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A group of fire-breathing rabbits gathers in a science expo, their glowing eyes and fiery breath setting booths ablaze. People flee in panic while a young boy and his father stand in stunned amazement.

Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits, Chapter 5

Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits
Flames in crimson fur,
rabbits leap through fire and ash,
chaos hops away.
Buy Yours Here:
Amazon - Books2Read

This is a draft version of a chapter from John Saye’s book, The Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits!

The rabbits were on the move. They snuck between the buildings. They romped through the bushes, and they stayed out of sight for the most part, but when they were obvious, they were really obvious, and people were reporting sightings all over the place.

“911 emergency… Rabbits Miss?” they would say.

“Really, red rabbits hopping down the street? A whole pack of them? Yes, I’ve got that noted here. Can jump ten feet, can they? I’ll mark that down as well. Where are they? I see.”

They’d type into their computers and ask “Were they dark red or just sort of pink?” and that would get a laugh sometimes if a nervous one.

In the control van, Mrs. Orange was cranking up the engine, and Prof. Blue was feeding all that data into his computer.

“Where are they headed?” said Mr. Green.

“It looks like there is a kid’s science expo down at the Free Town Convention Center. It looks like they are headed that way.”

The buses idled by the street in front of the Kid’s Science Expo, all thirty-seven or more of them. Behind them in the parking lot, there was a sea of yellow buses. Kids were everywhere. Some students stood in lines, getting directions from their teachers while others were in circles talking.

Mr. Phillips and Mike stepped off their bus. They only had a few other students with them. The rabbit rode in, tucked into Mike’s backpack.

Mike’s backpack started to twitch. Mike checked on him. The rabbit was no longer sleeping, but standing at attention, and looking around, like it was listening to the air, or smelling the hot dog carts that were way down the street. Its ears were like little radars, working independent of each other, and taking in as much as possible around them.

They walked through the crowd.

“How are we going to find your Dad?” said Mr. Phillips.

“Don’t worry. He’s got a big crowd.”

“Keep an eye out anyway.”

They made their way to the front entrance. Inside there were lines of tables, rows, and rows where all kinds of experiments both for and my kids were on display. Lots of kits. Everything from hydroponic gardening to raising tadpoles was here. Over in the corner, someone was beating on the bottom of a trashcan that was fitted with a plastic sheet on one end with a hole cut in the bottom, sending large smoke rings across the room.

At the center of the expo was a carrot. It was massive, some fifteen feet tall, and standing on end, the larger end floating above them, supported by cables. It was surrounded by kids, all reaching out to touch it. In front of it, were the kids who grew it, and a lady handing out baby carrot snack bags.

There were twisty drinking birds, potato clocks, robots made out of tin cans, sparklers, and piles and piles of books and workbooks. In the middle of the trading floor was a giant jungle gym where teenagers were clipping into a rope and following it through an obstacle course, that went up into the air above the rest of the exhibits. There were a bunch of kids up in it at the top looking down at everyone coming through the door and waving at them. Near the back, someone was high-dive jumping, next to two or three jumping houses, one of which was shaped like a gigantic whale and one of them was shaped like a giant clown’s head. You could see kids inside bouncing up and down by looking through the large clear eyes.

Mike couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but he thought that maybe it was places like this that helped his Dad keep the attention of his students so well.

They walked the isles, looking at plant systems and fish tanks, through stacks and stacks of books and in and out of one exhibit after another. Mr. Phillips was on high alert, missing the fun for looking for Destin, and Destin was doing the same as he led his troop through the other end of the gallery.

No one was showing rabbits doing anything out of the ordinary.

Destin allowed his students, who were younger and all planned to meet their parents here at the end of the day instead of returning on the bus, to split up and look at whatever it was they wanted to. Many stayed with him on the off chance they might see the rabbit fire it up again, but just as many were ready and willing to escape from their teacher for the afternoon with the expectation that they would tell the class the following Monday what they had seen.

They were wandering the aisles, and looking here and there when Mike thought to text his father.

Destin’s phone buzzed in his pocket, he looked at it.

“Meet us by the Mr. Science booth,” it said.

Behind him was a huge display of giant, oversized carrots, each as large as a child. They were stood up on end and had little lights shining down on them.

Destin looked around, then he texted back a quick “OK.” He turned the corner, his students still with him, and saw the Mr. Science booth. It was tall and black, covered with green lettering, and complex-looking equations. In front of it was Mr. Science himself, who was in life an actor who hosted children’s television shows. He had a bunch of kids gathered in front of him while he showed off a pair of large plasma balls.

