the middle of them.”

  Mom and Dad still weren't sure what the cause for distress was.

  “How can you not understand?” Zoomer thumped.

  He looked at Cola and then at Belle, they didn't seem to be paying any attention to Zoomer's situation.

  “How do I decide who I love more?” Zoomer asked.

  “Well I don't think you have to decide,” Dad said.

  “But there is only one me and two of them,” Zoomer insisted. “And I am pretty darn loveable!”

  Belle was busy rearranging her cage and Cola was glaring at the shower curtain from her cage.

  “Well, maybe you can love Cola for 12 hours of the day and Belle for the remaining 12 hours of the day,” Mom suggested.

  Zoomer motioned for Mom and Dad to come closer and whispered, hoping the girl bunnies wouldn't overhear. “Do you think that would bother them?”

  Belle was now munching on hay and Cola was enjoying some water, still oblivious to Zoomer's dilemma.

  “I think you'll be fine,” Mom assured the Dutch bunny.

  “Wow, thanks, that saved me a lot of stress,” Zoomer said. He turned to Cola. “Cola, I love you!”

  Cola briefly nodded at Zoomer, she was used to the professions of love.

  Then Zoomer turned to Belle. “Belle, in 11 hours and 58 minutes, I will love you!”

  Belle looked up from her hay. “OK!” and then returned to her hay.

  Duster couldn't help but chuckle, he had to admire Zoomer's determination to be quite the ladies bunny.

  Zoomer flopped, but made sure he asked Mom and Dad to let him know when it was time to tell Belle he loved her.

  CASUALTY OF CUTENESS

  Mom heard a familiar sound coming from Zoomer's cage.

  She quietly walked over and saw that he had flopped.

  “Oh so cute! Baby bunny flop! So cute!” Mom gushed.

  Zoomer had flopped over in a little ball and was now licking his paws. He stretched out when he heard Mom.

  “Mom, I'm not a baby bunny anymore. I'll soon be two years old,” Zoomer said.

  “That is true,” Mom agreed. “Alright, Zoomer, I won't call you baby bunny anymore.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Zoomer went back to grooming his paws.

  A short time later, Mom was handing out bunny breakfast.

  “And here's a carrot for Cola Bear, one for Duster Dude, one for Baby, um, sorry one for Zoomer, and one for our Little Bunny Belle,” Mom said. “Sorry, Zoomer. I have to get used to not calling you your old nickname.”

  Zoomer munched on the carrot. “That's OK, Mom.”

  That afternoon, Mom was cleaning the living room, when Belle flopped.

  “Oh so cute! Baby girl bunny flop with spots! Too cute!” Mom exclaimed.

  Belle quickly looked up. “Thanks, Mom! The Spots love to flop.”

  “And they do it very well,” Mom said.

  That evening, Zoomer flopped.

  And he waited.

  And he waited some more.

  And finally, Mom walked past on her way to the kitchen.

  But there was no commenting on how cute his flop was.

  “Hi, Mom!” Zoomer called out. “Look, I flopped!”

  “Good boy, Zoomer,” Mom said to the Dutch bunny.

  “That's it?” Zoomer asked.

  Mom stared at Zoomer.

  “But I'm still cute! My flops are still cute!” Zoomer exclaimed.

  “Of course they are. Oh so cute! Bunny flop! So cute!” Mom said.

  Zoomer frowned. “That doesn't sound as good as when you say baby bunny flop.”

  Mom nodded in agreement.

  “Alright, I am still a baby bunny! You can still call me baby bunny, Mom! Let's try this again,” Zoomer flopped a second time.

  Mom smiled. “Oh so cute! Baby bunny flop! So cute!”

  Zoomer smiled, happy to still be known as the baby bunny.

  THE BUNNY COLLECTION CONVENTION

  Zoomer was hopping around one afternoon when Mom decided to dust off her bunny statue / lawn ornament collection.

  “Wow!” Z
oomer exclaimed.

  He came around the front of the couch and found himself surrounded by bunnies. Zoomer spent a few minutes nosebonking the statues, some of them were bigger than he was!

  “Are you Mom's new recruits to her collection?” he asked.

  No bun replied.

  “It's OK, I'm shy too till I get to know every bunny,” the Dutch bunny confessed.

  He hopped up on the couch. “If I can have every bunny's attention.”

  All of the statues stared at him.

  “Thanks, my name is Zoomer. Well Mom calls me Baby Bunny but only Mom can do that,” Zoomer said matter-of-factly. “I guess I'll be your tour guide and let you know who is who around here.”

  The statues continued to stare at him.

  “We all know Mommy. She's great. And Daddy, if you haven't met him yet, he's pretty neat too. They're both lucky we adopted them,” Zoomer started.

  The statues silence confirmed they agreed.

  “First of all, I'd like to tell you about Cola,” Zoomer dropped his voice to a whisper. “Cola is a Daddy's Diva. She loves Daddy and she tolerates Mom, sometimes, usually when there are treats involved. And she is obsessed with her fur. Even if it is the worst fur day ever tell her she looks great. And Duster is her bunny. Mom has to ask Cola permission before she pets Duster. The most important thing to remember – Cola is a bunny but she thinks she is a bear.”

