Karen's Bunny

by Ann M. Martin

  Andrew opened his mouth.

  “Wait!” I said. “Get on your hands and knees. Act like a cat.”

  Andrew crawled around on the floor.

  Next to Andrew, Princess was sitting on my sweater. (I had left it on the floor by accident.) She was just sitting there, so I looked back at the script.

  I said, “Okay, Mommy.” I looked at Andrew.

  “Meow!” he said very loudly. Princess jumped, and Spot hopped out of my bookcase.

  I giggled. “You sounded so hungry, you scared Spot and Princess.”

  “What does Spot have in his mouth?” asked Andrew. He crawled closer to his bunny, but Spot hopped away. Andrew cornered him and picked him up.

  “It had better not be more furniture,” I said. I sat down next to Andrew and looked at Spot’s mouth. Some paper fell out of it. “Uh-oh.”

  I went to my bookshelf. Sure enough, Spot had nibbled on one of my books. “Spoo-ot,” I moaned.

  “I am sorry, Karen,” said Andrew. “I did not know what he was doing.”

  “It is not your fault,” I said. “We just have to watch them better.” I pushed the nibbled book to the back of the shelf.

  Just to make sure, I decided to check on Princess. She was lying nicely on the sweater that Nannie had knit for me.

  “This is no place for a rabbit,” I told her. “You may sleep on your towel. I am going to put my sweater away.” But when I picked Princess up, a piece of yarn dangled from her mouth. I lifted her into the air, and the yarn came with her. A chunk of my sweater was missing!

  “Oh, no!” I cried. “Oh, Princess, how could you? My beautiful sweater.”

  “Karen, may I come in?” said Mommy from outside my door.

  Andrew and I stared at each other.

  “Um, just a minute,” I called.

  “Is there a problem?” asked Mommy.

  I sighed. I had kept secrets from Mommy before. I had found out that it was a Big Mistake. It just makes everything worse.

  “Come in, Mommy,” I said. I sat on the floor, holding Princess. Princess flicked her ears at me and wiggled her nose. She still had yarn hanging out of her mouth. I felt terrible. I wanted to crawl under my bed and not come out.

  “I wanted to ask if you would set the — what is Princess eating?” asked Mommy.

  “My sweater,” I said. “The one Nannie made me.” Then I burst into tears.

  The Vet

  Guess what. My poor sweater was not the only problem. It is dangerous for animals to eat yarn. It could hurt them. So we took Princess to our vet, Dr. Selwyn. It was an emergency.

  Dr. Selwyn is also Rocky’s and Midgie’s doctor. She is gigundoly nice. Dr. Selwyn examined Princess. Then she asked me to please sit in the waiting room.

  Andrew and I read magazines about dogs and cats.

  “The bunnies sure have been a lot of trouble so far,” I said.

  “But they are a lot of fun,” said Andrew.

  “Yes, they are,” I said. “But even Emily Junior is better behaved than they are. And she is only a rat.”

  Finally Mommy said we could come back in the examining room.

  Princess was sitting on the table, looking sad. I stroked her ears and her back.

  “Is she okay?” I asked.

  Dr. Selwyn nodded. “Fortunately, I was able to take out the yarn. But it could have been very serious. She could have needed an operation. So please be careful in the future.”

  I nodded. “I will, I promise. Thank you very much for helping her.”

  “No problem,” said Dr. Selwyn.

  * * *

  Guess what again. Vets cost money, just like regular doctors. So Mommy wasn’t too happy about Princess needing a vet. She said that Andrew and I had to keep Spot and Princess in their laundry baskets.

  * * *

  Seth brought home the hutch on Thursday, and put it in the living room. It was very beautiful. It was huge. The top of it came up to my stomach. The lid lifted up on a hinge. Inside were three levels for Spot and Princess to play on. There was a small room where they could sleep. At the bottom was a shelf lined with newspapers. To clean the hutch, we pulled out the shelf, bundled up the newspapers, and put down fresh ones.

  “Oh, Seth, it is perfect,” I cried. “Thank you so much. It is a bunny palace.”

  “I am glad you like it,” he said.