The lighting inside of them was bright purple and zapping from the center to the glass spheres as he ran his hands over them. The kids were in awe, but happy to start pawing the plasma balls on their own while he explained the principals going on inside.

Mike and Mr. Phillips were standing to the left of the crowd as Destin came up.

“Hello there,” said Destin. He ruffled Mike’s hair.

“Hi Dad.”

“Hello Mr. Kelly,” said Mr. Phillips.

“Hello Mac,” said Destin.

Mr. Phillips laughed. “Destin,” he said.

“Got your rabbit?”

“I feel like I’m doing something illegal or something.”

“I know. Doesn’t make any sense, does it?”

“Not a lot. Fire breathing rabbits.”

“I love science.”

Mike felt it in his backpack, the rabbit was twitching.

“Hey,” said Mike. It’s moving.

“Mine is too,” said Destin. “I can feel him in there,”

Destin’s box shook and fell to the floor. Destin grabbed for it and pulled it back up. Mr. Phillips helped him hold it up.

“This one looks just like Mike’s,” said Mr. Phillips.

“I thought he might.”

In the corners of the expo, the rabbits were finding their way in. One of them slipped in through the back door while a trucker was offloading something for a big banquet that was going to happen later that night. Another one made his way in through one of the back doors of the expo, next to the concession stand as someone was coming from taking a quick break. Several more came in through the front door. Whenever anyone saw them, they would stand as still as possible until the person’s eyes just passed over them, then they would move on. In this way, they crept through the expo, hiding behind displays, near stacks of books, and in plain sight until they were all congregated around the Mr. Science booth.

Their fur was deep, dark and red with the occasional darker patch. They hopped together in an open space on the trading floor. Destin’s box shook again, and the rabbit freed itself scurrying out to the gathering of rabbits as Mike’s did the same, tearing itself out of the bag, and out into the floor with the rest of them.

“Woah!” said Mike. “Come back here!”

Mike went to grab for his rabbit, but Destin held him back.

“Dad!”

“Hang on, son.”

“But…”

“This might be interesting, watch.”

The rabbits gathered into a circle and began to stamp their feet in unison. Everyone around them stopped talking. Mr. Science stopped talking. People started to back up, but they also started to crowd around which created this concentrated circle of people about twenty feet away from the rabbits.

There were about ten of them there, including Mike and Destin’s rabbits. All around them, people started to hoot and grunt, as more rabbits were jumping into the crowd, hitting people in the legs, jumping up on their shoulders, and then out into the circle with the rest of the rabbits, then the pattern changed. Instead of a steady beat, the rhythm changed up, and the rabbits began to thump out a soft pattering song.

“What are they doing?” said Mr. Phillips.

“That!” said Mike, as the first one belched a stream of fire into the air, and the rest of them began to follow suit.

The crowd parted as the rabbits began to breathe fire and reign down terror in the middle of the expo. Rabbits jumped and blew scorching tongues of flame across the exhibits. They tickled each other and punched and seemed to giggle. They jumped up and down and punched their little fists in the air, and gave each other hugs, and then ran around in circles jumping over each other and running this way and that, blowing fire on a plant here, setting fire to a stack of books there, and having a great time with it all before concentrating together to take the Mr. Science booth down together in a towering inferno of flame.

Mr. Science jumped out of the way, doing a kind of a crazy cartwheel off his own stage. Mike could hear him saying “Is anybody getting this on film?”

About five hands shot up around them, each a person experiencing their life through applications on their cell phone rather than with their own eyes. Some of them were dangerously closer to the rabbits than they realized. Some sensible folks were actually screaming and running for their lives.

Mr. Science cartwheeled away from another onslaught of bunny firepower saying “Send me your video links later through your favorite social media sites!”

“Bunnies!” he yelled as they finished torching his booth to the ground. The plasma balls tipped over and exploded when they hit the concrete floor. Then the rabbits split up.

There was a gasp from the crowd.

People split apart from each other as the rabbits started bounding in all directions. One jumped upon a man’s head, then catapulted itself onto another woman, jumping from head to head. Others scurried underfoot, knocking people over and tripping them up.

“Red bunnies!” said one lady.

“Fire breathing rabbits!” said another.

“Of doom!” said someone else.

