L and B

Leaps and Bounds and the Lovesick Roadrunner


“I don’t think I can go any faster, Leaps!” shouted Bounds in short bursts between gasps for air.

Leaps didn’t answer, he was far too busy trying not to trip on anything while racing across the desert at a rate of speed he was sure was far faster than any rabbit should go. He didn’t look back, either, but could feel the presence of the wild creature chasing them and he was sure it was gaining on them. They had to make it to the gully!

At last, his lungs bursting, Leaps saw the opening and slipped into the gully and streaked around a curve, followed closely by his brother.

The curve was deceptive because on the other side of the hill it cut sharply the opposite direction and then went almost straight up to the top. The sharp cut back had been a surprise to more than one coyote looking for lunch. Reaching the top the brothers would watch the coyote miss the turn, sail off into air, land with a thud and skulk off in embarrassment.

The two dashed to the top, stopped and turned, expecting to see the last of the stranger as it plunged down to the desert floor.

But the wild creature had not followed their mad dash into the ravine. Rather, it had used its short wings to fly up to the top of the hill, hoping to see where the rabbits were heading.

Both Leaps and Bounds stopped within inches of the creature, but were too busy looking down the hill to notice.

“What on earth are you doing?” the creature asked, waving his wings.

Both rabbits whipped their heads around, gasped and stepped back. Bounds had stopped a bit too close to the edge, unfortunately, and felt the ground drop away as he flipped over backwards, hit a cactus and rolled out of control down the hill.

The strange creature watched Bounds roll to a stop with a thud. He turned to Leaps and asked, “You think he hurt himself?”

Leaps stared at the creature. It looked a lot like a bird, now that it had stopped, but in all his life he had never seen a bird that big, and certainly not one that ran instead of flew.

“What manner of creature are you?” he asked, perplexed.

The creature ignored him and dashed with, once again, remarkable speed to the spot Bounds had landed, arriving just as the rabbit shook himself and started to climb back to his feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked, opening his wings in concern.

Seeing the creature appear magically at his side for the second time in minutes was too much for Bounds. He jumped up onto one large, powerful back foot, and held the other out in warning. He thought he shouted, “Stand back, you demon” but it sounded more like, “Ssssssssssack, ack, ute, ute, ute, deeeeeeee, yiiiiii!”

Leaps was slowly following the stranger. The sight of the strange bird-like creature’s face, with the concern for his brother now mingling with puzzlement, removed his fear. And as his fear left him, he replayed the sight of Bounds rolling down the hill in his mind’s eye and without warning sat down beside the strange creature, pointed a wing at Bounds and began to laugh so hard his eyes watered.

The creature stared at the two of them for a moment and slowly took a step back.

“I didn’t realize…” it stammered. “I’m sorry I disturbed…”

Bounds, his dignity hurt enough to replace his fear with annoyance at his brother, lowered his foot and started to brush the dust off his coat. “Don’t mind my stupid brother. He always thinks it’s funny when I almost kill myself!” he said.

“I can understand you,” the stranger said in surprise.

“Of course!” Bounds said, now as annoyed at the stranger as he was at his brother. “What on earth would make you think you couldn’t.”

“You weren’t speaking very clearly a moment ago,” said Leaps, collapsing into another bout of laughter while repeating, “Yi! Yi! Yi” over and over.

“Why were you chasing us!” Bounds demanded of the stranger after giving his brother a withering look.

“Why were you running?” asked the stranger.

“We were running because you were chasing us!” shouted Bounds.

“I was chasing you because you were running!” shouted the stranger.

“Stop!” shouted Leaps with enough authority to draw the attention of both Bounds and the stranger.

“Well?” the stranger asked with a cock of his head.

“We saw you running at us and well…,” said Leaps finding himself at a loss for words, a rare state for him.

“Yeah, you ran at us first!” shouted Bounds.

“Yes,” Leaps shook his head and stepped in front of his brother. “You came at us unexpectedly, at a high rate of speed, I might add. In fact, you were traveling too rapidly for us to identify what type of creature you were. Quite naturally, we were concerned. If we had been given the proper time to draw more rational conclusions, we would have most likely held our ground at least long enough to discover your intentions, but as it was, with an unidentifiable creature rushing headlong towards us, we, well, we decided it best to remove ourselves from its path. After all, the most reasonable conclusion at the time was that you were attacking us.”

