Gardens And Rabbits*
Vi didn't come home for hours. Vander made dinner, which Powder barely touched. As the four of them sat around the table, rather quiet without Vi, Vander looked to his phone when he received a text from Vi saying that she was studying at the library and would be home soon. So, they ate without her.
Powder laid awake in her bed until she heard Vi's familiar footsteps delicately climb the staircase, turn the light off, and close her bedroom door.
Powder silently got out of bed and opened her door just a crack.
In secret, Powder stole some baby carrots from the kitchen and set the carrots on the floor just outside her door. She remembered something in the back of her mind about rabbits eating the green leafy part of carrots, but she hoped it would still entice the rabbits anyway.
With everything that happened that day, Powder couldn't wait to go to sleep, her blood buzzing with anticipation. She closed her eyes, anyway, forcing herself to sleep.
After a time that felt like forever, waiting behind the darkness of her closed eyes, Powder peeked open one eye when she heard a familiar scratching. This time, she saw a pair of rabbits wiggling their noses over the spot on the floor she had put the carrot. When they sat up and looked at her, they each had a stick of carrot in their mouths.
Powder flung back her sheets and chased the rabbits out her door. Even more eager not to lose them, she followed them down the stairs and straight into the drawing room. Just like before, as soon as she opened the little door, the tunnel glowed and stretched out before her.
Powder grinned and crawled through, a relief filling her bones and almost making her limbs feel heavy. She didn't want to think about anything else in her normal world. This world mattered, right now. Crawling through the tunnel was just like the first time she crawled through. The gentle wind, the bright colors. Entering the parlor, finding the happy boy painting over the mantle and all. And smelling the best smells in the air.
"Welcome back, darling," the other mother said, standing in the kitchen in her usual place in front of the oven.
"Hi," Powder waved, coming closer.
A bubble of relief soothed her heart like a warm bath to see her again. This time, her other mother was wearing dark brown pajamas with white polka dots, and a red apron tied at her waist, and red slippers on her feet.
"So thoughtful of you to send this nice Daucus carota sativus, dear Powder," the other mother said as she pushed her long braid over her shoulder and sliced something orange with a peeler in her nimble hands.
"Huh?" Powder blinked, then realized, mildly impressed. "Oh! The carrot. Of course."
With the last of the carrot gone, the other mother wiped her hands on her apron and turned to her. "Would you go fetch your father? I bet he's hungry as a pumpkin by now."
"You mean my other father?" Powder asked.
Her cheeks turned rosy as the other mother chuckled, "Your better father, dear. He's out in the garden."
Powder looked perplexed, thinking of the dead garden at home. "But… my family don't have time to garden."
"Shush, shush!" the other mother playfully picked up a strawberry from a bowl, knelt in front of Powder and stuffed it in Powder's mouth.
It was juicy and tasted of summer. "Mmm!" Powder relished.
The other mother stroked her head in a way that sent good tingles over her scalp then gently pushed a hand at her back. "Go on," she said with a smile that made her button eyes sparkle.
Powder popped the rest of the strawberry in her mouth and walked out the kitchen door.
…
Stepping outside the house, the sky was pitch dark, but the light of the half-moon shone down over the place Powder remembered the garden to be. Pinpricks of light, resembling stars, twinkled in the sky.
With a gasp, Powder found the gate to the garden wasn't rusty anymore. It was painted freshly white and had metal leaves that curled on metal vines across the gate. Powder pushed on the garden gates and loved how smoothly they opened for her.
She could already tell the garden was more alive than their real garden at home. Not that that set the bar very high. But even for a normal garden, Powder was impressed.
Hummingbirds that really hummed, shimmered, and buzzed in front of Power's face. They flew on transparent wings, their feathers shimmering like dragonfly wings. They flew around the garden and as they looped around, more and more flowers lit up in their presence.
Butterflies with impossible colors in nature fluttered in the air. Flowers glowed in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Shapes that she had never seen before, like an alien world or a coral reef.