The rabbits ran through the other exhibits, setting everything on fire left and right. People not so much, but things in general, lots of paper and posters and signs went down, and not for lack of trying, it didn’t spread that far. Most displays landed on concrete floors and went out. That’s not to say that the initial blaze itself wasn’t spectacular, which it was. Destin and Mike watched as they fanned out across the expo floor from one booth to another, jumping up to stand on people’s heads, chasing each other, and setting things ablaze.

“Where are they going?” said Mike.

“I don’t know,” said Destin, “but we’ve got to catch them!”

“Which way?”

“Anyway! Do you know which way yours went?”

“I don’t know, this way?”

Mike pointed over towards where the jumping houses were.

“Let’s go then! Lead on!”

A white rabbit perches eerily on a playground seesaw as its fur turns deep red and its eyes glow with fire. A young girl watches in awe while other children remain unaware of the transformation.

Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits, Chapter 3

Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits
Flames in crimson fur,
rabbits leap through fire and ash,
chaos hops away.
Buy Yours Here:
Amazon - Books2Read

This is a draft version of a chapter from John Saye’s book, The Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits!

It had been a while since Maria had been able to get out of the house on her own. Open roads, clear skies, all her people off at various schools. Annie’s child seat was empty.

She rolled down the window and let in what remained of the cool morning air. The radio was buzzing. Pop songs and news bites, and weather every few minutes. Something involving rabbits flitted by one station. No matter where she turned there seemed to be some kind of story involving rabbits.

“I don’t see what the bother is. You can see rabbits in the yard sometimes in the spring.”

She pulled off the road and lined up in the drive-through for the Dino Coffee. She could already smell it in the air. Across the street was a car wash that was usually busy, but today there was only a fire truck and an ambulance there. The lights were on.

“I wonder what happened over there?”

She pulled up a car length and smelled the coffee laden air. It filled her nostrils with the scent of cinnamon, and vanilla, and burning ash. She opened her eyes. Across the street, she could tell that the car wash was on fire. There was now a break in the roof, and smoke was streaming out of the building. Shortly another fire truck arrived.

Standing on its own by the street at the intersection was a single white rabbit.

She turned to look at the Dino Coffee menu, and when she looked back, it was gone.

“How can we help you?” said the voice over the speaker.

“I’m looking for a large mocha stegosaur with cream today,” said Maria.

“I’ll find you one, kill it and have it ready for you at the window, anything else I can get for you?”

“That’ll do it.”

“Thanks very much. See you there.”

Maria drove up to the window. Where did that rabbit go?

“I said that’ll be nine-fifty-three,” said Melissa, who was hanging out the window with her coffee. She was wearing a brown and green apron, a black shirt and a baseball hat with a foam rubber Tyrannosaurus Rex above the bill.

“I’m sorry, here you go, thanks, Melissa.”

“No problem, Mrs. Kelly.”

She took the drink. “Thank you much.”

She pulled away and almost ran over another rabbit who was crossing in front of her, streaking along like a dog.

“What is going on here?”

She pulled around the corner, to get out of the lot and saw three more escaping into the woods by the side of the road.

She sipped her coffee and carried on. Rabbits.

Annie was alone on the playground.

One of the swings was swinging in the breeze. There was a creek in the metal, and she could hear the old playground equipment grinding in the wind. There were other kids around, but no one was there with her. She sat, on a metal duck, with paint that was peeling off its left side, creeping back and forth when she saw the rabbit. It was standing on the edge of the seesaw, up high, with no one on the other side.

Shouldn’t the rabbit push it down?

It sat up there, hovering, and looking all around. No one else noticed it. They were all heading inside. Teachers were calling, but Annie didn’t hear them. Instead, she walked out to the rabbit, in slow steps.

It twitched, and she stopped like a statue.

In a moment, it hunkered down and she resumed, one slow step at a time. She was right upon it. It stood there, rubbing its little eyes and ears, then it looked up at her.

“Hi,” she said. “Can I pet you?”

“Annie,” called a teacher’s assistant. “Come on in, what is that, a rabbit?”

The rabbit looked up and sniffed the air. Its nose twitched like lightning. It looked around, saw the teacher’s assistant, and stood up on its hind feet.

Its eyes blazed, then its fur stood up and turned red with dark patches in a flash.

“Woah,” said Annie.

“Annie, come on back from that rabbit,” said the assistant.

Annie didn’t move.

“Annie, come on dear.”

Annie reached out. The rabbit’s fur was deep red, but it looked soft. She touched it and found that it was soft, warm and luxurious, silky. The rabbit turned and showed Annie its back. She scratched it between the ears.