  Zoomer took a deep breath, expecting there to be an onslaught of bunny/bear questions. To his relief, the revelation was met with the now familiar stares.

  “Duster is a dude and he loves ladies. He likes to nap a lot, especially around 1:00 pm. And he loves Cola, the bear,” Zoomer winked at the bunnies assembled around the couch.

  “And last but not least, we have Belle. She is a baby bunny and she has spots,” Zoomer lowered his voice again. “Actually they are known as 'The Spots.' It's sort of like Cola being a bear. The Spots need to be acknowledged.”

  “The Spots are great!” Belle's voice floated over from her cage.

  “And she has great hearing apparently,” Zoomer sighed.

  The statues were quiet, obviously not wanting Belle or The Spots to over hear any comments.

  “Okay, now for the tour of the apartment. This is the living room – this is the main room we allow our parents to share with us. They have their own litterbox, they call it a bathroom. They have their own cage they sleep in but they call it a bedroom. The room where they keep the treats is called the kitchen – that's the best room in the whole place.”

  The statues were again respectfully quiet, probably in awe of the kitchen.

  “Any questions or comments?” Zoomer asked.

  No bunny appeared to have any.

  Mom came out of the bedroom just in time to catch the end of Zoomer's tour.

  She clapped. “Good work, Zoomer.”

  “Just helping out the new recruits,” Zoomer said,

  “You did a great job. So great they are all speechless!” Mom exclaimed. “Is it okay if I put them back on the shelves now?”

  Zoomer nodded.

  “But before I do that, treats for every bunny!” Mom declared.

  Zoomer binkied. “I'll give tours for treats anytime!”

  DOUBLE DUTCH

  Zoomer hopped around the living room. Mom was sorting through some of her storage bins and the baby bunny was curious. He binkied onto the couch and looked into one bin.

  “How is this possible?” Zoomer asked.

  He took a second look in the bin and then hopped off the couch – he had to find Mom right away.

  And he did. She was in the bedroom, going through another bin.

  “Mom, I've been stolen!” Zoomer exclaimed.

  “Pardon?” Mom was confused as Zoomer was obviously in front of her.

  “Someone is holding me for ransom!” Zoomer was hopping around at Mom's feet.

  “But you're right here ...” Mom said.

  “Yes, but I am out there too! Come on, we have to save me!” Zoomer insisted.

  Mom stopped what she was doing and followed Zoomer to the living room.

  “I'm in there,” the Dutch bunny pointed to the blue storage bin.

  Mom walked over, looked inside and smiled. “Zoomie, come here, it's OK.”

  Zoomer slowly hopped over and back onto the couch.

  “Take a peek and tell me what you see,” Mom said.

  Zoomer took a deep breath and looked. “I see me and I have baby bunny flopped and it's so cute.”

  Then he hopped off the couch.

  Mom reached into the bin and carefully brought out the toy bunny.

  “I bought this stuffed bunny because he looks like you,” Mom smiled.

  Zoomer sat down.

  “That's really nice, Mom,” he paused. “But I'm still your favorite Zoomer, right?”

  Mom laughed. “You are definitely my favorite Zoomer.”

  “And my baby bunny flops are cuter than my doubles, right?”

  Mom nodded.

  “Okay, can I hang out with the second me? I'm going to teach him to flop almost as cute as I do.”

  Mom sat the toy Dutch bunny on the floor next to Zoomer. When she went back into the bedroom she could hear Zoomer trying to teach the toy how to flop.

  Mom laughed. “Double Dutch bunnies, double the flops! Life is good.”

  THE HOLE TRUTH

  “Bunnies, we need to talk,” Mom appeared before Duster, Zoomer and Belle, holding her blue comforter.

  Belle stopped grooming The Spots, Zoomer stopped grooming his feet and Duster continued to nap.

  “It seems as if my comforter has been chewed or something. Some bun created quite the hole,” Mom held it up for the bunnies to see the opening in the fabric.

  Belle periscoped. “You're not pinning that on The Spots! They're innocent.”

  Mom sighed. “I know The Spots didn't do this, they don't have teeth. And I'm not blaming anyone. The responsible bunny isn't even in trouble, this is an old blanket. I just need to know who did it so I put the comforter away when that bunny is out of their cage.”

  “Not me and The Spots,” Belle repeated and then went back to grooming her spots.

  “Zoomer? Duster?” Mom asked.

  Duster was still napping and Mom was pretty sure hopping onto the uncovered storage bin she left her blanket on was too much work for Duster. That only left Zoomer. The baby Dutch bunny did like blankies and had been known to create holes in a few.

  “Hi, Zoomer, anything you may want to tell me?” Mom asked.

  “Um,” Zoomer paused and then extended his right back leg. “I got feet!”

  Mom smiled. “Yes, you do have feet. Anything about this blanket you want to tell me?”

  “Um, it's blue,” Zoomer replied.

  “Anything else?” Mom asked.

  “I love you, Mom,” Zoomer gave her his “I am the cutest baby bunny ever look.”

  Mom was trying not to smile. “I love you too, Zoomer.”

  Zoomer looked at Mom and at the blanket and then back at Mom and let out a deep sigh. “I do have to tell you about the blanket.”

  Belle's ears twitched and Duster continued napping.

  “A few days ago,” he paused for dramatic effect. “I was sleep hopping.”