  Andrew and I put our bunnies in the hutch right away. They liked their new home. They hopped around and sniffed and climbed the ramps and explored their bedroom. We put food in a bowl, and attached their water bottle to the side. I placed a folded towel in their bedroom. They seemed very happy.

  Someone was not too happy, though. Rocky, Seth’s cat. He did not like the bunnies one bit. We had kept Rocky out of our rooms while the bunnies were in their laundry baskets, but now they were in a hutch with wire-mesh sides. He could see them. They could see him.

  Rocky sat outside the hutch and growled in a mean-cat kind of way. The bunnies ran around in circles, squeaking loudly.

  “Stop it, Rocky,” I said sternly. “You are not being very nice.”

  “I guess we have to keep Rocky away from the bunnies,” said Mommy.

  “It is too cold to keep the bunnies outside,” said Seth. “And the hutch won’t fit in the den. Maybe the dining room? Then we can shut the doors and keep poor Rocky out.”

  I do not know why he said “poor Rocky.” Rocky was the one being mean.

  “Oh, dear,” said Granny. “This has turned into so much trouble.”

  Mommy smiled at her. “We are just taking it one step at a time,” she said.

  So we moved the bunnies into the dining room. Rocky sat waiting outside the closed door. I frowned at him. He was not helping the situation any.

  * * *

  “I have some news,” Andrew said Friday night at dinner.

  “What is it, dear?” asked Granny.

  I buttered a piece of cornbread. “I hope it is not about Spot,” I said.

  “No.” Andrew grinned. Spot and Princess had been very good since they had been in their hutch.

  “It is about our unit on families,” said Andrew. “Miss Jewel told us that some families do not have homes to live in.”

  “Yes, remember?” I said. “When we visited Maxie in New York, I helped her give some toys to kids who live in a shelter. To kids whose families do not have a home to live in.” Maxie Medvin is my pen pal.

  “Well, there are homeless families here in Stoneybrook,” said Andrew. “My class is going to have a food drive. Everyone is supposed to collect canned food from three neighbors. Then we will take the food to the Family Pantry. That is a place that helps feed homeless families.”

  “That is a very good idea,” said Seth.

  “I will ask the Druckers, the Daweses, and the Barneses if they will help you,” said Mommy.

  “Okay,” said Andrew happily.

  Hmm, I thought. Just three neighbors. That will not be very much food. If Andrew collected food from everyone we know on the street, now, that would be something. Then Andrew would have the most food of anyone in his class. And Miss Jewel would be very impressed.

  I decided to come up with a plan to help Andrew. After all, what are big sisters for?

  Born to Be Wild

  On Saturday morning I bounced out of bed and ran to my window. It was a clear, sunny spring day.

  “Andrew! Andrew!” I called, running into his room. “It is beautiful outside. Let’s take the bunnies into the backyard and let them play. I am sure they could use the fresh air and exercise.”

  “Okay,” said Andrew. He rolled out of bed. “Spot will be happy to go out of the hutch.”

  We ate breakfast very quickly.

  “I think I will join you in the yard,” said Granny. “Is that all right?”

  “Yes, please, Granny,” I said. “You can help judge the bunny races.” Granny was still very worried about the bunnies being trouble. I wanted her to see how much fun they were too.

 
; * * *

  Outside, the grass was still short and brown, but there were a few tiny new leaves on our trees. In the garden were some crocuses, tulips, and daffodils. There was no snow anywhere. I felt very frisky.

  “Spring, spring, spring,” I sang.

  Granny sat on our glider on the patio and watched us.

  Spot and Princess loved being outside. We put their long leashes on. (We had bought them at the pet store.) The bunnies hopped around on their leashes while we ran after them. Their little noses wiggled as they sniffed the clean spring air. They sat up on their hind legs and looked around. They even nibbled some brown grass.

  “In the summer they can eat tons of fresh green grass,” I told Granny.

  “Maybe they will eat so much grass that Seth will not have to mow the lawn,” said Andrew.

  “You will have very, very fat rabbits if they eat that much!” said Granny.

  I liked seeing Granny laugh. For a long time after Grandad died, she had not even smiled.

