Scrumptious

“It’s the farmer!” Mopsy exclaimed to her boyfriend. She gazed over at the cottontail on the other side of their pine trees, eyes wide with glee. Cinnamon’s ears twisted around this way and that. He checked for predators but didn’t expect to hear any. The garden down their row of pines at the corner of the farmer’s home was pretty safe while the sun was out.  

Every Saturday, one of the farmers would come out and deposit compost in their garden. Trees surrounded acres of corn. Mrs. farmer grew a few of her favorites, like strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and snap-peas near the house. Usually, a few vegetables were left for the rabbits.

Evening approached, and the rabbits had some fear of the field cats. They knew this time of year coyotes were coming out too. Spring in Michigan brought every living creature back into action. The deep freeze of February becomes milder and delightful for furry animals in March.

Mopsy and Cinnamon went to their warren, where they communed with several other families. “I hope they brought green peppers again!” 

“Oh dear, you really have the life over there in your garden. If I weren’t so busy raising all these children, I’d be living it up with you.” Flopsy, a young mother with ragged fur and droopy ears, replied to her friend.

“Flopsy, you can come to our garden any time you like! There’s more than enough for everyone.” But this was a farm, and there was abundance for everyone in any corner. Secretly the other rabbits thought Cinnamon was a little lazy for letting the farmers do all the work. Other rabbits gathered their own fresh foods from the earth.  

They all dispersed to their own underground tunnels within the warren. Mopsy cozied up to Cinnamon and went to sleep.

Before daybreak, Cinnamon found Mopsy already awake. “Come on, sleepyhead! Let’s go to breakfast!” She was so excited.

Out from under the bushes by the farmer’s house, from the hidden exit of the warren, Cinnamon led the way. He checked with his ears first. It sounded safe with only a few robins cherio-cheer-up’ing the morning to life. Then he peered out and sniffed the morning air. No predators were smelled nor seen. He leaped out with his powerful back legs and made room for Mopsy.

“Oh, can we just get on with it?” She was hungry. Even the most upbeat positive bunny could get feisty in the presence of farm-fresh green peppers. “I hope they have my favorites.” Cinnamon knew there would be no use talking her back. He snuck quickly to the first pine tree in the row leading to the garden. Each was about 5 hops apart from the next, from trunk to trunk. Cinnamon would get to the edge of the branches, look around, listen, and then take two quick hops to get under the limbs of the next tree. Then Mopsy would follow as he made his way toward the trunk. This continued for a half dozen pines until they were safely in the garden.

When Mopsy joined Cinnamon at the edge of the final pine tree, she froze. At first, the world seemed to narrow in, like your vision in a tunnel. At the center of Mopsy’s tunnel, she saw orange. She expected green peppers or maybe radishes (her favorites) but did not even consider that the farmer would throw out carrots!

Carrots, to Mopsy (and in fact to most rabbits), were like beech nuts to a squirrel or sunflower seeds to a cardinal. They were like meat to a dog. When Mopsy saw a bunch of carrots lying on the compost pile, she started nibbling at thin air. Her little buck teeth chattering out in front of her mouth made Cinnamon laugh. “You remember what happened last time you ate carrots, don’t you, dear?”

See, carrots are not the only things that rabbits eat. Humans mistake this often. Carrots are roots that rabbits don’t often get in the wild. The sugars and carbs in a carrot are not actually good for rabbits. In small portions, they are a great treat! But a bunch of carrots is way too much for little Mopsy.

“Oh, but I could try one, couldn’t I?” To that, Cinnamon just looked at her. He didn’t want her to eat them but didn’t want to be responsible for stopping her. “You don’t need me to tell you what to do.”

She thought to herself, “Lord Frith, what should I do?” She recalled his quote: “You know how you let yourself think that everything will be all right if you can only get to a certain place or do a certain thing. But when you get there, you find it’s not that simple.”  

“Let me see what else they have.” Mopsy forced herself to say. Cinnamon’s ears twitched, and he sat upright, looking impressed at his lady. They hopped past the carrots and found a pile of radishes! “Oh, Look, Mopsy! The farmer has left some of our favorites.” He nibbled through one as Mopsy looked around at the compost pile, the radishes, and back at the carrots. She hopped away from the carrots and found some green peppers. Her gaze kept going back to the carrots, though. Her nose started to twitch.

Mopsy’s ears drooped. She nibbled on a slice of green pepper, but it wasn’t the same as a carrot. She wanted the carrot so badly but remembered the last time. She could be bold and go back to the warren wearing a coat of carrots! Wouldn’t the girls love to see that? She could share an entire carrot with each family! She was dreaming.

Her stomach turned. The little rabbit’s gut feeling was to avoid them. These were many golden, delicious (and she saw them shine in the sun almost as if they were golden rather than orange) carrots. She literally saw herself wearing a ring of carrots on her head like a crown, the warren’s females as her maidservants. But good Mopsy also remembered her pain from over-indulging last time. She threw up in the warren. What if the girls made fun of her at the sight of her generous offering?  

Cinnamon kept eating radishes. “I wonder if she’s going to be all right?” He thought to himself. “Do you just want to hold off till tomorrow? I’m sure they will still be here.”

Mopsy’s eyes returned from their far off gaze back to reality. “You don’t know that! No, I’m taking them back, and you have to help me hide them!” Cinnamon hopped back a half step in surprise.

“You’re not serious, how would we even do that?” Cinnamon asked her, bewildered.

“You run in there and tell them that Hawk is flying around, no, tell them the cat is coming in behind you!” Mopsy’s wild eyes were so big and beautiful that they stunned Cinnamon into that strange joy a rabbit gets when his girlfriend sets a challenge before him. They were both rascally rabbits, and he had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon.

“Ha! Ok, let’s go do this! Ya ol’ con-artist.”

And so they did. The two rabbits dragged the carrot bunch back to the hidden entrance of the warren, past several pine trees. The cat watched from the farmer’s porch and thought they must be mad with some disease. Sleeping in the sun appealed more than chasing them. Cinnamon ran kicking and screaming into the entrance of the warren. He flung dirt everywhere and yelled, “CAT! That cat is right behind me; everyone back!” Every rabbit did go back, and Mopsy used that commotion to take the carrots into their burrow: second path on the right, straight on till beddy-bye! She tucked the carrots under some hay and laid down on top of them.

Cinnamon joined her later. “Ok, yes, of course, you take this next shift. I will watch for the cat at sundown.” He spoke to the other bucks. Snuggling down for sleep, he whispered to Mopsy: “They totally bought it! Now give me a bite of one of those.”

They each took one bite. “Now, just one bite this time,” Mopsy said to Cinnamon’s surprise. “We don’t want to do anything crazy!” Cinnamon just laughed and snuck one more bite, which he regretted later, but was more or less ok.

Mopsy took one bite of carrot every night for a full moon until they were all gone. Cinnamon was impressed with her discipline and how she’d improved over the last time. He was glad he didn’t stop her because this turned out great for him too! She shared with him. It was their secret.