  “Sleep hopping?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer nodded and continued. “And I was dreaming about digging a hole from here to Grandma and Grandpa's so they can visit more often.”

  “And?” Mom asked.

  “I guess I sleep hopped onto your blankie and dug a hole in it,” Zoomer confessed. “I thought I was dreaming but I guess I wasn't.”

  “Okay, well I guess that, um, explains it,” Mom said. “Thank you for telling me what happened.”

  Mom took the blanket, put in the storage bin and made sure she put the lid on the storage bin, just in case Zoomer had any more sleep hopping incidents.

  BABY BUNNY TOY TAKER

  “Mom, we need to talk about Dad!” Zoomer hop
ped onto the couch with Mom.

  “We do? About what?' Mom asked.

  “He took my toy,” Zoomer said.

  Mom listened.

  “He just came over to my cage and took my toy and put it up on the shelf where I can't reach it,” Zoomer was quite unimpressed.

  “I see,” Mom said. “Well, maybe we should go talk to Dad about this.”

  Zoomer hopped off the couch and followed Mom to the kitchen.

  Dad was making lunch when Mom and the Dutch bunny appeared in the doorway.

  “There he is – the baby bunny toy taker,” Zoomer thumped.

  “Oh, hi,” Dad greeted them.

  “Mom is mad, you took my toy!” Zoomer exclaimed.

  “Now, Zoomer, we have to hear Daddy's side of the story too,” Mom was trying not to smile. “Zoomer says you took his toy, anything you want to tell me?”

  Dad nodded. “Yes, I took his toy. Cause that's what I do, I go around taking toys from baby bunnies.”

  Zoomer gasped. “See! I have to warn Belle to hide her toys, she's a baby bunny too!”

  And off Zoomer hopped to warn Belle and The Spots to hide their toys.

  “Is he gone?” Dad asked.

  Mom nodded.

  “I did take his toy. The one he decided to play with at three am and woke us up. He can have it back now and we'll take it out of his cage when we go to bed,” Dad said. “I'm guessing he didn't tell you that part?”

  Now Mom did laugh out loud. “No, he didn't mention that.”

  Mom and Dad went into the living room where they found Zoomer directing Belle on how to hide her toys.

  “Quick, here he comes!” Zoomer exclaimed.

  “Zoomer, Daddy told me what happened. You can have your toy back now. But we will put it away tonight so you don't wake us up again. Does that sound fair?”

  “Oh I forgot to tell you it was that toy he took,” Zoomer murmured. “That does sound fair.”

  “That's OK,” Dad said. “But next time come talk to me first and you won't need to get all upset.”

  Zoomer nodded.

  Dad gave Zoomer back the toss toy and Zoomer began throwing it around, making as much noise as possible.

  “I have to make up for lost time and noise,” Zoomer explained.

  Mom and Dad just smiled and went into the kitchen to enjoy their lunch.

  IDENTITY INQUIRY

  “Hi, Duster Dude. Hello, Zoomer and Belle, my baby bunnies!” Mom greeted the rabbits as she walked from the kitchen to the living room.

  “Hi, Mom!” Duster binkied.

  “Hi, Mommy, I'm your baby bunny!” Zoomer and Belle chorused and then looked at each other.

  “I'm her baby bunny,” they both said at the same time.

  By now Mom was on her way into the bedroom and hadn't heard the last comment.

  “I'm her baby bunny,” Zoomer said. “I adopted her before you did.”

  Belle shook her head. “I adopted her last and I am younger than you. That makes me more of a baby bunny than you are.”

  Zoomer thumped. “I wanna be the baby bunny.”

  Belle thumped back. “Well you can't because I am.”

  Mom came into the living room.

  “Mom! Who's your baby bunny?” Belle asked.

  “Well, both of you are,” Mom replied. “Actually, and Duster will remember this, Dusty, one of

  our angel bunnies, was our first baby bunny.”

  Duster nodded. “Yes, she was. She chinned Mom's feet every time she hopped by.”

  'Does that mean we aren't your baby bunnies anymore?” Zoomer pouted.

  “Of course you're still my baby bunnies. That's why I said both your names and used the word “bunnies” and not “bunny” - make sense?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer and Belle nodded.

  “Duster can be a baby bunny too!” Mom exclaimed.

  Duster flopped, he always welcomed a new nickname.

  “Every bunny happy now?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer and Belle both nodded, happy the identity crisis was over.

  THE BOWL BOYCOTT

  Mom was cleaning Zoomer's cage. He had to hop in to inspect her work.

  Zoomer hopped in, looked around and then froze.

  “What is that?” Zoomer demanded to know.

  “It's a bowl,” Mom answered.

  “Why is it in my cage?” Zoomer asked.

  “I put your pellets in it,” Mom replied.

  Zoomer's ears went flat against his head. “I do not use a bowl for my pellets. I have my pellet corner, thank you very much.”

  “Well I thought we'd try a bowl again,” Mom said.

  Zoomer pushed the bowl out of his pellet corner. “No.”

  “Zoomer, give it a try,” Mom reasoned.

  “No!” and then Zoomer flipped the bowl, pellets went rolling all over the cage floor.

  Mom was not impressed. “Zoomer, that was not necessary.”

  “It is if I want to get my pellets into the corner,” he replied, trying to nose the pellets into a pile.