“Annie!”

Annie turned, hearing the teacher.

The rabbit turned as well. Its eyes lit up like fire, and it screeched as its fur erupted in flame.

Annie fell to the ground and began to run for the teacher.

The rabbit jumped to the ground and ran through the playground, looking for a way out. It found a crack in the fence big enough to get through, and bolted for it, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. It pumped through the crack and shook like a dog trying to shake off the water, but instead shook off the flames that were hugging its body. It darted between trees, and into a line of bushes before the red color faded back to white. A few moments later it was calm, and looking for a nice cool place to hang out for a while.

“Are you all right?” said the teacher’s assistant as she pulled Annie up from the ground.

“It wasn’t going to hurt me!”

“Come on inside.”

“I said I was fine! It wasn’t going to hurt me!”

“I know, come on. Let’s get inside.”

They went in, and Annie sat down to play house with some of the other girls. One boy was there, more interested in hanging out with the girls than the guys.

She watched out the window, looking for it, but could only see the trail of burned grass it had left while it was running away.

While she was persuading the boy to do the dishes in the little kitchen, her father was opening the box in his science classroom.

“Let’s find out what’s in here,” said Destin.

He pulled up the flaps and found a round nest of shredded paper inside. He pulled it apart to find the rabbit down there hiding.

“Come on out. I won’t hurt you.”

He reached in and allowed the rabbit to sniff him a little. Then he curled his hand up under the rabbit’s belly and pulled him from the box. He made sure to support the rabbit’s body.

The rabbit allowed itself to be held, and after a moment seemed okay with it.

“Are you one of those rabbits we heard about on the news little guy?”

The kids were still banging at the door.

“Who’d have thought kids would want to get in here so badly today eh?” he said to the rabbit. He stepped over to the door and opened it.  “Come in, come in already,” he said to the kids.

“Mr. Kelly, you have a rabbit!” said one of them as they entered the room.

Destin looked down, jumped like he hadn’t realized he was holding anything at all and smiled at the kids. “So it appears I do. Now that is interesting, isn’t it?”

He tucked the rabbit, who seemed content to be held like this, under his arm and continued to teach that way.

The kids sat at large black tables, with two students to a table. On each Destin placed a preserved frog for dissection for each pair of kids. Most of the kids sat with their hands on the table for the first few minutes. Then they began to shake their fears and start to do the business at hand. Some did well. Others botched their frogs from stem to stern, but most were average, getting the job done, but not to perfection. One slipped and cut his frog’s legs completely off.

Destin didn’t tell them that the exercise was more of a test of nerves to see if the kids would do the project at all. As the hour was winding down, one of them, long finished with his frog went ahead and said it.

“So, what’s with the rabbit Mr. Kelly?”

“That, my young sir, is a good question.”

The rabbit jumped up to sit on the corner of its box, turned red, and then belched fire like a small dragon into the room.

Arriving at his own school, Mike ran to get away from one of the teachers. He already had a rabbit in his backpack and was ducking for cover to avoid his science teacher, who he knew he’d see later in the day. He ducked into the bathroom, passed the stalls to the last one, got in and bolted himself in.

He unzipped the pack, and there it stood. What was amazing to Mike was just how calm and still, it was, even after traveling around in his backpack like that.

“Hey, little buddy. You’re all right.”

He stroked its fur, which was soft and fluffy for such an ordinary white rabbit. He ran his fingers through the fur. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. The fluffiest cat or a recently bathed and dried dog couldn’t compare, and then the red fur. It flashed from white to red, with darker patches that could be black, or maybe a dark crimson.

“Is this when you blow it?”

The rabbit sat still and then nuzzled Mike for some more scratches.

“Why do you turn red like that?”

Its eyes blazed.

Mike’s science teacher, Mr. Phillips, came into the bathroom.

“Mike, are you in here? We’re not just talking detention here you know. I just want to see the rabbit.”

Mike said nothing.

He stood frozen on the spot.

The rabbit’s ears perked up and zoned in on the sound of the approaching teacher.

“I know you’re in here. You may as well come out.”

The rabbit turned, now fixated on the approaching person.

Mike watched it seem to blink off all observation of anything else.

“What are you doing?” asked Mike.

“Mike, is that you?” said Mr. Phillips.

“Don’t come any closer,” said Mike. “I don’t think it’s ready yet.”

“It’s just a rabbit Mike, what harm could there be?”

The rabbit’s fur went from soft and deep red to blazing with a fiery light.

