When we got near the cliffs on the east end of the island, Bouncer stopped the truck and pulled up the parking brake. We were on the side of a small sloping hill, looking down at the edge of the island where Cottontail Tower jutted up into the sky. Cottontail Tower was a large, skinny stone that shot upward at least a hundred feet. The locals thought that it resembled a single rabbit ear, but to me that was stretching it. It was shaped more like a rock chimney with a pointed top. From where the truck was parked, we could all see that Big Bun was sitting at the base of Cottontail Tower and holding Juliet. The rabbit was almost half as tall as the stone pillar.
“What’s he doing?” I asked. “He won’t jump off the cliffs, will he?”
“I don’t think so,” Zeke said. “That drop would kill him.”
“I don’t know how to catch a rabbit,” I admitted, “but I know what Uli would do.”
“Squid tactics,” Zeke whispered. “Lead the way, Perry.”
We all got out of the truck. Rain’s legs were asleep, so getting him out was a chore. We found it was easier to roll him over the seat into the front and then pull him out the bigger front door. We stood him up and waited for him to find his footing. As he regained his land legs, I told the group what we were going to do.
“We’re going to split up and move in from five different directions,” I said. “We’ll each take turns distracting Big Bun. While one of us is yelling at him, the others need to move in closer and freeze. Then like a real squid would do, we’ll hold so still that Big Bun won’t even notice us. If we do this right, we can get pretty close to him before he reacts. Zeke will move in closest to the right paw, where Juliet is. When he’s near enough, he’ll grab her feet and wrestle her free.”
Bouncer went to the back of the truck. He opened a compartment and pulled something out.
“I’ve also got this.” In his hands was what looked like a long gun with a huge barrel. “It’s a net slinger. We use it for netting large herds of bunnies at once. This rabbit’s too big, but if there’s trouble I could shoot the netting over his head and at least it would distract him for a moment.”
“Good,” Zeke said.
“Just don’t hurt that poor creature,” Beatrice insisted.
“I’m not making any promises,” Bouncer said. “You put people in danger. I don’t want to hurt the rabbit, but I will to save the girl.”
I could be wrong, but it looked like once again Beatrice was impressed with Bouncer being so assertive.
“I never wanted anyone to get hurt,” she admitted.
“Well then, prove it by helping us,” I said.
We all moved slowly to our positions making a large semicircle with Big Bun and Juliet in the middle. The rabbit watched us as we took our spots, but he didn’t seem threatened because we weren’t very close. Big Bun shifted and put his left paw around Cottontail Tower. Juliet looked at all of us and tried to figure out what our plan was.
We all stayed perfectly still.
I could hear the waves far down below the cliffs and looked at the dimming sky. We needed to act before it got much darker.
“Hey, Big Bun!” I yelled as loud as I could. “Look at me!”
He turned his head and looked at me with his left eye. As he did, everyone besides me took two slow steps closer to him and froze. I stopped yelling, and Bouncer took a turn.
“Excuse me,” he hollered. “You with the massive ears! Look at me, you big rodent!”
Big Bun moved his head and looked at Bouncer. The rest of us moved closer.
“Over here!” Zeke hooted. “I’m talking to you.”
Slowly, the semicircle contracted. Big Bun kept turning his head to look at who was screaming. The rabbit seemed confused and almost docile. Neil used his turn to distract the rabbit and give us information.
“He might be a little sleepy!” Neil yelled. “He did hop all the way here! He’s still a living creature. He can’t keep going like this without exhausting himself.”
The half circle tightened.
I used my turn to ask, “Are you okay, Juliet?”
The rabbit turned his head to look at me, and I could see Juliet nodding. She kept trying to throw her voice like a ventriloquist, but as I had suspected, she wasn’t supergood at it yet. It sounded like the stone pillar was talking, and I could see her lips moving.
“I’d like to get down!” Cottontail Tower seemed to say.
The rabbit looked at the stone pillar.
“We’re trying to get you down!” I yelled. Big Bun looked at me again. “Zeke is going to grab you when he can!”
Everyone moved closer.
It was Rain’s turn. “I hate this tube! If I ever get out of it, Perry, you’re going to pay big-time!”
We were all getting close, and still the rabbit didn’t sense the danger. Zeke was almost near enough that he could reach out and grab Juliet’s feet, which were dangling as Big Bun held her. It was Beatrice’s turn to distract.
“You’re spectacular!” she spoke up. “As a rabbit, there is none better!”
We all moved closer. I saw Zeke slowly reaching out to grab Juliet’s foot. Unfortunately, as Rain took one step closer, he stumbled. I watched him wobble for a second before he went down. The ground was sloped, so he instantly began to roll toward Big Bun.
