There was a small sign on the pen that said, MY NAME IS MR. NIBBLES LETAY.
Olive and Herbert crouched over the black-and-white bunny to pet it. It shook under Olive’s hand—but if she were a tiny ball of fluff at a person party, Olive would be scared, too.
“Hi, Mr. Nibbles,” Olive said. Mr. Nibbles quivered his nose at her. Then Herbert patted Mr. Nibbles and sneezed so hard, he fell backward onto his butt. Mr. Nibbles darted under Olive to hide.
“Gesundheit,” Olive said. “My favorite way to say ‘bless you.’”
“Thanks.” Herbert wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I’m allergic to cats. I guess I’m allergic to conejitos, too.”
The word exploded in her ear like fireworks. She wanted to know what it meant. Immediately.
“What are … co-neh-hee-toes?” Olive asked.
“That’s Spanish for ‘bunny.’” Herbert took a bright blue bandanna out of his pocket and wiped his nose. “My brother teaches me.”
“That’s cool,” Olive said. She wanted to learn as many new words as she could. “How do you say ‘cool’?”
“Chévere,” Herbert said.
“How do you say ‘awesome’?”
“Genial. Increíble. Estupendo.”
“Estupendo?” Olive asked. “That sounds mean, kind of sounds like ‘stupid.’” Her brother called her that once and she didn’t like the way it felt.
“Stupid is estúpido, which also sounds like stupid. But there’s bobo, too,” he whispered, like he was afraid someone was going to hear him say it, “which is nicer but not that nice because it means ‘dum-dum.’”
At Olive’s insistence, Herbert started to teach her nicer words—dormilona (sleepyhead), gansa (silly goose), pingüino (penguin)—because they were classic nicknames her dad used, and she pretended she didn’t like them even though she secretly did. All the while, they made a little bunny-sized obstacle course for Mr. Nibbles—the first Bunny Olympics.
They were trying to get Mr. Nibbles to jump through a hoop (Olive’s necklace) when Olive heard a low rumbling noise and a bunch of loud voices coming from the bounce house. Even Mr. Nibbles sprang up on his back legs and perked up his ears to check out the noise. Kids were sliding out of the bounce house like popcorn overflowing a bag, and everyone was yelling for Forest to come out, too—he finally popped through the bounce-house flaps, his massive hair fuzzy and full of static.
“Forest is king of the bounce house!” Josie yelled.
Everyone started to chant as they lifted Forest onto their shoulders. “All hail, King Forest! All hail, King Forest!”
The parents kept telling everyone to quiet down, but eventually they gave up and started chanting, “KING FOREST! KING FOREST!” too, even a dad who got smacked in the face by someone’s smelly shoe. Only Mrs. Letay looked nervous—she kept holding her hands up like she was ready to catch Forest at any second.
Forest crawled over everyone like a squirrel, squishing people with his bare feet. He plucked party hats off everyone’s heads, the strings snapping with little pops, and looped the elastic bands behind his ears until every single hat was stacked on his chin. It looked like he had a huge, pointy beard.
Forest leaped on top of the picnic table, dodging and dancing around the ocean of hands that were trying to get his attention. He tossed pretzels, gummies, and cheese puffs to the kids one by one and yelled, “Fetch!”
“Hey, Forest!” Olive called, waving to him. “Come over here!”
“Olive!” Forest broke into a huge grin, though it was hard to see with his party-hat beard. He scooped candy from a bowl on the table and threw it, hard and far, into the grass. While everyone was distracted scrambling for it, Forest jumped off the table and ran toward Olive.
“Forest will love this,” Olive said to Herbert. “I bet he can train Mr. Nibbles.”
Forest leaped over the bunny enclosure’s tiny white fence and wrapped Olive into a hug. “Party is hard, Olive.” Mr. Nibbles hopped up to Forest, who bent down and shook his small bunny paw. “Hello, Mr. Nibbles.”
Olive and Herbert explained Bunny Olympics to Forest, who built a seesaw from one of his party hats and a flat piece of tree bark they found on the ground. Olive and Herbert cheered as Forest coached Mr. Nibbles back and forth over the seesaw. Then the bunny started to hop around and wiggle his butt.
“I think Mr. Nibbles needs el baño,” Herbert said.
“¿Me encanta el baño?” Forest replied.
Herbert cracked like an egg. He rolled with laughter, repeating, “Forest loves the bathroom!” over and over. Mr. Nibbles got excited and climbed onto Herbert’s chest, which made him sneeze like crazy.
“Forest speak better animal than Spanish. Learn from tourists in park, but only a little,” Forest said.
“What’s Mr. Nibbles saying?” Olive piped up between her own giggles.
Forest crouched low and Mr. Nibbles sniffed the hats still perched on his chin. Forest cupped his ear next to Mr. Nibbles, listening.
“Mr. Nibbles want to run,” Forest said. Then he picked up Mr. Nibbles and plopped him on the other side of the pen.
“Forest, no!” Olive’s heart thudded in her chest. She shot up and started to chase Mr. Nibbles, who was now bounding across the yard.
Josie’s bunny. Escaping. Josie would never be friends with Olive if that happened.
The other kids started to run alongside Olive, too, hot on Mr. Nibbles’s fuzzy tail, which only made Mr. Nibbles run faster. Herbert jogged a wide circle and jumped in front of the speeding bunny, but Mr. Nibbles flew through his legs. Olive dove through Herbert’s legs, too, sliding her body over the grass and dirt, before Herbert toppled over, sneezing. She barely touched Mr. Nibbles’s fluffy butt before he slipped away again.
Breathing heavily, side aching, Olive looked up to see that Mr. Nibbles was making a beeline for the magician’s table—straight for a hole in Josie’s fence. Her whole body felt heavy and slow. She’d never get there in time.
Just then, Forest swung from a branch and landed on all fours in front of Mr. Nibbles. The bunny jumped right into his arms.
Olive ran over. Thank goodness, Mr. Nibbles seemed okay, even though his nose was quivering a million quivers a second. Now they could put him back in his enclosure and everything would be—
“And for my last and best trick!” the magician in the pink pinstriped pants cried, “I will make this bunny disappear!”
Forest tilted his head in confusion when the magician plucked Mr. Nibbles out of his grasp and covered the bunny with a colorful scarf. Then, with a flourish, the magician pulled the scarf away. Mr. Nibbles was nowhere to be seen. The kids cheered.
Forest roared at the top of his lungs.
