Chapter 29
The Ely boys were asleep in their tent when Luke and Wyatt crept towards it.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Luke?" Wyatt asked.
"Yep," Luke said. "My boys need to be brought down a peg or two."
"Or six," Wyatt joked.
The object in Luke's arms tried to get away but Luke tightened his arms around it. The object was wrapped in Luke's coat to protect it and him.
"Ready?" Wyatt inquired.
"Sure am," Luke told him.
Wyatt unzipped the tent and Luke tossed in the jackrabbit that he had managed to catch earlier. Wyatt quickly rezipped the tent before the rabbit could escape. Then he snapped a clip on it, making it impossible to open from the inside.
They could hear the rabbit running around the tent and the two men chuckled as the boys started waking up and yelling, wondering what was in their tent with them.
"What is it?" Adam yelled.
"Holy crap," Kit was shouting.
They could hear the boys scrambling a second before someone was trying to get the zipper of the tent open.
"I can't get the tent open," Bryan voice was loud in the night.
"Get out of the way," Kit told him and he started yanking at the zipper.
Wyatt and Luke were biting back their laughter.
"It's a rabbit," Jake told his brothers.
"What?" Nate yelped.
"How did a rabbit get in our tent?" Quinn asked.
"Ow, the thing jumped up and bit me," Bryan shouted. "Get it out of here."
Luke nodded and Wyatt unclipped the zipper. It opened immediately. Quinn, Bryan, Nate and Adam piled out of the tent, almost tripping over each other as they did. They came up short upon seeing Dad and Wyatt standing nearby.
"Oh, man," Adam grouched.
"You did this, Dad?" Bryan asked.
Kit came out of the tent followed by Jake who held the rabbit by the ears. He put it down and the rabbit took off.
"No more tricks on Samantha," Luke told his sons.
"Okay," the six boys said at the same time.
"I appreciate you boys caring about her and thinking of her as your little sister," Wyatt told them. "However, she's not used to this kind of thing."
"So does that mean we can pull pranks on her once she's used to it?" Quinn asked with a laugh.
"Give her a few years," Wyatt responded with a chuckle.
"Go back to bed now," Luke said to his boys.
"Yes, sir," all six murmured and headed back to their tent.
"I can't believe our own father got us like that," Quinn complained.
"I can't believe how you screamed like a girl at a little rabbit," Jake laughed.
"I didn't scream like a girl," Quinn pushed him.
"He put Sam to shame," Kit laughed.
"Oh, I did not," Quinn muttered.
"Someone get the rabbit," Adam cried in a falsetto.
That set off the rest of them.
"Help me," Bryan's voice rose. "A mean old rabbit is attacking me."
The six of them were laughing heartily by the time they settled back into their tent. Dad and Mr. Forster had gotten them pretty good.
