by Swapna Reddy
“I think so.” Millie picked up Trixie and nuzzled the bunny’s fur against her cheek.
“When I’m nervous, I take some deep breaths in and out. It helps me calm down,” Trixie said. “I can show you if you want.”
“Yes please,” Millie replied.
She sat on the floor. Trixie and the other three bunnies joined her.
“Shut your eyes,” Trixie told them.
Millie and the bunnies closed their eyes obediently.
“Now breathe in,” Trixie said.
They all inhaled.
“And breathe out,” she said, nodding as they exhaled their deep breaths.
“In.”
“Out.”
“In.”
“Out.”
“Zzzzzzzzz.”
Millie opened her eyes to find that Trixie’s calming breaths had put the tiniest of the bunnies right to sleep. Pod giggled, and Fifi had to put a paw over Pod’s mouth to stop him from waking Trixie. Millie picked Trixie up and gently placed her in a popcorn-tray bed.
“Bunny fluff!” Fifi exclaimed. “I’ve just had an idea!”
She hopped toward Millie’s watering can and jumped in.
Millie peered in, and the little bunny peered back up, her eyes shiny with excitement.
“Dolly could be inside your watering can while you dance, and that way you won’t be alone,” Fifi said. “She’ll remind you to have fun!” The little bunny spun a pirouette inside the can. “Pod could make a seat from some of the old programs, and it will be just like a ride at the fair.”
Dolly leapt up and down as she and Millie squealed with glee at the idea of being onstage together in the show.
Performance night arrived. Miss Luisa was wandering around backstage, checking costumes and props, while the students slipped on their ballet shoes and talked through their routines. The noise in the theater hall was building as families and friends filled the rows and rows of seats.
Millie smoothed down the petals of her tutu and patted her hair, which Mom had pulled up into a neat bun high on her head. Mom had even added some sparkles to Millie’s cheeks before wishing her luck and heading into the hall to find a front-row seat.
“Please leave your props at the side of the stage,” Miss Luisa called out. “And good luck, everyone,” she said, giving them all a huge thumbs-up.
Millie squinted to look inside her watering can. Dolly was strapped in tight to a padded seat that Pod had made from some old programs and a ticket book.
“Are you okay in there?” Millie asked.
“Yes.” Dolly looked up with a big grin. “Are you okay out there?”
Millie tried to nod, but her tummy felt like it had a swarm of butterflies inside it, trying hard to escape.
“Let’s all try Trixie’s calming breaths,” Dolly said.
They breathed in and out and in and out. With every breath, Millie felt the churning feeling in her tummy lessen, as though she were blowing out the butterflies with each lungful.
Millie gave Dolly a tiny kiss on the head before placing the watering can down with the other props. She took her place next to Samira. Then the curtains came apart.
The performance was about to begin.
“Flower fairies,” Miss Luisa whispered to the children. “You’re up next!”
Millie tore her eyes away from the older students, who were halfway through their swan dance. She rushed toward the props to find her watering can and Dolly.
“Good luck, Millie,” Samira said as she hurried past with her own can. “See you up there!”
“Good luck, Samira,” Millie whispered back excitedly.
She reached the side of the stage and looked for her pink can. It wasn’t there. It wasn’t where she’d left it. She checked behind the curtain, under the table, and in the boxes. She searched the backpacks and the lunch boxes. Her watering can had completely disappeared.
“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no,” she whispered, panicked.
“What’s wrong, Millie?” Fifi asked, hopping over with Pod and Trixie. “We just came to wish you and Dolly good luck.”
“My watering can is gone!” Millie said, hunting through the folds of the curtain again. “And Dolly’s inside.”
Her hands shook as she shoved her way through boxes of costumes, dumping them onto their sides, searching for the little bunny.
Millie suddenly stopped. There on the floor where her watering can had been was a blue petal. A blue petal from a blue flower tutu.
“Amber!” Millie cried. “Amber took the can, and Dolly too.”
“Don’t worry, Millie,” Fifi reassured her. “Dolly’s made of tough bunny fluff. We’ll find her.”
Catching Dolly’s scent, the bunnies dashed off behind the stage. Millie sprinted after them.
“She’s here somewhere!” Pod said, his long ears twitching. “I can hear her!”
“I can’t hear anything,” Millie said as the swan song blared loudly backstage.
“She’s definitely here,” Pod said. “I can hear her thumping her feet.”
“In here!” Fifi shouted, jumping up and down by a closed trash can. “I think Dolly’s in here.”
Millie yanked off the lid. There, inside the dark bin, was her pink watering can and an agitated—but safe—Dolly.