  “Zoomer, what do you have against a pellet bowl? You have a water bowl!” Mom said.

  “I can't exactly keep my water in the corner now, can I?” Zoomer asked, still rounding up his pellets.

  Mom sighed. “Since you started the pellet corner, Duster and Belle won't use pellet bowls either.”

  “They're pretty smart like me,” Zoomer gathered up the last few free roaming pellets in his cage.

  Zoomer then took the bowl and picked it up, dumping it outside his cage.

  Mom sat down in front of the Dutch bunny's cage. “OK, you win, no more bowl, we won't try ever again.”

  “Thanks, Mom! Bowls are so irritating!” Zoomer said, not offering any other explanation.

  Zoomer hopped out of his cage and continued on with his day of baby bunny flops and playing with his towel.

  THE TREAT TRANSPORTER

  Zoomer hopped up to Mom and nosebonked her ankle. “Mom, you help a baby bunny?”

  Mom nodded. “Of course, what do you need done?”

  “Too heavy for baby bunny to carry, follow me,” Zoomer hopped into the kitchen with Mom following along.

  Zoomer had managed to get the junk drawer open. He put his paws on the drawer and motioned for Mom to look.

  “I need those,” Zoomer was nodding to a roll of tape.

  Mom picked it up.

  “OK, take it to the fridge, please,” the Dutch bunny instructed.

  Mom did as requested.

  “You can put it on the floor,” Zoomer said. “And follow me please.”

  Back to the junk drawer they went. Zoomer nodded to an assortment of items – a pair of pliers, a black marker, a map – all items were placed beside the fridge.

  Zoomer then hopped into the living room. “Come on, Mom. I still need help.”

  Mom entered the living room.

  Zoomer was motioning to a foot stool. “I need that, please. Take it to the fridge.”

  Mom again did as asked.

  When she came back to the living room, Zoomer was nowhere to be found.

  “Over here, Mom!”

  Mom followed the voice to the front closet.

  “I need that,” Zoomer motioned to the Christmas wrapping paper.

  “For?” Mom asked.

  “No time for questions,” Zoomer said.

  When Mom moved the wrapping paper, Zoomer saw something that made him binky.

  “I need that!” he insisted.

  Mom looked at the fridge cart they used to move boxes with when needed. “You need the cart?”

  A baby bunny binky. “Not a cart – a treat transporter.”

  Mom was confused.

  “Trust me,” Zoomer hopped onto the cart. “To the kitchen!”

  Mom wheeled Zoomer and the wrapping paper on the cart into the kitchen. She stopped in front of the fridge and he hopped off.

  Mom looked at the assortment of items. “Exactly what are you doing?”

  Zoom
er looked around. “Looking at the mess you made!”

  Mom blinked.

  “I need to get into the fridge,” Zoomer stated.

  “Is that what all these things were for?” she asked.

  Zoomer nodded,. “But now I have the treat transporter!”

  “And how does that help?”

  Zoomer sat on the cart. “Can you open fridge and get me, Duster and Belle treats?”

  Mom once again did as requested.

  “OK, put treats on treat transporter in front of me,” Zoomer said.

  Mom obliged.

  “Now please push me into the living room and stop in front of cages,” Zoomer asked.

  Mom gently moved the cart in front of the cages.

  “Can you give Belle and Duster their treats?” Zoomer asked as he stretched out on the cart and munched on the carrot.

  Mom was trying not to laugh. “All that work when all you had to do was ask me, Zoomie.”

  Zoomer nodded. “But we got to spend time together with you helping me.”

  “True, and now I have a mess to clean up,” Mom sighed.

  “Yes and you should give yourself a treat after you do that,” Zoomer suggested.

  Mom couldn’t contain her laughter anymore, “I think I will.”

  SHELVING THE ISSUE

  “How could you do this to me?”

  Mom and Dad were in the kitchen and turned to see Zoomer periscoping in the doorway.

  “What’s wrong, Zoomie my roomie?” Mom asked.

  “You ruined everything!” Zoomer thumped.

  Mom and Dad looked at each other. “What did we do?”

  Zoomer grunted and hopped away.

  “Not sure what that was about,” Mom said.

  Then they heard the little Dutch bunny thumping his way back to the kitchen.

  “Why?” Zoomer grunted again and hopped away.

  Mom and Dad followed him to the living room.

  He had his back to them and his ears were back.

  “Zoomer?” Dad questioned.

  Zoomer could be contrary. “I’m not talking to you or Mom right now.”

  “How come?” Mom asked.

  Zoomer looked at Belle. “Can you have The Spots tell them why I am mad please?”

  Belle nodded. “The Spots say you shouldn’t have moved things on Zoomer’s shelf.”

  Mom and Dad looked at each other.

  Then Belle’s ears went back. “You really upset my boyfriend.”

  The shelf causing the turmoil was located in the far corner of the living room. Dad had kept a small tool box on the bottom shelf. Zoomer liked to lay on top of it. However, Dad had moved the tool box when he used it and hadn’t put it back. Mom had then filled up the shelf with other items and Zoomer could no longer lounge there.

  “I’m your roomie. I pay my rent in cuteness and I’m never late, you said so. I should have a say in what happens in this house,” Zoomer moped.

