It was early morning and Shrimp just walked out from the trunk of the tree and yawned. She arched her back for a good stretch. As she sniffed the cool air and looked toward the large vegetable garden, she saw movement.
“I don’t see farmer Joe. I wonder who’s over there?” Shrimp sat up on her back legs to look.
She tried to see who or what was making the lettuce leaves move but couldn’t. Shrimp knew that she had to get closer to the garden so she lowered her body down to the ground. Foot by foot, Shrimp crept closer to the first row of lettuce. When she got close, the lettuce leaves stopped moving. Shrimp stopped and waited to see if whatever was making the leaves move would come out. Staying quiet and low to the ground, she patiently waited.
All of a sudden, she heard the munching sound along with moving leaves. Shrimp quietly crept out past one bunch of leaves and peeked. She didn’t know what she was seeing.
She jumped past the head of lettuce, “Hey, who are you?”
The bunny that was nibbling on the lettuce hopped and turned toward Shrimp, “good morning. I thought I heard someone.”
Shrimp cocked her head and again asked, “who are you and what are you?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, my name is Bonnie, Bonnie Bunny. I hope that you don’t mind but I sniffed out this scrumptious lettuce and helped myself,” Bonnie chewed the leaves in her mouth.
“You might want to stop that,” Shrimp said.
“But this lettuce is so yummy,” Bonnie hopped toward Shrimp.
Shrimp backed up a little. She hadn’t seen a bunny rabbit before.
“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” Bonnie said.
“Oh, okay… But I don’t think that it’s wise to eat farmer Joe’s plants,” Shrimp said.
“Yes, you’re probably right, but that’s our little secret okay?” Bonnie wiggled her nose.
“I guess so, but don’t let farmer Joe see you. The other day he chased Tiger out of the garden with a water hose,” Shrimp giggled.
“Don’t you worry about me, I can run really fast. What is your name?” Bonnie asked.
“Oh, I’m Shrimp and I have a brother named Tiger. He’s the one who got wet with the water hose. Do you think that you are faster than me or Tiger? Because if not, farmer Joe might get you wet if he sees you in the garden.”
Well, I think that I’m fast. Do you want to see, because I’ll race you to that fence?” Bonnie hopped around.
“Okay, sure,” Shrimp faced the direction of the fence.
Bonnie hopped alongside Shrimp and told her that at the count of three, run as fast as you can. Shrimp wiggled her back end and waited until she heard the word three. The two of them ran fast and reached the fence at the same time.
Breathing heavily, “wow, you can run as fast as me,” Shrimp said.
“Yes, we rabbits can run fast when we need to, but otherwise I like to hop,” Bonnie started to hop around Shrimp.
“Where did you come from Bonnie, I haven’t seen you around here before?” Shrimp watched her hopping around.
“Oh, I live up the road a piece. I was out for a walk when I got a whiff of the lettuce here. I had to hop down here to try it out, and boy I’m happy that I did. You should try a little sometime,” Bonnie said.
“No, I don’t think that I would like lettuce. As it is I only eat grass when my tummy is upset. But as long as farmer Joe doesn’t chase you away, you can come and see me anytime. I live in the trunk of that tree over there,” Shrimp pointed.
“Okay, thank you, Shrimp. I should probably get going back to my home now before my family starts to worry. I’ll be sure to stop and see you again though. I think that we could be good friends,” Bonnie ducked under the lower log of the fence.
“Yes, me too Bonnie. It was nice to meet you and see you soon,” Shrimp said as Bonnie started to hop down the road.
Please join me again for more adventures with Shrimp and Tiger.