Millie lifted Dolly out of the watering can and hugged her close. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” Dolly huffed. “That Amber took our can and dumped it in the trash.”
“I thought so,” replied Millie, before telling her about the blue petal.
“I could have climbed out, but the lid was too heavy,” Dolly said. “Thankfully, Amber didn’t see me.”
The last few lines of the swan song played. There were only a few seconds left before Millie had to be onstage.
“I think we have a show to do,” Dolly said, hearing the music die down.
She jumped out of Millie’s hands and back into the watering can.
“Are you sure?” Millie asked.
“Yes!” Dolly grinned. “Not even Amber can ruin our fun tonight.”
“There you are!” Samira said as Millie skidded to a stop by her friend. “We’re on!”
The music for their performance began, and the flower fairies took to the stage. A feeling of calm came over Millie when she spotted Mom, whooping for her louder than anyone else in the audience.
Millie felt her body rock and sway to the music as she bobbed up and down in time with the others. She had been so busy trying to find Dolly backstage that she hadn’t had time to feel nervous.
Dolly cheered Millie on the whole way through the performance. And not once did Millie feel nervous! When the song ended, she just wanted it to start all over again so she could dance some more.
The crowd was on their feet as Millie and her class curtsied and bowed. The sea of seats was now an ocean of smiles. Samira grabbed Millie’s hand, and she and Millie took another curtsy as the crowd cheered even louder. Out of the corner of her eye, Millie spotted Amber stomping off the stage.
Millie stuck out her chin and thrust her shoulders back before taking a final curtsy. As she lowered her head, she spotted Dolly beaming up at her with pride.
“You did it!” the little bunny whispered.
Millie’s heart felt so full. She couldn’t wait for the gala performance next year.
Basic ballet moves
First position
Second position
Third position
Fourth position
Fifth position
Glossary of ballet terms
Arabesque—Standing on one leg, the dancer extends the other leg out behind them.
Barre—A horizontal bar at waist level on which ballet dancers rest a hand for su
pport during certain exercises.
Demi-plié—A small bend of the knees, with heels kept on the floor.
En pointe—Dancing on the very tips of the toes.
Grand plié—A large bend of the knees, with heels raised off the floor.
Pas de deux—A dance for two people.
Pirouette—A spin made on one foot, turning all the way around.
Plié—A movement in which the dancer bends the knees and straightens them again while feet are turned out and heels are kept on the floor.
Relevé—A movement in which the dancer rises on the tips of the toes.
Sauté—A jump off both feet, landing in the same position.
Taking the bunnies home in her bag was going to be tricky. They were far too heavy for Millie to be able to skip all the way home the way she usually did with Mom. And if she didn’t skip, Mom might start asking questions.
So Millie kept Trixie tucked up away in her pocket, while Dolly snuck into Millie’s bag.
“We can follow behind and keep out of sight,” Pod and Fifi had agreed.
Millie kept Mom as distracted as possible on the way home, asking her questions about her day and sharing stories from the last ballet class.
Just a few doors away from their house, Mom stopped suddenly and spun around to look behind Millie, who turned to see that Fifi and Pod must have darted behind a nearby tree trunk to stand as still as statues.
“Mom?” Millie started. She bounced nervously from foot to foot and held on to Trixie a little tighter.
Mom shook her head and turned back. “I thought someone was behind us,” she said, confused, before skipping on beside Millie all the way to their front door.
* * *
“That was close!” Dolly said as she scrambled out of Millie’s bag the moment the four bunnies were safely in Millie’s bedroom.
Pod picked out a leaf from his fur. “I told you we should have hidden behind that mailbox, Fifi.”
“Oh, bunny fluff,” Fifi said, dismissively. “We’re all here now, aren’t we?”
She bounced up and down on Millie’s bed, before lying back in the soft sheets. “This is going to be the best bunny vacation ever,” she said, grinning at the others.
Trixie yawned, and her nose twitched as Millie placed her carefully down by her musical jewelry box. The little bunny popped open the lid to see the tiny ballerina inside begin to rotate to the tune from the box. Fifi, Pod, and Dolly giggled with glee, and together all four bunnies pirouetted around the box in time with the twinkly melody.
Award-winning author Swapna Reddy, who also writes as Swapna Haddow, lives in New Zealand with her husband and son and their dog, Archie.
If she wasn’t writing books, she would love to run a detective agency or wash windows because she’s very nosy.
Binny Talib is a Sydney-based illustrator who loves to create wallpaper, children’s books, and anything else she can draw all over. She likes drinking dandelion tea and is inspired by Jasper, her rescue cat.
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