Bounds opened his mouth, closed it again, looked at the stranger and then at Leaps, said, “Yeah!” and firmly snapped his mouth shut.

“Attacking you?” the stranger asked, backing up further and bobbing his head in surprise. “Why on earth would I attack you? Who said I was attacking you? Roadrunners don’t attack rabbits!”

He cocked his head again and added, “Well, not rabbits as big as you two, anyway.”

“Roadrunners?” both rabbits said in unison.

“What’s a roadrunner?” asked Bounds cocking his head to study the strange creature.

“So, that’s what you are,” said Leaps, nodding as if he had known all along.

“But you have the appearance of a bird,” he added accusingly.

“Birds have no business running on the ground!” demanded Bounds.

“I am a bird!” The roadrunner said impatiently. As he spoke he began to pace rapidly in a circle around the two, requiring them to turn around quickly in order to keep him in their sight.

“I am a bird,” he repeated. “Just because I prefer running to flying doesn’t mean I’m not a bird. You sound just like those stupid crows over where I live! Always laughing at us running on the ground. I’m still a bird!”

“Can we find a nice place out of the sun to talk about this?” asked Bounds, stumbling as he turned. “I’ve had a bad fall and my head is beginning to spin.”

“Oh, of course,” said the roadrunner. “How thoughtless of me!” He stopped his pacing and opened a wing to fold protectively around a wide-eyed Bounds. Before either rabbit could react, he had ushered them both into the shelter of a large bush and settled down under it’s thick branches.

“That’s better!” he announced. The rabbits looked at each other.

“Do you always move so… so fast?” asked Bounds.

“I agree,” said Leaps. “I too find your movements very precipitate.”

The roadrunner cocked his head, studied Leaps for a moment and sat back.

“Oh, sorry, I guess if you’re not used to roadrunners it might… I was in a hurry… I thought… Do you always talk like that?”

“We never saw a roadrunner before,” Bounds said, once again more curious than afraid. “Do you have a name?”

“Talk like what?” asked Leaps.

“Oh, sorry, yes, I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I? I’m Arti. I’m a roadrunner from over past that high ridge of rock.”

“We’re brown and white rabbits from well, right here!” Bounds said proudly.

“My name is Leaps,” said his brother sternly. “My brother’s name is Bounds. We are white and brown rabbits,” he added with strong emphasis on the white.

“Brown and white rabbits, Mom clearly said, brown and white,” insisted Bounds.

“Our mother, though a dear, isn’t always exacting in her speech,” countered his brother. “We are white and brown rabbits! You have only to look at your own fur to see the predominance of white!”

Arti suddenly brightened and said, “Oh, I get it, rabbits, Leaps and Bounds. Very funny!”

The rabbits looked at each other in puzzlement.

“What’s funny?” asked Bounds.

“Oh,” said the roadrunner uncertainly. “Oh… well… nothing I guess.”

“You’re kinda strange for a roadrunner,” said Bounds. “Besides running when you should be flying, I mean.”

“I’m not supposed to fly!” said Arti with an exasperated sigh.

Leaps turned on his brother. “How would you know what was strange for a roadrunner? You have never met one before, nor, I would guess, ever heard of one before.”

“You never heard of him, either!” said Bounds.

His brother shook his head. “I would think you would at least have learned enough from our mother not to insult a visitor from over the ridge. What must he think of us?”

“I…” Arti started but Bounds turned on Leaps and shouted, “You’re the one who insulted him. You’re the one who said he was a bird! Don’t blame me! You blame me for everything.”

“I’m not insulted. I am a bird,” Arti insisted.

Bounds turned to Leaps and the two rabbits were now nose to nose, with Bounds’ back foot tapping loudly on the ground.

“I blame you,” Leaps said quietly, “because it’s your fault. I didn’t insult him, you just heard him say so.”

“I didn’t either!” demanded Bounds.

With a deep breath, Leaps said, “Regardless, he is our guest, this is our part of the desert and he’s new here. He may need help. That may be why he was running up to us.”

Turning his back on a still angry Bounds, he said to Arti, “I’m sorry if we misinterpreted your intentions. Is there something we can do for you?”

“Why, yes there is, thank you for asking,” said Arti fluffing his feathers in pleasure. “I’m looking for something really special, you see, and I was hoping you could help me find it.”

“Something really special?” Bounds asked excitedly. “Like fresh sprouts when they first peak about the soil?”

Bounds looked away, lost in dreams of fresh sprouts.

