Shai & Emmie Star in to the Rescue!

by Quvenzhané Wallis

  “Let’s get you guys some of this nice cantaloupe melon, sweetpea,” Aunt Mac-N-Cheese said as she pushed the grocery cart down the produce aisle. “And oooh, these peaches look yummy too!”

  Shai and her aunt were shopping at Publix. Momma usually did the food shopping on Tuesdays, but she was still in Charleston. Daddy had his hands full with Jacobe and Sam and his pizza restaurant. Jamal was at basketball practice. Grandma Rosa continued to be “under the weather,” which was some sort of olden-day way of saying “sick,” apparently.

  That left Shai and Aunt Mac-N-Cheese to make sure the family had plenty to eat for the next few days.

  Shai’s gaze wandered to the shelves of green vegetables and fresh herbs that were just beyond the melon and peach section. Earlier today she had taken a book out of the school library called How to Take Care of Your Pet Rabbit. It had a chapter on the best bunny foods. Shai had written them down in her peacock notebook. Her family already had some of these best bunny foods in the vegetable garden, like carrot tops, dill, and basil. But they didn’t have all of the best bunny foods.

  Shai pulled her peacock notebook out of her backpack and flipped through the pages. “Aunt Mac-N-Cheese, can we get some cilantro, whatever that is? And mustard greens? And water crest?” She tried to read her messy handwriting.

  “You mean watercress? Are you making a recipe?”

  “Um, sort of?”

  “What sort of recipe?”

  “Um . . .” Shai tried to improvise a reply. She had learned about improvising in her drama class at school; it meant making stuff up on the spot. “I’m going to cook cilantro and mustard greens and water crest soup for dinner tonight!” she said, secretly crossing her fingers and toes.

  Aunt Mac-N-Cheese picked up a lemon, studied it, and put it into the cart. She cocked her head and smiled knowingly at Shai. “Sweetpea, why do I get the feeling that you’re not really going to cook a soup?”

  Shai blinked. That was the problem with Aunt Mac-N-Cheese; she was an actor too and could tell when people were making stuff up.

  Should I fess up? Shai wondered. So far the only other person who knew the truth about the stray bunny project was Emmie. Shai had almost told Daddy this morning when they’d run into Mrs. Tayler on the sidewalk. Mrs. Tayler had mentioned about the flyer and had said that the brown-and-white cat in the picture wasn’t hers and had they found the owner yet? Daddy had made a confused face and said: “What are you talking about, Mrs. Tayler?” But Mrs. Tayler hadn’t answered his question because she’d started speechifying about the high price of gourmet cat food and about how her Siamese, Mr. Graham Cracker, had escaped from the house on Saturday night and come back smelling like not-gourmet tuna fish.

  Which explained why that plate had been lickety-clean on Sunday morning.

  Aunt Mac-N-Cheese put her hands on Shai’s shoulders. “Come on, sweetpea. You know you can talk to me about anything. So talk to me.”

  “O-okay.”

  Shai tucked her peacock notebook into her backpack. She took a deep courage breath. “I found a stray pet bunny in our backyard,” she began. “I thought it was a cat at first, but it turned out it wasn’t. Anyway. It’s super-duper-shy, and it runs away every time I get close to it. But I’m not giving up! I’m going to catch it and find its owner. Or if it doesn’t have an owner, which it probably doesn’t, then I’m going to ask Momma and Daddy if we can adopt it.”

  “Oh my goodness!” Aunt Mac-N-Cheese gave Shai a big, squeezy hug. “What a kind girl you are. No wonder you wanted to buy all that salady stuff. Did you know that your momma and I had a pet bunny when we were kids? His name was Thumper, and he was a grumpy little guy. We loved him, though.”

  “Really? Wow!” Shai hesitated. “Is Thumper . . . is he still alive?”

  “No. He lived to a nice old age, though. And he had a wonderful life! Your momma and I used to make up silly songs to sing to him. We’d feed him timothy hay and kale and apple slices. And we’d construct these little houses for him out of cardboard boxes. Thumper really liked cardboard boxes because he could live in them and chew on them at the same time!”

  Shai pondered this. Maybe she could construct a cardboard house for her stray bunny too?

  “Your mom adored that rabbit. Between you and me, I bet you she’ll say yes to adopting your stray bunny,” Aunt Mac-N-Cheese confided.