  “So if we put the toolbox back and you can lay down there again, you’ll be happy?” Dad asked.

  Zoomer’s ears perked up. “Yes.”

  Belle motioned for him to hop close to her cage and they conferred for a moment.

  “And you have to give us treats, right now, and then I’ll be happy again,” Zoomer said.

  Dad set about making the shelf Zoomer-approved again while Mom got the bunnies their treats.

  SNOW STOPPER

  Zoomer was laying on his shelf, watching Mom pace back and forth.

  She’d been doing it for a bit. Zoomer figured it must mean something important so he hopped down from his shelf and joined her.

  For each step Mom took, Zoomer hopped in perfect time.

  “Hi, Zoomer,” Mom said and then grumbled something.

  Belle and Duster had been watching Mom curiously.

  Mom waved her hands in the air, mumbling to herself.

  Zoomer stopped hopping for a moment, looked at Duster and Belle, and whispered. “Poor Mommy, she’s not happy about the snow.”

  “You understood that grumbling?” Duster asked.

  Zoomer nodded. “I speak fluent Mommy.”

  Mom walked over to the couch, turned on the TV and flopped down.

  Zoomer was one hop behind her.

  Mom pointed at the TV. “It’s spring, Zoomer, spring, and yet there is still snow forecasted.”

  Zoomer leaped up onto the couch, his little ears went back, showing Mom he was annoyed too.

  “I want sunshine, without flurries,” Mom muttered.

  “Me too!” Zoomer thumped.

  Mom sulked.

  Zoomer did his best to pout (which is really hard to do when you are as cute as he is).

  “I have been grouchy and miserable every time it snows,” Mom admitted. “I can’t wait for winter to be over.”

  Zoomer nosebonked her. “Mom, even if winter never ends and you are grouchy and miserable every day, me and Duster and Belle will love you forever.”

  Mom gave her Dutch bunny a pet. “Aw thanks, Zoomie.”

  “Now I’ll use my adorableness to stop the snow, okay?” Zoomer asked.

  Mom smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

  Zoomer stared at the snow-filled TV screen.

  Suddenly a picture of a sunny beach appeared. “Wow, I’m good.”

  Mom laughed at the coincidence. “So good, you and Duster and Belle deserve a treat!”

  Zoomer binkied as Mom went to get the bunnies a treat.

  BELLE

  ON THE SPOT

  “Time to clean your cage, Belle,” Mom said to the little bunny.

  “Later,” Belle replied.

  “But I did everybun else's, “ Mom said. “Yours is the last one.”

  “It's time for cutie sleep,” Belle stretched.

  Mom looked at her, this was something new.

  “Can you maybe do that in ten minutes?” Mom asked.

  “No, cutie sleep time is now,” Belle replied.

  “Are you sure?” Mom questioned.

  “Yes, tick tock and lop told me so,” Belle went about finding the perfect place to flop.

  Mom was confused. Tick tock and lop?

  Mom looked over and saw that Duster had flopped too. Then she looked at the clock. It was 1 pm. Duster's daily nap time. Now Mom understood.

  “Well, ten minutes won't cause you to lose any cuteness,” Mom assured Belle.

  “Cutie sleep not for me. It's for my spots,” Belle told Mom.

  Mom watched as Belle gently groomed her spots and then flopped.

  “Belle?” Mom whispered.

  “Cutely sleeping,” Belle whispered back. “Please do not disturb.”

  Mom sighed and knew she would have to wait till cutie sleep was over to clean Belle's cage. You just can't argue with that much cuteness.

  COUCH CAPERS

  Mom knew she heard some bunny chewing on the couch.

  “Hi, Belle,” Mom said.

  Belle let go of the fabric and hopped to face Mommy. “Hi!”

  “What were you doing?” Mom asked.

  “Nothing,” Belle replied.

  “Are you sure you weren't chewing on the couch?”

  Belle struck a cute pose. “Me?”

  Mom smiled.

  Belle binkied. “Maybe just a little bit.”

  “Remember we said no chewing on the furniture,” Mom reminded the little bunny.

  “But it's fun,” Belle said enthusiastically.

  “There are lots of other fun things to do,” Mom said.

  “But I want to do that,” Belle said.

  Mom sat down on the floor and Belle hopped up beside her. “What if I chewed on your cage?”

  “OK! I do that all the time!” Belle exclaimed.

  Mom tried not to laugh.

  Belle thought for a moment. “If you chew on my cage, can I chew on the couch?”

  Now Mom had to laugh. “No. I'm not going to chew on your cage so you can't chew on the couch.”

  “But you said you wo
uld chew on my cage,” Belle was confused.

  “How about you play in the igloo?” Mom suggested, hoping it would distract her from the couch.

  “OK!” and off Belle binkied to play in the igloo, forgetting the couch … for now.

  SPOT CLEANING

  Mom reached for a pen and started to write. Then she noticed the blue spots all over her hands.

  “Oh no,” she sighed.

  Belle hopped up to where Mom was. “What's wrong?”

  “Mommy has ink spots all over her hands,” Mom showed Belle.

  “Oh pretty, they look like the spots on my fur,” Belle perioscoped to look at Mom's hands.

  Mom smiled and headed to the bathroom to scrub her hands.

