by Q Schoenberg
pointed to the hall that led to the bathroom.
Rudy finished his bath and came out into the living room where his Mom sat in her favorite chair. “So, young man, would you like to explain how you got so dirty today? I will be cleaning the floors for two days to get them back to normal.” She said. Rudy stood with his ears flopped to the sides and his hands in his pockets and was sliding his foot on the floor, back and forth in front of him. “Well Mom, me and my friends were digging a hole and a tunnel like the one we have here at home. That’s all.” “My friends and I.” His Mom corrected. “Yes, sorry, my friends and I were digging.” “Well,” his mother said. I don’t want to see that much dirt in this house again young man. Do you understand?” “Yes Mom, I understand, Sorry!” Rudy didn’t want to tell his mom that they were digging a tunnel all the way to the carrot field to get the carrots. He wanted to get all the carrots they would need for the winter and then be the heroes of the neighborhood. That would be great. Rudy finished his dinner and then went to bed and was fast asleep.
The next morning, Rudy woke up and went to the kitchen to get some breakfast, but when he looked in the cupboard, there were only a few carrots left, and a handful of berries. This made him very upset. We have to get that tunnel done today, he thought and he ran out the door and went to meet his friends.
Rudy joined his friends who were already digging in the tunnel. Randy was watching for the dog while Harry was in the tunnel. After a long day of digging, Rudy, Harry and Jerry heard Randy scream from deep down in the tunnel. They could barely hear him because he was so far away. Rudy jumped down into the hole and started scurrying through it as fast as he could, because he was worried that the dog got his friend somehow. As Rudy was moving along, Randy came from the other direction and ran right into him. Dirt fell on both of them from the top of the tunnel. “Are you OK?” Rudy asked. “Of course I am,” Randy said. “Come with me, I have to show you something.” They went down the tunnel together. When they got to the end of the tunnel and Rudy looked up to where Randy was pointing while hopping up and down very happily, and couldn’t believe his eyes. Randy started telling Rudy that when he was down here digging, the tunnel ceiling fell down and made a giant room, like a big dark cave. Rudy looked across the ceiling of the cave and saw hundreds and hundreds of carrots pointing down at them like little orange pop-cycles hanging from the ceiling waiting to be eaten.
Rudy and Randy, with the help of their other two friends dug out the rest of the dirt from the tunnel that fell from the ceiling and added it to the large dirt pile by the woods. Then, all four of them started pulling the carrots down from the ceiling and putting them into the pails they used for the dirt and taking them out of the hole on their side of the fence. Each time they pulled a carrot from the ceiling, it left a little hole that let some light into the cave they now had.
After pulling down all the carrots they could see, the ceiling had so many holes in it that it looked like a ceiling full of stars. All four rabbits stood there looking at it for a few minutes before leaving the tunnel to go up on their side of the fence with a ton of carrots. Randy and Rudy went to their homes to tell all the adults in the neighborhood about the carrots they had while Jerry and Harry waited by the pile. Rudy saw his Dad just over a hill, sitting in a circle with some of the other adults talking. They went up to them and jumped up and down yelling and screaming happily, telling the adults about the carrots. “What are you two yelling about?” Rudy’s Dad asked as he grabbed Rudy by the shoulders to settle him. “We have all the carrots we need for winter, Dad.” Rudy said back. He was so happy. “Come with us and we will show you.” All the adults followed the two young rabbits back to the giant pile of carrots and couldn’t believe their eyes. “How did you get all these carrots? Where did they come from?” Randy’s Dad asked. Rudy told his Dad and all the other adults what they had done. The two young rabbits couldn’t understand why some of the adults seemed to be upset. They were pointing at the carrot field and talking about the dog. Randy’s Dad came back over to the boys and sat down and asked them all to listen. “I know that you four meant well with what you did, and that giant pile of carrots should last us all winter, but now there is a danger of the dog being very angry and coming over here for the carrots and that would be very bad. We will have to try and find a way to protect ourselves now. You boys stay away from here and let us adults take care of this now.
The four rabbit friends walked away from their giant carrot pile and were sad again. “I don’t understand.” Randy said. “We saved the neighborhood from starving and now we are getting in trouble and the adults are taking our carrots. This is not fair.” Rudy looked over his shoulder at his Dad and then turned back around and all the friends went home.
That night, Rudy woke up and heard loud barking and some adults yelling. He went to the front door to their house and looked out. The giant dog was in their field and seemed very mad. He was running around and jumping and barking and growling with his large white teeth and his brown fur flying around in the wind. Randy thought his parents were out there, but couldn’t see them and they weren’t in the house. “I have to go out there to help.” He thought to himself. Rudy ran out the door and across the field to find his parents and try to help. When he got to the top of the first hill he ran right into the dog. It was even bigger than he thought. The giant dog stood over him and had white foamy stuff coming out of his mouth and was breathing real heavy right on Rudy who was laying on the ground. The dog got right over Rudy’s face and showed his long white teeth, and then said, “Why did you rabbits take all those carrots from the field? I am going to be in big trouble from my owner and then the dog did something that was very, very unexpected. He stated crying. He laid on the ground right by Rudy and cried like crazy, yelping, howling and whimpering. Rudy sat up and didn’t know what to do.
While the dog was crying the other rabbits came out of there hiding places and up the hill to where Rudy was still watching the dog. Rudy’s Mom grabbed him and hugged him, and then she asked him if he was crazy for going near the dog. Rudy just stood there staring at the dog that was very sad now. Rudy’s Dad walked up the dog and asked him what was wrong. “Why are you crying? Mr. Dog?” The dog looked up at Rudy’s Dad and said. “I came out to check the field for deer, because that is why the farmer got me and when I went out into the carrot field I fell through the ground and found a tunnel that led me over here. I thought the deer dug a tunnel somehow and now the farmer is going to get rid of me and I won’t have a job or an owner to feed me.” This made all the rabbit very sad, so they all talked and came up with a plan. The next morning the dog went back through the tunnel to his side of the fence and out of the hole, and he watched all the rabbits work together to bury the tunnel and get the carrot farm to look just like it did before. This made the dog so happy that he became friends with the rabbits and let them come over any time they wanted and take carrots for winter from the back of the farm where the farmer never picked carrots.
Dodger the dog and the rabbits became great friends and would help each other whenever they could. The dog gave them all the carrots they would need for winter and the rabbits told the dog whenever there were deer around so he could scare them away and keep his job and the carrots safe.
The End