Arti looked at Leaps and shook his head. “Ah… Not exactly,” he said hesitantly.

“Don’t worry,” said Leaps, leading Arti back out on the desert floor. “My brother and I know every inch of this desert. You ask for it, we’ll find it.”

Looking much happier, Arti thanked him.

“You see,” he said. “I want to find something especially good. I came a long way because there must be something over here that is difficult to find on my side of the ridge.”

“Did you run out of food over there?” Bounds looked at the ridge as if visualizing hoards of starving animals streaming over it.

“Oh, no,” Arti said. “We have plenty of food. But there are lots of roadrunners and well… I sort of… well…”

Bounds sat back and said, his eyes wide with excitement, “Oh! You have some horrible disease and only a special kind of berry will cure it,” he said.

Leaps punched his brother on the shoulder. “I told you to stay away from those squirrels! They make that stuff up just to get you excited!”

Arti laughed. “No, he said. “Not exactly a disease even though sometimes it feels like that.” He looked away and said with a sigh, “I’ve found the most wonderful, sweet, Margarita. That’s her name, Margarita. Isn’t it a beautiful name?”

The two rabbits looked at each other. It had not occurred to them before that there might be something wrong with this strange bird.

Arti turned back to them abruptly and said with great passion, “I must find her something special, something so wonderful she will never look at any guy but me!”

The two rabbits backed away.

Arti took a deep breath and asked, “Haven’t you ever been in love?”

The brothers looked at each other again.

“I don’t think so,” said Bounds uncertainly.

“We’re too young!” said Leaps, bopping his brother on his head.

“Well,” said Arti. “I am. And she’s so perfect it hurts. The only way I can think of to get her to pick me is to give her something no one else could find.”

“Do you have any idea of the sort of thing you are looking for?” asked Leaps.

“Well, I only know about the things we usually find on my side of the ridge, you know, an especially juicy lizard, or maybe a snake.”

“Snake!” the two rabbits said in alarm.

“Hey!” shouted Arti excitedly. “You got any rattlesnakes around here? That would be impressive.”

Bounds leaped into his brothers arms and the two cowered together. “Rattlesnakes!” they shouted, searching the ground for any sign of the deadly creatures.

“Yeah,” said Arti, apparently noticing nothing. “It’s not easy to catch them, but we do it now and then. A nice big rattlesnake should be just the ticket.”

Leaps dropped his brother with a thud. Starting to walk away he said, “I’m sorry we can’t help you. We want nothing to do with rattlesnakes! Nobody said anything about looking for rattlesnakes! We try and stay as far away from rattlesnakes as possible!”

Bounds picked himself up from the ground and followed his brother, brushing himself off as he went.

“Wait for me!” he said, looking back at Arti. “Don’t leave me here with some crazy bird who wants to see rattlesnakes!”

“I’m sorry,” said Arti, waving his wings as he followed them. “I didn’t mean to make you mad! Please! Help me find something! I promise not to look for rattlesnakes!”

Leaps stopped and turned. Bounds was still watching the roadrunner suspiciously and ran into his brother, knocking them both to the ground.

“This is not a good day!” Bounds said. “I really am getting a headache!”

“Well, if you’d watch where you’re going…” his brother said with disgust.

“Ouch!” Bounds said, turning in a circle, trying to see his back. “Something’s biting me!”

“Stop moving!” Leaps said as he followed in the circle. “It’s just a thorn, here let me pull it out.”

Leaps grabbed the thorn and pulled. He patted Bounds on the back and said, “All better!”

“Ouch!” cried Bounds. “All you did was break it off! Now what am I going to do!”

“Well, if you didn’t have such thick fur…” Leaps said accusingly.

“Please, allow me,” said Arti. Before either could protest, he grabbed Bounds by the back with a powerful foot. Bounds screamed as Arti flung him to the ground and dug his long sharp beak into the fur.

“Now, just a moment...” Leaps said, waving a paw nervously.

The look of horror on Bounds’ face turned to one of surprise and then relief as the roadrunner let him go and stepped back.

“You fixed it!” he said happily.

“Good!” Arti said. “Thorns are no fun!”

With a deep sigh, Leaps said, “I guess we can’t refuse to help you, now.”

Bounds bounced up and down beside him, saying, “Yeah, he’s a nice guy after all. I like him. Let’s find him something really, really, good. Not a rattlesnake, though, he said it’s okay not to find a rattlesnake. How about a lizard, didn’t he say a lizard?”