  When she came out of the bathroom, Belle was disappointed to see Mom no longer had her spots.

  “Where did the go?” she asked.

  “I used water to get them off my hands,” Mom replied.

  And then Mom set about cleaning the bunny cages.

  When she came to Belle's to clean it, the little white rabbit had to supervise. In the process of taking Belle's water bowl out of her cage to fill it with fresh water, Mom spilled some on the cage floor and her hands.

  “Oops, have to clean that up,” Mom said.

  When Mom turned to get a cloth, she noticed Belle had a piece of hay stuck to her back. Mom went to remove the hay but Belle quickly hopped away.

  “What's wrong?” Mom asked.

  “You have water on your hands, if you touch my spots the water will make them go away. I love my spots!” Belle said.

  “Belle, the spots Mommy washed off weren't always there. The ink caused them. Water can't wash away your spots.”

  “Promise?” Belle peeked around the corner of the couch.

  Mom nodded.

  “OK,'” Belle hopped back to Mom so the hay could be freed from her fur.

  Mom removed the hay and petted Belle. “See, spots are still there.”

  Belle looked inside her cage. “Mommy, I still see some water. You missed a spot.”

  Belle grinned at the joke she just made and Mom continued to clean the cage, making sure it was up to Belle's standards.

  BREAKFAST BELLE

  6:30 am, sharp.

  Bang, bang, bang.

  Mom stumbles out of the bedroom.

  “Huh, what, what's wrong?' Mom mumbles.

  Cola, Duster and Zoomer all look at the little white bunny with the grey spots banging her pellet bowl against the wall of her cage.

  “Hi!” Belle says cheerfully and binkies.

  Mom makes her way to Belle's cage.

  “Oh, scary hair,” Belle says, noticing Mom's hair is all over the place.

  Mom smiles sleepily. “Everything alright?”

  “New please,” Belle says and hops to where she expects bunny breakfast to be served.

  Mom is confused. “New?”

  “New food,” Belle explains.

  Mom was confused.

  “New food you give us?” Belle asked.

  “Bunny breakfast,” Cola, Duster and Zoomer chorused.

  “Yes, that!” Belle agreed.

  “Belle, you get bunny breakfast when Mom and Dad decide to get up, not when you decide we get up,” Mom yawned.

  “But I need it to keep my spots at their necessary cuteness level,” Belle said.

  “Can't argue with that,” Duster said.

  “Yes, her spots need to be that cute,” Zoomer agreed.

  “Breakfast, please,” Cola said.

  “It's for my spots,” Belle insisted.

  Mom knew when she was defeated and the bunnies, and Belle's spots, got their breakfast.

  VACUUM VINDICATION

  Vroom! Vroom!

  “Yikes,” Cola thumped and hopped to the far corner of her cage.

  Zoomer quickly followed her lead, hopping to the back of his.

  Belle was eating but noticed the other two rabbits behavior. “What's wrong?”

  Duster rolled over from his flop. “Vacuum cleaner.”

  “Huh?” Belle asked.

  “You'll see,” Cola muttered.

  Belle sat at the door of her cage and watched the machine pick up the random hay and bedding outside the cages.

  She didn't see what was so scary.

  Then she watched as it quickly gathered the poop she had worked so hard to leave outside her cage.

  “Not nice!” Belle said.

  Mom quickly walked by with the vacuum cleaner and finished the room. And then put the vacuum away.

  Belle started to chew on her cage.

  “Little bunny want out?” Mom asked.

  “Yes!” Belle insisted.

  Mom opened the cage door. Unlike Cola and Zoomer who would have headed in the opposite direction, Belle beelined it for the vacuum.

  Mom and Dad watched as the little bunny hopped right on up to the machine.

  “Bad! You steal my poop!” Belle said.

  No response.

  “I work hard to make that poop!” Belle thumped her little foot.

  Duster had sat up now and was watching. Cola and Zoomer were emerging from the far corners of their respective cages to observe.

  Again no reply from the vacuum.

  “Rude!” Belle scrunched up her nose.

  Now she hopped and placed her back to the vacuum.

  “Everything alright?” Dad asked.

  “Machine is noisy and greedy and rude and took all my poop!” Belle said.

  “There's lots of poop still in your litter box. We haven't cleaned it yet,” Mom said.

  Belle frowned. “It took the poop I worked hardest to make.”

  “Well I'm sure you can eat lots more yummy food and make lots more poop to leave outside your cage,” Dad said.

  “Machine clean again?” Belle asked.

  “Probably tomorrow,” Mom admitted.

  “I watch for it and warn my poop to hide,” Belle promised.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Dad agreed.

  “Bunnies always have plans,” Belle said. “Smarter than rude machine.”

  “Yes, you definitely are,” Mom and Dad both had to agree.

  “See you tomorrow. I watch for you,” Belle said to the vacuum and hopped away.

  Mom and Dad smiled as Belle quickly started to eat her hay, preparing for the return of the vacuum the next day.

  LOST IN TRANSLATION

  “Mom, come here, please!” Belle called.

  Mom entered the living room.

  “What's up?” she asked the little bunny.

  “Come here, please,” Belle persicoped.

  Mom walked till she stood in front of Belle's cage.

  “Perfect!” Belle exclaimed. “OK, please look at my eyes.”