  We tried to hold bunny races, but Spot and Princess were too excited about being outside. They could not concentrate. So we let them hop wherever they wanted. Then we sat on the grass by Granny and held their leashes while they played. Granny told us stories about growing up in Nebraska.

  “When I was a girl, my mother did all the cooking on an old-fashioned cookstove,” Granny said. “We burned corncobs in it to make heat. It was my job to collect the cobs and keep them piled in a basket by the stove.”

  She had many interesting stories to tell us. I liked hearing about things a long time ago.

  “You should write down these stories, Granny,” I said. “You could call them Little House in Nebraska.”

  Granny laughed. “Maybe I will,” she said. “But right now I’m getting chilly. I am going to go inside.”

  “I am getting chilly too,” said Andrew. “Let’s go ask Mommy to make us some hot chocolate.” He stood up. “Come on, Spot.” He tugged on Spot’s leash. He tugged on it again. Then he pulled the whole leash out from under a shrub. It was empty.

  “Oh, no!” I gasped. “Spot has escaped!”

  * * *

  If you do not have a bunny or other small animal, you might not know that when they disappear they are very, very hard to find.

  Andrew and Granny and I searched everywhere in our yard for Spot (after I had locked Princess in the hutch inside. She had not escaped, thank heavens.). We looked under bushes. We looked behind trees. We looked under our car with a flashlight.

  “Spot is gone,” said Andrew. Tears rolled down his cheeks. “He is gone forever.”

  “No, do not think that, Andrew,” I said. “We will find him, I am sure.” I tried to be a positive big sister.

  When Mommy saw what we were doing, she and Seth came to help us look. She did not say anything, but I knew what she was thinking: Those bunnies are trouble.

  After almost two whole hours of looking, Andrew sat on our front steps. “Oh, Spot,” he cried. “How could you run away?”

  “He did not know better,” Seth said. “He was just exploring. He did not mean to run away.” He sat by Andrew and put his arm around him. Andrew leaned against Seth and cried. Seth was being gigundoly nice, but I could tell he thought Spot and Princess were pains in the neck.

  Soon practically everyone in the neighborhood was peering under parked cars, crawling under bushes, and calling, “Spot! Spot!”

  I was just about to break the news to Andrew that Spot might be gone for good when Mrs. Drucker, our neighbor across the street, called me.

  “Karen,” she said. “Is this your rabbit?” She held up Spot by the scruff of his neck, like a cat. Spot did not seem to mind. He was eating something.

  “Spot!” cried Andrew. He leaped off of our steps, and I held his hand as we crossed the street. Mrs. Drucker handed Spot to Andrew, then stood with her arms across her chest. She did not look happy.

  Andrew kissed Spot’s head. Spot wiggled his nose. “I am so glad to see you,” said Andrew. “I was so worried.”

  “Thank you very much, Mrs. Drucker,” Mommy said. She had followed us across the street. “Where on earth did you find him?”

  “He was in my garden,” said Mrs. Drucker. She sounded annoyed. “He ate the tops off most of my prize-winning hyacinths.”

  “Oh, dear,” said Mommy. “I am very sorry.”

  “The garden show is next weekend,” said Mrs. Drucker. “Now I have nothing to enter.”

  Mommy sighed. “I am really so very sorry about this, Mrs. Drucker. I do not blame you for being upset. I wish I could make it up to you somehow.”

  “I am very sorry,” said Andrew. “It is my fault. Spot escaped by accident.”

  “It will never happen again,” I promised Mrs. Drucker.

  “Well, bunnies can be tricky,” said Mrs. Drucker. “Just keep them out of our yard.”

  “We will,” said Andrew. “Spot will never get loose again. Ever.”

  “Okay, kids, let’s go home,” Mommy said. “Spot has caused enough trouble for one day.”

  We apologized again to Mrs. Drucker, and then we took Spot home and locked him in the hutch.

  “We need to talk,” said Mommy.

  Free Bunnies to a Good Home

  “I would like to call a family conference,” Mommy said after lunch that day.

  Andrew and I looked at each other.

  “We need to discuss the bunny situation,” Mommy continued. “Andrew, how do you feel about it?”