Rain screamed, and the rabbit turned his giant body to see what was happening. Spotting the rolling Rain, he lifted his right foot and tried to stomp Rain. But the force of it just managed to pop Rain out of the tube and send him flying into the bushes.
We all froze.
“I’m okay,” Rain yelled. I could barely breathe. Zeke was the closest, but it was obvious by the way that Big Bun’s whiskers were twitching and his teeth were chattering that he was getting agitated.
It was now or never.
Zeke lunged forward and grabbed Juliet’s right foot as we all screamed to distract the monster bunny.
Big Bun turned his head and hissed while Juliet screamed. Zeke tried to pull her foot, but it was no use. The rabbit screeched and jumped up as high as he could. He came slamming down against the earth.
Juliet kicked and hit the bunny as Big Bun thumped his right foot violently. Zeke tried to grab her again, but the rabbit had other ideas. It jumped up and clung on to the stone pillar with its left paw. His huge rabbit feet scratched the rock structure as it climbed up Cottontail Tower.
Rain screamed from the bushes. “Truck!”
We all turned to see that the fertilizer truck was beginning to roll. Big Bun’s thumping had jiggled the brake loose and sent the truck into motion. It rolled down the hill, gaining speed, and headed directly toward the stone pillar.
Juliet saw what was happening and kicked at Big Bun even harder.
We all rushed in as if we had the ability to stop a free-rolling truck, but there was nothing we could do. The truck slammed into the base of Cottontail Tower. There was a tremendous crack as the stones at the bottom broke and the tower began to topple toward the side of the cliff with Big Bun still hanging on.
“Juliet!” I screamed.
Bouncer fired his net gun as the bunny fell. A perfect shot. Juliet grabbed on to the flying net, and Bouncer yanked her from Big Bun’s grip just before the poor animal hit the ground. The top half of the stone pillar struck him on the head with a giant . . .
Carrwhack!
It knocked him out completely. The truck rolled right past his big body and flew over the edge and down into the stones and water below. The sound of the vehicle hitting the rocks was spectacular and unforgettable.
Beatrice looked at the unconscious bunny and began to simultaneously bubble and sob.
I ran to Juliet. She was lying on the ground near the edge in a tangled mess of net.
“Am I alive?” she asked.
“You are.”
Rain ran over as well, and the two of us began to untangle her.
“You have arms again,” I said to him.
He took a moment to punch me in the shoulder with one of them.
We all gathered around Juliet and struggled with the netting until she was free. Then, as a group, we stood up and turned to look at Big Bun. He was out cold, and large pieces of Cottontail Tower were lying on the ground near him.
“Do you think he’s dead?” I asked.
“By my calculations, he could be,” Neil said sadly.
Beatrice sobbed and bubbled some more. I was sad to see that such a fantastic creature had bitten the dust, but I was more relieved that Juliet was okay.
But then Big Bun’s body began to shake and air escaped from his twitching mouth. I was about to casually scream in terror when I saw that he was starting to shrink. His arms and legs began to convulse and shrivel. His body deflated like a blimp—the air rushing out sounded like the world’s loudest, longest whistle! We all plugged our ears and looked on in amazement. The rabbit rocked and thrashed about.
In a matter of minutes, Big Bun was little Bun.
There on the ground was a normal-size rabbit, no different from any others on the island. It looked at all of us, twitched its nose, and then hopped off.
Lady Beatrice held her left hand to her heart while wiping away tears from her eyes with her right one.
“That was . . . incalculable!” Neil exclaimed.
Zeke looked at me and put his hand on my shoulder.
“What a day,” he said with a weary smile.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I just wish it had been more exciting.”
We all turned from the cliffs and headed back.
When we got to town, I was completely surprised. I thought the whole island would be in an uproar about what had happened when Big Bun had stormed through earlier. Instead, everyone seemed excited, and acted as if Big Bun had just been part of a staged Carrot Con experience. Tourists were taking pictures of where the rabbit had knocked things over and hoping it would show up again.
Rain’s mom, Flower, hadn’t even seen the rabbit. So she was only upset with Rain for not showing up to help. She was also bothered that Zeke hadn’t helped either. I’m guessing they explained things to her, but Juliet and I didn’t stick around. We got some Carrot Candy, which was just orange cotton candy, and sat on a bench near the face-painting booth.
“Was it weird being carried by a rabbit?” I asked.
“His fur was supersoft.”
“That’s a relief.”
“And it was terrifying.”
“I don’t know any girl who’s as brave as you,” I said honestly. “But I don’t know many girls, or boys, for that matter.”
“I thought I was going to die,” she said as her lips turned orange from the carrot candy.
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Me, too.”
Juliet smiled. I wondered if I should kiss her, but instead I gave her a thumbs-up. It was almost as awkward as if I had tried to kiss her.