  Mom did as requested. “Is something wrong?”

  “Shhh!” Belle insisted. “You has to be quiet so I can do this.”

  “Do what?” Mom asked.

  Belle sighed. “I'm trying to hippo-tie you.”

  “Pardon me?” Mom had never heard that before.

  “Hippo-tie you,” Belle repeated. “You know so you will do what I tell you to do. Like get us lots of treats.”

  Mom looked over at Cola. “Hippo-tie?”

  Cola smiled. “I think she meant hypnotize. Not that I gave her any ideas.”

  Zoomer and Duster struggled not to laugh.

  “Of course not,” Mom shook her head.

  “Can we please get back to what I am doing?” Belle asked.

  Mom smiled. “How about you just ask me for treats instead of trying some sort of well, mind control?”

  “It's that easy?” Belle asked.

  Mom nodded.

  “Can we have some treats please?” Belle questioned.

  “Sure. Carrots for everybun,” and off Mom went to get the bunnies their treats.

  BETTER BY BELLE

  6:30 pm

  Mom finished cleaning Belle's cage.

  “Everything is where it should be?”
Mom asked Belle, who had carefully supervised.

  Belle nodded. “Perfect.”

  “You don't need anything moved?”

  Belle shook her head. “No, perfect.”

  “Great, so everything will stay where it is till I clean your cage tomorrow evening,” Mom said.

  Belle binkied and then did bunny super sprints around the living room.

  6:30 am

  Bang! Thud!

  Mom and Dad leaped out of bed as best they could and made their way to the living room.

  “What's wrong?” Dad asked.

  Cola, Duster and Zoomer were watching Belle rearrange her cage.

  “Belle!” Mom exclaimed.

  The little bunny stopped pushing her litter box. “HI!”

  And then she resumed moving the litter box to where it apparently belonged.

  “What are you doing?”Dad asked.

  Belle hopped to the front of the cage. “Fixing.”

  “Fixing what?” Mom questioned.

  “My cage,” Belle replied.

  Mom and Dad could see how she moved things – litter box from the back to the front, hay to the back corner, pellet bowl moved over and her toys in various spots.

  “But last night you said it was perfect,” Mom said.

  “It was,” Belle agreed.

  “And that you didn't need anything moved last night,” Mom said.

  “I didn't,” Belle agreed.

  “And we were going to wait till this evening when I cleaned your cage to move anything,” Mom said.

  “I binkied,” Belle nodded.

  “So what happened? Mommy and Daddy were sleeping,” Dad said.

  “Spots,” Belle whispered.

  Mom and Dad looked at her.

  “Spots weren't happy. Wouldn't let me sleep, so you can't sleep. No one sleep till spots are happy,” Belle explained.

  “Are they happy now?” Mom asked.

  “Yes,” Belle confirmed.

  “Can they stay happy till Mom and Dad get up again?” Dad wondered.

  Belle quickly checked with her spots. “Treats and then happy and then quiet.”

  Mom and Dad raced to the fridge. Bunnies got treats, spots were happy and bunny parents got more sleep!

  THE NON-NIGHT TIME NAP

  Mom had decided to take a nap in the living room. It was right around one pm when Duster took his daily nap so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

  “Hi, Mom!” Belle binkied when she saw Mom curl up on the couch.

  “Hi, Belle. Gotta be quiet, Mommy's gonna take a nap,” Mom said and pulled the blanket around her.

  “What is a nap?” Belle asked.

  “It's like practicing for bedtime,” Mom said.

  “Ohhh … do we get practice bunny bedtime breakfast?” Belle asked.

  “Sure,” Mom said and quickly got the bunnies some shredded carrots to snack on.

  After she finished her carrots, Belle needed to know exactly why Mom needed to take a nap.

  “Mommy's a bit tired,” Mom said.

  “Oh...why?” Belle questioned.

  “Um, I guess I didn't get enough sleep,” Mom replied.

  “Why?” Belle wondered.

  “I had to answer a lot of baby bunny questions” Mom smiled.

  “OK,” Belle accepted that answer.

  “Good night, Cola, Duster, Zoomer and Belle,” Mom said and closed her eyes.

  “Pssst,” Belle whispered.

  Mom opened an eye and looked over at the little bunny.

  “It's not night time,” Belle said.

  “You're right, how about “good nap” then?” Mom asked.

  Belle binkied her approval and Mom wished the bunnies a “good nap.”

  She had just settled down when she heard a little thump. She peered over the side of the couch and saw Belle with her back to Mom.

  “Belle?” Mom asked.

  “Not happy with you,” Belle said.

  “What did I do?” Mom wondered.

  “You forgot my spots!” Belle turned to face Mom. “Now they are sad.”

  Mom sighed. “Good nap, Cola, Duster, Zoome, Belle and Belle's spots. Happy now?”

  A binky, “Yes!” and then all four bunnies settled in.

  And finally at 1:30 pm Mom got to take her nap.

  CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS FOR THE SPOTS

  Dad came into the living room and saw Mom putting gifts under the tree. He took a quick peek at the gifts.

  “Why are there five gifts here? We only have four bunnies.”

  Mom nodded. “I know. There's a special gift under there too.”

  Dad read off the name tags and then came to what he guessed was the special gift.

  “You need to redo this name tag. It's a blob of ink, not a name.”