Two tall trees, looking like giant Angelica flowers, bloomed red-orange blossoms. Long vines crept and wove over stone walls. Huge bleeding hearts, the size of her head, grew on the side of a brick wall, glowing on their insides and beating like real hearts. White tubes, like fishnet, grew out of the ground with pink glowing insides. Cream-colored ivy carpeted the cobblestone ground. Green frogs with red spots croaked merrily, making Powder giggle when one popped out of a pitcher plant.
The more Powder walked, the more the plants grew out of the ground, as though to meet her. As if she were the sun.
She twirled a couple times, jumping as though she could fly, giggling at every plant as they glowed at her touch.
Then Powder heard an engine running and saw a machine climbing over a hill. The machine was a tractor that looked like a giant prey mantis. Its eyes were huge headlights. It spat out seeds from its mouth, and behind it, poured water from a watering can. In its wake, a whole field of blue cornflowers magically grew out of the ground, rapidly blooming.
"Hey!" her other father waved from the prey mantis. He wore the same time, he wore a cowboy hat.
Powder cupped her hands around her mouth, to shout, "I love your garden!"
"Our garden, Powder!" he corrected her, turning the wheel of the prey mantis toward her.
Just then, yellow dragon snappers popped out of the ground in between the cracks of the cobblestone. They reached out with their noses and tickled Powder's feet, making her drop to the ground and laugh loudly, fidgeting against them.
"Uh-oh, daughter in distress!" the other father exclaimed playfully. He plucked a large, brass-colored flower from a tall stem and put it to his lips, tooting it like a trumpet.
He drove the prey mantis across the bridge, its barbed arms clawing at the ground, pulling the rest of its body on wagon wheels.
White water lilies bloomed in the now filled pond as he passed by. Two giant pumpkins, carved as jack-o-lanterns, bounced in the water, spraying clear, blue water out of their lids.
When Powder thought she couldn't take the tickling anymore, the flowers looked up at the other father sitting on the tractor above them.
"Tickle no more, you dragon snappers," he teased. And the prey mantis sliced the bottom stems of the flowers. They collected neatly into his hand as he offered them to her. Like a knight riding in to save the princess.
At one point, Powder thought she remembered a time when Mylo used to play pretend with her like that, but she couldn't remember when.
Powder picked herself off the ground. "Well, she says it's time for dinner," Powder said, then tried to correct herself, "Uh, breakfast. Food?"
"Hop on with me, kiddo. I wanna show you something," the other father said, holding out his hand, his button eyes bright.
Powder took it and she climbed aboard the prey mantis. He had her sit behind him as he manned the controls. He flipped a lever and the wheels locked up. He pushed a button and a rod with helicopter blades fanned out above their heads. It spun and twirled faster and faster, blowing their hair back. But Powder wasn't scared.
Higher and higher they flew, the helicopter blades twirling. Powder looked down at the lights on the ground and realized all the flowers were glowing. But not just glowing. They were all planted to specific colors and the landscape was shaped in the design of Powder's face. Even her braid was included.
The two giant pumpkins were her eyes, the water lilies were the whites of her eyes. The cream-colored ivy was her skin. The powder-blue cornflowers were her hair. Even the glass greenhouse glowed purple and silver to match her dragonfly hairpin.
"I can't believe you did this!" Powder exclaimed.
"Mother said you would like it," the other father said over his shoulder, "Boy, she knows you like the back of her hand."
Powder just smiled at the garden below her, her smile matching the giant face below her.
…
"Mmm. So good," Powder complimented at the kitchen table, shoveling more strawberries in her mouth.
She ate the breakfast, trying not to wolf it down. She was hungrier than she had thought. As she ate, her other mother fed pieces of sausage to the bouquet of dragon snappers, now set in a blue vase in the middle of the table.
For a moment, as Powder chewed her food, she stared at the woman.
She admired her mother's beauty. She could see where Vi got certain features from. Yet…
The other mother didn't have food on her plate. Come to think of it, Powder had never seen the other mother's plate with food.
Maybe she ate earlier?