“I think you better hang back Mr. Phillips.”

Mr. Phillips reached Mike’s stall.

“Come on Mike, open up. I just want to see the bunny, right?”

“Okay, well you asked for it.”

Mike opened up the stall, releasing the little metal knob, and Mr. Phillips pulled the door open to see them.

The rabbit was blazing with fire. Smoke was starting to go everywhere. Its deep red fur glistened with fiery light, and its eyes blazed with white-hot fire.

“What the…” said Mr. Phillips as the rabbit spat forth a stream of dragon fire from its mouth.

Mr. Phillips hit the floor, and the shower of flame washed over him and melted the mirrors over the line of sinks.

Glowing white rabbits sprint through a suburban neighborhood while children on a passing school bus watch in amazement. The scene captures a mix of wonder and mystery as the rabbits race toward an unknown destination.

Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits, Chapter 2

Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits
Flames in crimson fur,
rabbits leap through fire and ash,
chaos hops away.
Buy Yours Here:
Amazon - Books2Read

This is a draft version of a chapter from John Saye’s book, The Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits!

Mornings at the Kelly house were hectic, to say the least. To say that they were a whirlwind of disaster would be equally descriptive of them, but hectic is still a nice word that describes it all.

Lunches were packed. Maria, who had been up for an hour already, had seen to that. She always liked to get everything ready and then sit with a cup of coffee while all the chaos orbited around her. Bathrooms and pipes made noise as people started taking showers and getting dressed, and then bounding downstairs.

Dad was the first.

“Morning Destin.”

“Morning Maria.” He gave her a kiss and fixed his tie in the mirror of the powder room that was just off the kitchen. He had buttoned his shirt in the dark, and was one button off, giving him a zombie quality that he liked. He fixed his buttons, now aware of why his tie felt so strange.

“Are you eating this morning?” she asked.

“No, I’ve got to… wait. Yes,” he said.

“Good, then it’s a good thing yours is ready.” She dropped french toast onto the table, that Destin could see no evidence she had cooked. He sat down to eat it, throwing his tie over his left shoulder.

“Do your students ever see you do that?”

“What, the tie?”

She nodded.

“I suppose so. I’ve never thought of it.”

There was a bang upstairs.

“That’ll be Mike,” said Destin.

To his students, he was Mr. Kelly, but Destin was what he’d rather hear. He looked and noticed a big cardboard box he was planning to take today. A little something extra for the kids. He had no idea of course what he’d be smuggling inside that box today.

Soon kids were coming down the stairs. Mike, who was still in the 7th grade was first. He flew down, and passed his mom and dad, on his way through and out the door. He looked like he was dressing as he went. Shirt half on and shoes untied. He hopped along on one foot tying one shoe, and then on the other to do the same. He grabbed his backpack.

“Woah Tiger,” said his dad.

Mike blinked, almost unaware that his parents were sitting over there. He noticed the french toast and sat down to inhale it in one go. While he was working on that, his sister Annie ran down the stairs. She was still in preschool but was much neater and calmer than her brother. Her hair was braided in long auburn pigtails.

She sat down to breakfast.

“Dad, have you thought about it yet?” asked Mike.

“What?” Destin wiped something from his mouth.

“Getting a dog.”

“Oh, that. I don’t know. A pet is a huge responsibility. Do you think you can handle it?”

“I want a cat,” said Annie. “I thought we were getting a cat.”

“I think we were discussing what kind of pet to get at all,” said Maria. She sipped at her coffee.

“That’s right,” said Mike. “But I want a dog. Dogs are more fun than cats.”

“How do you know?” said Annie. “Cats are nice. They cuddle in your lap.”

“Some dogs will do that,” said Destin.

“It’s not the same,” said Annie.

“I can see we still have some thinking to do,” said Destin. “I’m taking everyone in today. I’ve got some extra things to take into school. I’m starting a new experiment with some of my High School kids.”

“Are you doing frogs today?” asked Maria.

“No, it’s something a little different. More of a demonstration.”

“I’m taking the bus,” said Mike.

“Are you sure? I can still take you,” said Destin.

“No, I’m all right.” Mike stood up.

“You haven’t finished your breakfast,” said Maria.

“I’ve had enough.”

Mike hugged his mom, and then took off out the door. The stop was up at the end of the street.

Destin packed his box up and took Annie by the hand. They stepped down into the garage and were soon backed out of the driveway and on their way.