  Mom took the gift and put it back under the tree. “No, it's fine.”

  “But who will I know to give it to if I can't read the name?” Dad handed Mom a new pen so she could re-write the name tag.

  “It's fine the way it is,” Mom insisted.

  “But who is it for? It's an ink dot,” Dad was confused.

  “Look at it again,” Mom said. “It's not a dot, it's a …”

  Dad had to fill in the blank.

  “Um, an ink drip?”

  Mom motioned for Dad to follow her out of the living room and he did.

  “The name tag is fine. It's a spot. It's a special gift for The Spots,” Mom revealed.

  “The Spots?” Dad asked.

  Mom's eyes got big,. Oh don't tell me you forgot The Spots?”

  “Belle's spots?' Dad questioned.

  “Shh,” Mom said. “I want it to be a surprise for them and Belle!”

  “You got The Spots a gift?” Dad asked.

  “Yes, I think it will help make Belle's first Christmas even more fun,” Mom replied. “And the other bunnies know about it and they can hardly wait to see her open it for The Spots.”

  “What did we get them?” Dad asked.

  Mom told him.

  “That's perfect!” Dad exclaimed. “Belle and The Spots will love that gift.”

  Mom smiled. “I hope so. I can hardly wait for Christmas morning.”

  Christmas morning …

  All of the bunnies had unwrapped their presents. Cola, Duster and Zoomer were anxiously waiting for Belle to notice the extra gift under the tree.

  And she finally did -

  “Who's that for?”

  Mom and Dad pretended not to know.

  “I can't quite read it,” Dad said.

  “Hm, maybe Belle can help us?” Mom asked.

  Belle hopped over and looked at the name tag. “It looks like a spot.” And she hopped away.

  Then she paused. “Is that a gift for The Spots?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Belle binkied,. Spots are happy” and she tore into the gift.

  Belle quickly pulled the gift out into the open.

  “It's white, like me,” Belle said. “And it has spots, like me! What is it?”

  Dad laughed. “It's a brush.”

  “What does that do?” Belle nosed the white brush with black spots.

  Mom picked it up and brushed her spots. “It helps keep The Spots looking fantastic.”

  Belle stretched out. “The Spots like this brush gift.”

  The Spots liked their brush so much they insisted that Cola, Duster and Zoomer all be brushed as well!

  It was a truly wonderful Christmas for Cola, Duster, Zoomer, Belle and their Mom and Dad … and The Spots!

  Wishing everyone and everybun a Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays, Wonderful Winter & all the best for 2013.

  A-DOOR-A-BELLE

  “Oh, new room!” Belle exclaimed and hopped on into the bedroom.

  It only took a minute for Mom and Dad to notice the baby bunny was missing. After looking in

  all the usual hiding places they ventured into the bedroom.

  There was Belle, rearranging the blankies.
<
br />   “Hi, Belle,” Mom said.

  “Hi, busy, busy,” Belle replied.

  “We can see that. Remember you aren't supposed to go into other rooms without Mom and Dad,” Dad reminded her.

  Belle bunny shrugged. “The Spots idea.”

  Mom couldn't help but laugh. “Of course it was.”

  Belle nodded, still fixing the blankets. “Spots were bored. Needed more room.”

  “More room?” Dad asked.

  “Yes! A whole new room,” Belle binkied.

  “How convenient that you just happened to hop into here,” Mom said.

  “Isn't it?” Belle agreed, stretching out on the bed.

  “OK, adventure time is over. Time to hop out back to the living room,” Dad said.

  Belle looked at The Spots. “No.”

  Mom and Dad looked at each other. “Come on, Belle and Spots, time to hop.”

  Belle grumbled as her parents ushered her out of the room. She hopped under the computer chair and waited for the parents to be distracted and then she could make her return to the blankies.

  Belle waited, waited – Mom and Dad started to clean the cages. Belle hopped towards the bedroom only to discover a wall where the entrance had been.

  Belle thumped and her parents turned to see what the commotion was.

  “What's wrong?” Dad asked.

  “This!” Belle pointed to the door. “A new wall grew?”

  “Belle, that's the bedroom door. It's always been there we just never closed it before,” Mom answered.

  “Then why close it now?” Belle thumped.

  “Because a certain little bunny went into the room when she knew she wasn't supposed to without her parents,” Dad replied.

  “It was The Spots!” Belle insisted.

  “And who helped The Spots get there?” Mom asked. “The Spots can't get there on their own.”

  Belle turned her back to her parents.

  Mom and Dad resumed cleaning the bunny cages.

  “I forgot something in there,” Belle said.

  “What did you forget?” Mom wondered.

  “To finish my nap!” Belle exclaimed, hoping her adorableness would win.

  Dad laughed. “That's a good one but it won't work.”

  Belle periscoped and put her paws on the door, trying to push it open. But it wouldn't budge.

  “Do you hear that?” Belle asked.

  Mom and Dad turned to look at her.

  “The blankies are calling my name! They need me to finish rearranging them,” Belle said with a smile.

  Mom and Dad know when the bunny wins.

  Dad walked over and opened the door so Belle could hop on in.

  “Thank you! Blankies, Belle is back!” she hopped onto the bed to finish fixing the blankies and taking her nap!

  SPOT