It was hard to read expressions into those black button eyes, but Powder thought that her other mother looked hungry too.
"I love dinner-breakfast-food!" the other father joked, cutting into his tower of waffles, syrup, and strawberries with a knife and fork.
"Powder," the other mother said in an anxious-free way that Powder almost didn't even notice.
"Oh, sorry. What?" she asked.
The other mother smiled patiently. "Dr. Bobinsky has invited you to come see the jumping bunnies perform after dinner," said the other mother.
"Really?" Powder blinked. "That know-it-all Ekko said it was all in Dr. B's head. I knew he was wrong."
Powder didn't know what compelled her to say that lie. But she wanted the other mother to like her.
"Well, everything's right in this world, kiddo," the other father said, leaning over and winking.
The other mother stood and put a hand on his shoulder. "Father and I will clean up while you and your friend head upstairs," she said with a smile like she had a surprise.
"My friend?" Powder asked.
There was a knock on the kitchen door. When the other mother opened the door, Powder scowled at the boy standing there.
"Great. Another Ekko."
This boy looked exactly the same as the real Ekko, except for his toothless smile and his black button eyes.
"Hello, Marco Polo," she groaned.
When he merely waved and didn't say anything, Powder cocked her head to the side.
"Hello?" she called impatiently.
The other mother stepped in and held his shoulders. "I thought you'd like him more if he spoke a little less. So, I fixed him," she said, patting him on the head. The boy didn't seem to mind.
"So, he can't talk at all?" Powder asked.
"Nope," she replied, holding his shoulders.
Powder put her finger to her chin and nodded. "Hmm… I think I like that better."
The other mother smiled as she always did. "Now, run along, you two, and have fun!" she said, excitedly, ushering them out the kitchen door, together.
…
Stepping outside, Powder saw the lawn around the house also got a glow up. The oak tree that had fallen over was still on the ground, but it had green leaves sprouting from its branches.
The grass was a lot greener, almost unnaturally so, and manicured to an appropriate length. Hedge bushes lined the stone steps at the front of the house. Two hedges grew on both sides of the porch steps, twisting like double helix. A few hedges dotted the lawn, cut into shapes of fantastical creatures, and strings of lights lit them from the inside.
Powder walked with the other Ekko around the house, not sure what to say.
"You're awfully cheerful considering you can't say anything," she tested.
He merely gave a shrug as he walked beside her. He was the first person that wasn't watching her every move. He just looked forward.
But the fact he was so cheerful to her ruthless teasing gave her pause with her hurtful words.
"Uh… it didn't hurt, did it?" she tried to tactfully ask, "When she…?"
But Powder didn't get the chance to finish. He pointed up to something in the sky. Round and blue and floating along. A balloon? No, a mini blimp, an airship.
They hurried up the metal staircase, freshly painted white, and followed the balloon outside Dr. B's door. A round window above the door lowered and let the balloon float inside.
Powder chuckled and looked to Ekko. He smiled too.
When Powder knocked on the door, the door suddenly spun vertically, carrying Powder and Ekko with its spinning. Powder cried out in surprise. Then as quickly as it began, the door stopped spinning and dropped them on their butts on the other side.
When her head stopped spinning, Powder laughed. Ekko couldn't laugh, but he was smiling.
Before them, stretched a path that led to a small, red, and yellow tent in the middle of the attic. It looked a lot like the real Dr. B's attic, but two rows of miniature circus cannons flanked the path to the tent. Beside the tent entrance, a popcorn machine with an animatronic chicken pecked at a corncob, squawked once, then its tail feathers lifted and dispensed freshly popped popcorn into the next empty popcorn bag on a miniature Ferris wheel.
Powder cried out, "There's caramel! My favorite!"
As she took a glazed popcorn bag from the Ferris wheel, she jumped when she heard a loud bang behind her. Apparently, the cannons had stepping pedals and blasted out cotton candy rolled up on a stick.
"Look at you!" Powder laughed, pointing to the cotton candy stuck to his body.
