Deadlines for Writers
Prompt: Craft
Word Count: 500
BUNNY FAMILY
At the age of ten, Jenny was creative and liked to make things. During her school’s spring break, Jenny made a two-story dollhouse from a large cardboard box, using kitchen scissors to carve out window and door openings. She’d constructed furniture from the box’s flaps and secured the corners of her mini couches and beds with generous amounts of tape. Jenny had cut fabric and sewn pillows and curtains and become immersed in creating a tiny home. In the days that followed, there was only one thing missing: lifeforms.
At first, Jenny used her little brother’s Fisher Price people to imitate a family with mother, father, and child, and even a dog. She quickly tired of using the battered plastic pieces when she craved posable figures and changing their outfits. Growing desperate, Jenny looked through her mother’s Sears catalogs and cut out pictures and placed them inside her cardboard world. Unable to stand or sit, the flat photos of her pretend family only caused Jenny more frustration.
One morning, Jenny wandered into the backyard in search of something alive. Looking up in the trees, she spied birds and squirrels, and, on the ground, she noticed bees and ants. None of these were viable options and Jenny plopped down on the grass and officially gave up. Tears rolled down her cheeks when off to the right, she noticed the slightest movement.
Jenny slowly approached the grassy area beside newly blooming daffodils. These were always the first sign of spring. Jenny reached out and felt warm fur. Soon she had scooped up a tiny bunny. And then another. And another. She could feel their hearts beating in her palms.
Delighted, Jenny smuggled the babies into the house and brought them upstairs into her bedroom. She laid them in a “nest” of blankets and just stared at them in disbelief. Overjoyed, Jenny decided to relocate one of the sleeping bunnies into her dollhouse and onto the cardboard bed she’d made. Its weight instantly collapsed the fragile frame and Jenny realized she may have to redo all her furniture to accommodate the new arrivals.
Jenny named all three Daddy, Mommy, and Baby Bunny. She spent the day pretending to move through a daily routine of pretend meals, going to school, parents going to work, playing games, and Jenny sang songs to the bunnies.
Suddenly, Jenny heard footsteps approaching.
“Jenny?”
Gasping, Jenny watched her mother enter the room and discover the bunnies strewn about the dollhouse and her own disheveled canopy bed.
“Oh, my goodness. Honey, where did you get these?”
Jenny’s mother immediately retrieved the small rabbits and asked Jenny to show her exactly where she’d found them.
“Their mother must be frantic looking for her babies. She’s the only one who can feed them.”
Feeling terrible, Jenny led her mother to the depression where the babies had been sleeping. Jenny’s mother returned them to their nursery and took Jenny’s hand.
“Let’s get you a doll family. Bunnies should not be used for crafts.”