  “I love Spot,” Andrew said, looking at his plate. “He is fun and I like playing with him. He is my own pet, and he is less shy than Bob.”

  “Karen?” said Mommy.

  “Princess is adorable,” I said. “She is sweet, and cute, and furry.”

  “Those things are all true,” said Mommy. “I have to admit that I think the bunnies are cute too. And they are sweet animals. They do not mean to do bad things. But they have caused a great deal of trouble ever since they arrived.”

  “Not only to us, but now to our neighbors,” Seth added. “That is not fair to them.”

  I nodded.

  “Do you remember why we decided we could not keep our new puppy?” Mommy asked.

  Andrew and I nodded.

  “It was too difficult,” Mommy reminded us.

  “You want us to get rid of the bunnies?” asked Andrew. He looked very sad.

  “Yes, I do,” Mommy said.

  “I am very sorry, Andrew and Karen,” said Granny. “And Seth and Lisa. This is my fault. I guess I am too used to life on a farm. On a farm it would not be too much trouble to have a couple of rabbits. I am very sorry.”

  I did not want Granny to feel bad. “It is okay, Granny,” I said. “You did not know. And I have had a lot of fun with Princess so far. But I think Mommy is right. I think we need to find Princess another home. One that is better for rabbits.”

  Andrew sniffled.

  “Andrew?” said Seth. “Do you agree? It will be difficult if Spot causes any more damage.”

  Andrew nodded his head. “I guess it is too hard.” He thought for a moment. “Maybe when I am older.”

  Mommy and Seth did not make any promises about getting another pet when Andrew is older. Instead, Mommy went to the phone and began calling local pet stores. They would be able to find good new homes for Spot and Princess.

  I felt very sad, but you know what? I also felt relieved. Princess was adorable, but she had gotten me in trouble a bunch of times. It would be nice to be able to relax again.

  * * *

  “We have a problem,” Mommy said an hour later. “All the pet stores already have too many bunnies, chicks, and baby ducks. Many people get them in Easter baskets, and then decide they cannot take care of them. No one wants two more bunnies — not even for free.”

  “Can we keep them, then?” Andrew asked.

  “No,” said Mommy. “We need another solution.”

  “I know, I know!” I said. “Remember when I found homes for th
e five kittens we found in Daddy’s toolshed?” (A stray cat had had them.) “I did a good job of finding homes for them. Now I will find good homes for our two bunnies.”

  “That would be wonderful, Karen,” said Mommy. “We can keep the bunnies until you find new homes for them. But please hurry.”

  “I will get to work on it right away,” I said.

  Making Plans

  “I wish I could take her,” said Nancy. It was Sunday afternoon. I had asked Nancy to come over. I had told her all about our bunny trouble. And how we had to find new homes for Spot and Princess.

  “I wish you could too,” I said. “Then I could visit her all the time.”

  We had taken Princess out of her dining-room hutch. Now she was on the floor in my room. We were watching her very carefully. With two people guarding one bunny, it was a lot easier.

  “You are probably wondering why I called you here today,” I said. I had heard people say that in movies.

  Nancy looked at me. “I thought you wanted to ask me about Princess,” she said.

  “No. I need your help,” I replied dramatically.

  “Okay,” said Nancy. She did not ask why, or what for. She just said yes. That is because she is one of my very best friends.

  I smiled at her. “Andrew has to collect food for a food drive for his class. He is planning to ask only three neighbors. But I want him to do the best in his class. I thought that if we collected a lot of cans, then Andrew could take them to school. Maybe he would even win a prize for collecting the most food.”

  “That is a great idea,” said Nancy. “How should we do it? Mommy would probably not be too happy if I cleaned out our pantry.”

  “No,” I agreed. “I thought we should go up and down our street. We could ask all of our neighbors to help out.”

  “We should only go to neighbors we know,” Nancy said. “Like on Halloween. And only while it is light outside.”

  “Okay,” I said. “And can we use your wagon to hold all the food?”

  “Sure,” said Nancy. “Should we start right now?”

  “I have to help Andrew with his play in a little while,” I said. “Let’s start tomorrow after school.”