Then they heard a voice on a microphone, coming from inside the small tent. They bent down to the tent flap and crawled inside. Powder was not surprised to find it much bigger on the inside.
"Lady and gentleman! Tonight, for to tickle your eyes and ears… and making hearts to thump, I, Dr. Mundo Padidly Alexander Bobinsky, am introducing my astoundish-ing, stupendulous, and amazing jumping bunny circus!"
The balloon from earlier reappeared and floated in rings around the tent, then did a nosedive straight to the floor and popped open like a flower. Out leapt more than a dozen butterscotch-colored rabbits, all wearing little, red, marching band uniforms with gold trim.
They tucked and splayed their ears and limbs. They summersaulted and spun in the air, forming a pyramid like cheerleaders. Powder was astonished when she realized the pattern they made.
"My name!" she exclaimed, instinctually grabbing his arm and pointing.
Sure enough, 'Powder' was spelled out correctly with the limbs and ears and tails of the bunnies in the pyramid.
Then they leapt apart and picked up tiny musical instruments. Brass trombones and sousaphones. Silver flutes and snare drums with tiny drumsticks and cymbals.
One bunny came floating down from above by a tiny, white parachute. He landed square on a red circus ball with a yellow star on its front. He held a tiny baton in his paw and his red hat was taller than the others. He stood on his ball perfectly and stamped his foot.
Then they began to dance.
It was hypnotic and the music was strange as they jumped in synchronized harmony. They formed different shape patterns, a circle, a star, then concentric circles and a spiral. One by one, a dozen rabbits took turns trick jumping through a series of hoops.
"It's wonderful, Ekko!" Powder said to him as she ate more cotton candy.
He nodded in return, and Powder rather liked the feeling of having him with her. A second witness to the miracles happening. Someone to share it all with.
Then the band formed a spiral as a platform rose out of the floor, spiraling higher and higher. Taller than either Powder or Ekko. The size of an adult. The lead bunny balanced on his ball at the very top.
"Wow!" Powder exclaimed, unsure how all those brave bunnies could stand the height.
Then after a moment of complete stillness, the lead bunny, balancing on his ball, rolled down the platform, all the other bunnies jumping off and spinning in the air before landing on the ground. Round and around the bunny rolled his ball with perfect control. As the lead bunny touched the floor, the platform fell away and revealed Dr. B standing there.
His wore a black velvet coat with coat tails and gold tassels on his shoulders and gold embroidery across the chest. He wore white gloves and a tall, skinny top hat. His mustache was smoothed and curled.
"Yahoo! That was great!" Powder shouted and Ekko clapped.
"Very, very thank you, lady and gentleman," Dr. B said, taking a humble bow.
He snapped his fingers and held his hand to the floor. The lead bunny stamped his foot twice on his ball. In a matter of moments, the rest of the bunnies all lined up and scrambled one by one up Dr. B's coat sleeves, rummaging inside his coat, disappearing as easily as magician bunnies would. Where they went, Powder had no clue.
The last one was the lead bunny, rolling with his ball up onto the man's shoulder, then onto his head, where Dr. B replaced his top hat. Thus, the rabbit was gone.
Powder and Ekko stood up, clapping again.
"We loved it, Dr. B! It was so… so…"
"A…" Dr. B supplied with a smile, his white button eyes somehow less intimidating.
"Amazing!" Powder laughed. Ekko also punched the air with exuberance.
"You are very welcome anytime you like," Dr. B said with a hearty laugh. "You and, also, your good friend, there."
Then he lifted her hand and kissed the knuckles, bowing deeply. "Dosvedaniya, Powder."
…
It wasn't long after Powder entered the house again that she felt tired. Her eyes and limbs heavy. She rubbed her eyes as the other mother guided Powder to her bedroom.
In only a moment, she was ushered to bed, and she got a kiss from her mother on her head. Powder liked the kiss. It was warm.
Mother silently shushed her father and Ekko for horsing around as Powder closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, again.
It was the kind of day that she wanted to remember every detail of.