Maria did the cleaning up. She was with Annie if anyone wanted to know, a cat would be nice. Then she thought about it for a little while longer and realized that what she’d always wanted was a snake. It was the kind of pet that no one in the house was just going to say yes to. She had always dreamed of doing something just a little dangerous. Something that she could show the other moms and scare them with just a little bit.

“Go, team,” she said.

Out the back window, she could see them romping through the yard, three white rabbits, like streaks of light in the early morning light. They bounded through like they were on fire.

“I’ve never seen rabbits like that in the yard. Shouldn’t they be brown? Maybe they are from Eagle Lake Labs, up the hill?” She turned and lost herself in the cleanup they had all left behind for her.

Mike hopped on his bus. He marched to the back of it, found an empty seat, and slung himself into it. He put his backpack up on the seat next to him and dared anyone with his eyes to try to sit next to him. After the bus was out of the neighborhood he opened his pack to look at a dog breeds magazine.  He was looking at the dogs playing frisbee, and some that were training to do long jumps in a pool. He kept going back to those pages. Then he saw them.

Rabbits by the road were running and catching up with the bus. There were three of them.

“Look,” said Mike.

Some of his friends gathered around. They still maintained their distance from him a little bit, but some of the other kids were pointing as well. There were three white rabbits hopping along the side of the bus, and keeping pace with it. They didn’t look real like they were out of some kind of storybook or something, almost a blur.

“Look at them go,” said one kid.

“I’d like a rabbit-like that,” said another.

Mike thought about his dogs and wondered if a rabbit that could keep up with a school bus could catch a frisbee. He craned around in his green seat as they turned a corner and lost the rabbits to a different turn at an intersection.

“They are going through the woods,” said Mike.

“What did you think they’d do?” said Betty Johnson, from the front of the bus.

“I don’t know. It looked like they were following us,” said Mike. “I wonder where they are going.”

Betty rolled her eyes. “The school is on the other side of those woods, Mike. If they are chasing us to school, they just took a shortcut.”

They watched the rabbits disappear into the woods, their big feet bounding over the rocks and the tree stumps that were out there. In a moment, they were gone.

Destin and Annie saw them too. It was coming around the corner near her school. There were half a dozen white rabbits running around a playground. They were scaling the big jungle gym and leaping over it and into the sandbox before skittering through a series of plastic tubes, and under the large metal duck on a spring, then making it through the wooden fence on the other side, and escaping there through a crack.

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”

“Yeah Annie, look at that.”

He stopped the car and watched as the rabbits ran through the playground.

“I wonder where they are going?”

“Daddy, can I have a rabbit?”

“And I wonder where they came from. What?”

“A rabbit, can I have one of those?”

He smiled.

“We can add that to the list and see what everyone thinks tonight. Okay?”

“Okay.” She pulled her backpack on. Her father kissed her and sent her to the school.

Then he got back in his own car and headed for the high school. It was frogs today, but he hadn’t wanted to tell anyone that, and he’d rather not do it either, but it was what it was.

He pulled around the corner, and down the street to his own school. He parked in his designated spot, the one right under the branch that the robins all liked to congregate on, and pulled his old musty box out of the back seat. Expecting to find his notes and diagrams about the frog’s internal anatomy, he saw instead a small nest, made of the remains of all his notes and materials. It looked more like a jumble of paper, but some kind of little critter must have done it.

What was in there?

He closed the lid of the box, tucked it under his arm, and went into the school through a side door. Inside, he could smell the ammonia of the recently mopped floors. Students were headed everywhere. Some were hanging out on the floors by their lockers, not yet able to get into their classrooms, others wandered the halls heading up and down from the cafeteria to the gym over and over again, but most of them just crowded around and talked.

Somewhere in the distance, a warning bell rang. There were another ten minutes before classes were to begin. Destin could feel something moving in the box, scratching to get out. Was the box feeling warmer? He shifted it to his other arm. Maybe it was like a small raccoon or a squirrel, but jittery. It bounced in there. Was that a bounce?

He slipped into his classroom and put the box on his big science table. It was black and burn proof.

The box moved.

He pushed it back into the middle of the table. Students were knocking at the door. He didn’t want to show them this. What if he’d just managed to bring a stray or something into the school building?

Whatever it was scratched, and a little white paw appeared through flaps where they all came together at the top of the box.

There was chewing.

He held the box feeling for movement.

After a moment, all signs of it stopped.

He reached down with a finger, and pulled gently at the flaps, and opened the box up.