  “Really?” Shai said hopefully.

  Aunt Mac-N-Cheese grinned. “Yup. Your momma’s got a soft heart when it comes to animals—just like you. Come on, sweetpea. Let’s go grab some cilantro and watercress and mustard greens!”

  SCENE 10

  Rescue Mission

  The next night Shai and Emmie made a “bunny trap” and placed it at the edge of the vegetable garden.

  The bunny trap was actually one of the Williams family’s cat carriers with a long, sturdy piece of string attached to the door handle. Inside the carrier were the greens that Shai and Aunt Mac-N-Cheese had bought at the grocery store.

  “How does it work?” Emmie asked curiously. She’d come over after dinner to help make decorations for the fund-raising concert, and she’d offered to help with the bunny, too.

  “We’re going to hide under the picnic table, there,” Shai said, pointing. “We’ll wait for the bunny to hop inside. Once it does, we’ll pull on the string”—she demonstrated, making the door clang shut—“and the bunny won’t be able to escape. Easy-peasy, mission accomplished!”

  “Cool!”

  Shai had gotten the idea from a “cat trap” that Momma had improvised once to catch two very shy stray kittens that had been hanging around her veterinary clinic’s parking lot. Those stray kittens had ended up becoming the marmalade twins, Purrball and Furball. If the trap had worked for them, it would also work for the bunny, right?

  Shai glanced at her smiley-face watch; it was almost eight o’clock. She motioned to Emmie, and the two girls assumed their positions under the picnic table.

  They tried to stay quiet while they waited for the bunny to appear. Emmie moved her lips and did silent multiplication problems. Shai pulled her peacock notebook out of her pocket and clicked on her keychain flashlight to go over her to-do list.

  Her to-do list had grown to about a mile long. Tonight she had math and English homework to finish, plus half an hour (at least!) of clarinet practice. She’d also promised herself that she would brainstorm some snack and snack-maker ideas for the concert. And it was her turn to empty the dishwasher. And she had to give Furball his ear medicine, which had proved to be not fun because Furball hated the yucky-gloopy medicine, and Shai hadn’t figured out how to distract him with treats because Furball was just too smart.

  Shai tried to remember the last time she’d played video games or watched her favorite TV shows or just chilled on the couch with absolutely nothing to do or nowhere to be. It sure was a lot of work being super-helpful! Volunteering to do stuff for the concert . . . pitching in extra around the house . . . and now performing a complicated rescue mission to save a homeless bunny . . . she hadn’t expected these activities to take up every spare minute of her free time.

  At least she had her bestie-best friend by her side.

  Rustle, rustle, rustle.

  “Shai!” Emmie whispered. “Do you hear that?”

  “Yes!” Shai whispered back. “Do you hear it too?”

  “Yes!”

  In the dim light the girls saw a small movement in the vegetable garden. They made themselves be ballet-freeze-tag frozen statues. They tried not to blink or even breathe.

  A cloud passed across the moon. The darkness grew.

  Shai and Emmie squinted to see.

  It was the brown-and-white bunny!

  The fluffy creature sniffed the air and hopped through the spinach and lettuce and squash. It nibbled on some basil and then some dill.

  Emmie squeezed Shai’s hand. Shai squeezed back and sent the bunny a magical mental telepathy message: Go to the cat carrier, go to the cat carrier, go t
o the cat carrier.

  The bunny turned and hopped toward the carrot tops. Just then it seemed to sense the cilantro and mustard greens and watercress in the carrier. It sniffed the air some more and hopped toward the carrier.

  Shai sent it another magical mental telepathy message: Keep going! Just a few more inches!

  The bunny reached the opening of the cat carrier and sniffed. It hopped inside—way inside, where Shai had put the leafy treats. She could barely make out its white cotton-ball tail.

  Now!

  Shai pulled on the string, and the metal door slammed shut.

  Yessss!

  “Here, take the string!” Shai shouted to Emmie.

  Emmie took the string and wound it around and around her wrist so it wouldn’t go slack. Shai hurried to the cat carrier.

  Easy-peasy! Mission accomplished! Shai thought happily. They had rescued the bunny!

  She knelt down in the grass in front of the carrier. She couldn’t wait to finally meet the bunny. She couldn’t wait to pet it. She couldn’t wait to tell it that it would never, ever be homeless again.

