“You should put your bunny away at night,” my neighbor said
retrieving the newspaper from his driveway.
“We don’t have a bunny, Harold,” I said fetching the paper
from my driveway.
“He was in your yard.”
“We don’t have a bunny.”
“He’s white.”
“We don’t have a
bunny!”
“Yeah… right.”
Harold held plenty of opinions that I didn’t espouse most
famous among them were that: grass was the best garden plant; guns were great
at repelling squirrels and the prettiest woman’s outfit was a poodle skirt and
saddle shoes. But this bunny business was different because it didn’t deal with
opinions but cold, hard facts. Fact: I
lived in my house and I’d never seen a bunny in the yard. Fact: Harold was
86 years old so maybe his brain was playing tricks on him? Or maybe he’d dreamt
of the bunny in our yard? Or maybe Harold was just plain blind. I needed a
second opinion.
“Have you seen a bunny in our yard?” I asked Mr. Wonderful
as I laid the newspaper on the table. Mr. Wonderful shook his head while biting
into his egg salad sandwich.
“Harold says we had one in our yard.”
“He also says we’re idiots for killing our grass,” he said.
“That’s his opinion.”
“In his mind, it’s a fact that we’re idiots.”
Mr. Wonderful had a point about Harold. I went outside to
look at my plants for any bunny nibble damage.
“Happy Saturday!” our neighbor Charles said grinning and
waving. “Hey, your bunny is cute.”
“Charles, we don’t have a bunny,” I said.
“He was in your yard last night.”
“We don’t have a bunny.”
“He’s white.”
“We don’t have a
bunny!”
“Take it easy,” he said backing into his house fast.
First Harold, now Charles?! This bunny business was sweeping
the neighborhood! It was epidemic
like the plague, the flu or lactose intolerance. I marched to the corner to
clear my head. Passing by Jerry’s garden I caught the scent of roses in the
air. I paused to smell his crimson blooms.
“Your bunny is real cute,” Jerry said popping up behind a rose bush wearing his San
Francisco 49ers baseball cap.
“We don’t have a bunny!”
“I saw him in your yard last night,”
“We don’t have a bunny!”
"But I saw him--"
"There isn't a bunny," I said marching off to the park and leaving Jerry speechless. This walk around the neighborhood would calm my nerves and help settle the score. All of my closest neighbors said they’d seen “our” bunny. Were they playing some big joke on me? I checked the date, it wasn’t April Fool’s Day, but still I felt like a fool that all of our neighbors had seen a bunny in our yard and I hadn’t.
"But I saw him--"
"There isn't a bunny," I said marching off to the park and leaving Jerry speechless. This walk around the neighborhood would calm my nerves and help settle the score. All of my closest neighbors said they’d seen “our” bunny. Were they playing some big joke on me? I checked the date, it wasn’t April Fool’s Day, but still I felt like a fool that all of our neighbors had seen a bunny in our yard and I hadn’t.
After several laps around the park I returned home just as
our yard was cast in afternoon shadow. When suddenly right in front of
our house, nibbling on my baby nasturtiums, I saw it: The bunny! It was white and so cute. But it
didn’t belong to us. It belonged to Harold, Charles, Jerry and everyone who saw
it because it was… our Easter Bunny.
Happy Easter! Wishing you joyful beginnings at this splendid
time of year!
Popping in for A-Z. We have too many bunnies in our yard, though they aren't white. They drive me crazy, eating the tops of all my flowers. I've shored up the area beneath the deck and hubby's blocked what he can beneath the shed. We've put out moth balls...said to keep them away. We've chased them, sighhhh. They leave little piles everywhere too. They are NOT cute! Want some? lol
ReplyDeleteHi Sandy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and for your comment about your multiple bunny situation. Luckily I don't have your problem! I've heard that putting soap around your special plants will prevent rabbits from eating them! Maybe that will help you?
Good luck, you animal lover!
With A-Z Challenge best wishes,
Alicia