“Do you know any place to find a lizard?” Leaps asked.

Bounds stopped, deflated. “I’ve never thought about it before. Why would I look for a lizard?”

Leaps turned to Arti and said, “Do you like berries? We know were there is a hidden patch of berries that are just now getting perfectly ripe.”

“Yeah,” said Bounds excitedly. “There’s some great dandelion shoots just peaking up out of the soil there, too.”

“Well…” Arti said. “I don’t know…”

His hesitation was ignored by the two rabbits, who were suddenly carried away with enthusiasm. They each grabbed a wing and practically dragged the reluctant roadrunner into another deep ravine.

“Wait!” Arti said, shaking off his captors. “I can run by myself, thank you.”

Shaking himself with dignity, he added, “Okay, I’ll follow you. Fresh shoots might attract something good, you never know.”

He followed the two down the narrow ravine until they disappeared into what appeared to be a hole in a very large rock wall towering over the path.

Arti stopped. Bounds appeared again in the hole and said, “It’s right through here! Come on! You’re going to love it!” He disappeared back into the hole.

Arti stood there, staring at the huge boulders surrounding the area.

This time it was Leaps who appeared in the hole.

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

“Roadrunners don’t go into rocks,” Arti said nervously.

“But that’s were the good stuff is!” protested Leaps. “It’s just a small tunnel, no big deal,” he added encouragingly. “It’s not long. It’s not dark.”

Turning, Arti said, “I’ll go around.”

“You can’t!” shouted Leaps, stopping him in his tracks. “There’s no other opening. That’s why it’s secret,” he added.

Looking at the tall rocks above his head, Arti said. “I’ll fly over.”

Leaps came out of the hole, pointed to the unbroken wall of rock rising high into the air.

“Can you fly that high?” he asked.

Arti shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said with a sigh.

“Look,” said Leaps with impatience. “It would be easier to go through the tunnel. My brother will lead you.” Bounds appeared beside him nodding agreement.

“And I’ll follow to make sure you don’t have any trouble. There’s plenty of room on the other side.”

Reluctantly, Arti stepped into the opening. “If she only knew what I do for her…” he muttered.

Luckily for him, the opening at the other end was immediately apparent. He concentrated on that, trying not to notice the rock over his head.

Even Arti had to admit the meadow they stepped out into was beautiful. It was small and completely surrounded by tall stone walls but it was full of colorful flowers. Along one wall berry vines, loaded with ripe fruit, cascaded from cracks in the walls.

“There!” said Bounds as he hopped happily toward one of the vines. Leaps and Arti followed him. The vine climbed down the rock face and over a large boulder at its base. On the other side of the boulder, a small space was filled with fresh soil and out of that soil peaked tiny, green shoots.

Bounds stopped abruptly as he reached the boulder.

“Arg!” he said, disappointment loud in his voice. “What’s that?”

Leaps took a step back when he saw what Bounds was looking at. Sitting on top of the boulder, and blocking the path to the shoots, was a large bright green beetle, a very, very large bright green beetle with vicious looking pinchers that looked long enough to grip a small rabbit’s leg without trouble.

“I don’t know,” said Leaps. “But I’m not going near it!”

Turning to Arti, Bounds said, “Sorry, but we’ll figure out something.” Waving his front foot toward the shoots, he said, “Isn’t it the most wonderful thing you ever saw?”

“It certainly is!” said Arti, awe in his voice. “I can’t thank you enough! Margarita will be so thrilled!”

“I knew you wouldn’t be disappointed,” said Leaps. “This is the best berry patch in the entire desert. And almost nobody knows about it!”

“This is great!” said Arti excitedly. “It’s perfect!”

“If we could just figure out how to get past that…” Bounds’ voice trailed off as the roadrunner unexpectedly dashed by the two rabbits, grabbed the beetle easily in his beak and dashed back toward the entrance.

“Thmks!” They heard his muffled cry as he waved the beetle like a trophy and dashed back through the tunnel.

Leaps and Bounds looked at each other in surprise.

Shaking his head, Bounds said, “I don’t care what you say, that’s one strange roadrunner,” he said.

The End






Bounds and the Garrulous Bobcat

Bounds was enjoying the light breeze blowing across the high plateau. It was a warm day and all the other rabbits were safely tucked under a bush or in the shade of a log. But Bounds liked the warmth of the sun and he liked to be out and about when there wasn’t another creature stirring.