  She shut the latch on the metal door, for double-extra security, and peered eagerly through the bars.

  The rabbit was cowering in the back and shaking like crazy. Its big brown eyes were full of fear.

  Shai’s heart sank. Her happiness whooshed away. She hadn’t expected this.

  “It’s okay, bunny! You’re safe now,” she whispered.

  The rabbit kept cowering and shaking. It looked totally terrified.

  “Shai? Is the bunny all right?” Emmie called out.

  “I don’t know. It’s super-crazy-scared.”

  “Should I get more of those fancy grocery store vegetables for it?”

  “Okay. Sure.”

  Emmie ran into the house. Shai bit her lip. All she’d wanted to do was help the bunny. But she seemed to have made the situation worse—way worse.

  Her eyes filled with tears.

  What was she going to do now?

  SCENE 11

  Momma’s Wise Words

  “Sweetie?”

  Shai swiped at her eyes and turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. Her mother stood in the shadowy edge between the backyard and the driveway—clutching her suitcase, her silk scarf billowing in the evening breeze.

  “Momma!”

  Shai jumped to her feet and sprinted across the yard. She gave Momma a big, squeezy hug and breathed in her jasmine-and-honeysuckle perfume. “I thought you weren’t coming home till this weekend!” she exclaimed.

  “Brookelynn’s sister showed up in Charleston a few days earlier than she’d expected. So I changed my flight and took a taxicab from the airport. I wanted to surprise you guys. Is everyone inside?”

  “Uh-huh. Daddy’s putting Sam and Jacobe to bed, and Jamal’s writing his history paper. Aunt Mac-N-Cheese is at her play rehearsal. Grandma Rosa’s at her house; she’s underneath the weather.”

  “You mean under the weather? Oh dear, is she okay?”

  “She has a cold. She called today to check on us and said she’s drinking lots of ginger-honey-lemon tea.”

  “That’s good. I’ll go by and visit her tomorrow.” Momma gazed over Shai’s shoulder at the cat carrier sitting by the vegetable garden. “Shai, sweetie? Why is that thing out here? Did one of the cats get out?”

  “N-no.”

  “And why is there a long string attached to it? You didn’t try to trap a stray cat, did you?”

  “N-not exactly.”

  “What, then?”

  Shai grabbed Momma’s hand and led her to the cat carrier. She gave a quick explanation about the bunny rescue operation. She added that Emmie was in the kitchen, getting more veggies for the bunny.

  “I promise I’ll try to find its owner,” Shai finished. “But I bet it doesn’t have one, because I don’t know anyone in the neighborhood who has a pet rabbit. Do you? Anyway, I think it might be a very excellent idea for us to adopt it. Puh-lease? Except . . .” She paused. “It’s super-scared right now. You’re a veterinarian. Can you fix it and make it un-scared?”

  Momma opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She shook her head slowly.

  Uh-oh.

  “Why are you shaking your head, Momma? Does that mean you can’t un-scare the bunny? Or that we can’t adopt it?”

  “Neither. Sweetie, I know you meant well. But you can’t just trap animals you don’t know. What if it’s dangerous?”

  “How can it be dangerous? It’s just a cute little fluffy bunny!”

  “Let me see.”

  Momma sat down on the grass in front of the cat carrier. She craned her neck and peeked inside.

  Shai tugged on Momma’s sleeve. “Well? Can you un-scare it?”

  Momma stood up. She stroked Shai’s hair, like she used to do when Shai was Sam’s age.

  “Honey, this isn’t a domesticated rabbit. There is a big problem with folks adopting rabbits and then changing their minds and releasing them outside, which is absolutely the wrong thing to do. But this rabbit isn’t one of those. It’s a wild rabbit. It’s meant to live outside.”

  A wild rabbit?

  “But we’re in the city. How can there be wild rabbits here?” Shai pointed out.

  “Wild rabbits live everywhere—in the country, in the city. No wonder this poor little thing is so terrified. Wild rabbits have powerful survival instincts; they’re always on the lookout for predators. This rabbit thinks you’re a predator.”

  Shai gasped. “A predator? You mean like a T-rex? Me? But I rescued it!”

  “It doesn’t need rescuing, Shai. It needs to stay in its natural environment. In fact, we have to release it right away before it dies of fright.”

  “Dies of fright?”

  Now Shai really wanted to cry.

  “I was just trying to help it! I thought it needed a home!”

  Momma stroked Shai’s hair some more. “I know, honey. Your desire to be helpful is a wonderful quality. But sometimes help isn’t necessary. And it can even be harmful. The best way we can help this bunny is to let it go.”

  Tears flowed down Shai’s cheeks. Deep down, she knew that Momma was right.

  She wished so much that Momma wasn’t right, though. She wished she could keep the bunny and name it Thumper Two. She wished she could build it cardboard box houses for it to chew up. She wished she could feed it timothy hay and kale and apple slices and other yummy bunny foods.

  Emmie came out of the house holding bunches of cilantro and mustard greens and watercress. Her worried gaze bounced between Shai and Momma.

  “Hi, Ms. Williams. Why is Shai crying? Shai, why are you crying?”

  Sniffling, Shai repeated what Momma had told her.

  “Oh.” Emmie rushed up to Shai and hugged her. “I’m really, really sorry.”

  “I know. Me too. But Momma’s right.”

  Shai wiped her tears away. Then she bent down and unlatched the metal door of the cat carrier.

  She, Emmie, and Momma stepped back and waited.

  Five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty. The bunny poked its nose out and sniffed. Then it hopped out of the carrier and darted for the bushes.

  “Good luck to you, wild bunny!” Emmie called out.

  “We love you!” Shai added.

  Momma wrapped her arms around both girls. “Let’s go inside and make ourselves some hot chocolate with marshmallows. Oh, and, Shai, sweetie? Did I mention I was looking over the Animal Haven website the other day? Do you know they have a new bunny available for adoption?”

  Shai’s face lit up. “Really?”

  “I thought we might meet him the next time we’re there for volunteer duty.”

  “Yes!”

  Maybe Shai could give a home to a homeless bunny after all.

  SCENE 12

  Bravo! Brava! Bunny!

  Mr. Yee scanned the faces of the orchestra. He nodded and smiled. Then he breathed in quickly and raised the baton.

&
nbsp; Shai sat up very straight and made double-extra sure of her clarinet-playing position. Fingers, lips, chin, laser eyes. Her new concert dress felt stiff and crinkly against her skin. But she ignored the sensation and focused entirely on the piece they were about to perform for the audience.

  A second later Mr. Yee breathed out quickly and lowered the baton.

  Shai hit a perfect G—no goose honking this time! The rest of the orchestra hit their notes too. The music flowed and danced through the packed auditorium.

  She knew that her family was sitting in the tenth row: Momma, Daddy, Jamal, Samantha, Jacobe, Aunt Mac-N-Cheese, Grandma Rosa, and also Grandma Marie and Grandpa Ben, who were visiting from Florida. Momma had also invited the entire staff of her veterinary clinic. Daddy’s employees from the pizza restaurant were there too, and also Aunt Mac-N-Cheese’s actor friends and Grandma Rosa’s book club. Everyone was excited about raising money for stray animals!

  In the past week and a half since Shai had set the wild bunny free, she’d been able to turn her full attention back to her mile-long to-do list. Emmie had helped her create some cool posters to advertise the concert. Shai had recruited a bunch of parents and grandparents to make cookies, brownies, muffins, popcorn balls, and other goodies for the concessions table, with all the money from those sales going to the Sweet Auburn Animal Haven too.

  The musical piece flowed on. Mr. Yee kept the tempo steady with his baton. Shai had been practicing really hard to improve her tempo-following. It meant watching Mr. Yee’s baton, reading her sheet music, and counting silently to herself all at the same time: 1 and 2 and 3 and, 1 and 2 and 3 and, 1 and 2 and 3 and . . . She also tapped her feet for extra tempo-following purposes, although she did this in a super-stealthy, super-silent way so as not to distract her fellow musicians or the audience members.

  The music reached the lovey-dovey, romantic part. Mr. Yee pointed to the violin section, clutched at his heart, and pretended to swoon. (Ew, thought Shai for the billion zillionth time.) Then he pointed to the brass section, bobbed his head, and bounced up and down on his toes. The saxophones, trumpets, and trombones responded by revving into hyper-energetic mode.