Since most of time being a bunny was a hazardous occupation, after all, almost all predators put “rabbit” at the top of their favorite food list, it was nice to be alone and to know that even the most desperate coyote was currently hunting shade not food.

He ran as hard as he could, defying his mom’s admonition to be slow and careful. The plateau wasn’t particularly wide and the drop at the edge was sharp and deep. But the day was beautiful and Bounds had filled up on the freshest, sweetest dandelions he’d had in a long time. Making a wide arch, he saw himself in his mind’s eye, gracefully curving around and racing back, his ears flying behind him.

Maybe that’s exactly what he would have done, but he tripped. The first thought that went through his head as he felt himself start to roll across the ground and through a thorny bush was, why me? Why am I always such a klutz? The second thought was that he sure hoped he wasn’t rolling, wildly and completely out of control, toward the edge of the cliff.

He tried to grab a cactus as he flew by but the thorny branch, so quick to grab a paw if carelessly brushed, seemed to shrink from him. He tried to throw his feet out to stop the rolling and succeeded for one second of pure exhilaration. But a second later he realized the ground was no longer under him, no cactus were flying by. He was off the cliff and falling.

It all happened so fast, he never had time to be afraid. The ground disappeared, he realized he was falling and then suddenly he was stopped, sitting comfortably on a ledge not far from the top, in the arms of a large bobcat.

“Whew,” he said to himself, “that was …”

His eyes widened as he looked into the eyes of the bobcat.

“Oh, my!” was all he could get out. “Oh, my, oh, my!”

The bobcat grinned what looked to Bounds to be an evil grin, showing magnificently sharp teeth.

“Don’t squirm!” he ordered. “I might drop you!”

Bounds looked down. They were on the ledge, but the edge was very close and the ground beyond it was a very long way away.

Trying to decide whether it would be better to fall to his death from the ledge or be eaten by a bobcat took Bounds breath away. But before he could decide, the cat grabbed him by the back of the neck, effectively preventing any movement by him, and started to slowly make his way down the cliff.

Bounds took one look at the shear drop and the tiny slices in the rock the cat was using as footholds and squeezed his eyes shut the rest of the way. One thing he did know. Whether he was going to fall to his death or be eaten, he didn’t want to see it coming.

At long last, he felt himself being unceremoniously dumped onto the ground. Unfortunately, he still had his eyes squeezed shut and didn’t see the ground coming in time to get his head out of the way and so he landed with a thud on his head.

He slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see those great, sharp teeth closing on his head. But no, to his surprise, the bobcat was a few feet away, drinking from a small stream.

“Ow!” he said, belatedly feeling the lump on his head.

The bobcat looked up at him. “Sorry, you were getting heavy and I was thirsty,” he asked.

“I… You were going to…” Bounds looked at the bobcat and then up the steep cliff and back to the bobcat. He was completely confused. This wasn’t happening at all the way he expected.

“Eat you?” the bobcat finished his sentence for him, smiling. “You going to wait around to find out?”

Bounds stared at the bobcat, even more confused now, shook his head and turned to run away. He stopped at what he thought was just beyond where the cat could leap and turned back to him.

“But why didn’t you eat me?” he asked.

The bobcat laughed. “Insulted?” he asked.

Bounds just stared at him, speechless.

Still watching Bounds, the cat expertly, and with a movement so fast Bounds wasn’t sure he actually saw it, dipped a paw into the stream and brought up a small fish.

“I only eat fish,” he said simply, popping the fish into his mouth as he spoke

Bounds cocked his head. “But you’ve been eating rabbits,” he insisted. “Why not me?”

The cat laughed again. “You are an interesting dude, aren’t you? Well, let me introduce myself. I’m Mason Cummings Boogaloo, the Boogaloo Bobcat. You can call me Boogaloo, if you like, all my friends do. Now, I don’t get much chance to chat with rabbits, all of them making the same assumption you did and running away before I can get a word in, but since you seem to be willing to stay a bit, I’d be glad to make your acquaintance.”

“Oh,” Bounds said, surprised yet again by this strange cat. “I’m Bounds. My brother Leaps and I usually hang out together but he thought it was too hot to play so he’s sleeping under a bush.”

“Great!” said Boogaloo enthusiastically. “I’m glad to make your acquaintance. I’ll be glad to meet your brother some day, too.”

“As long as you don’t eat him,” Bounds said with a tentative duck of his head.

Boogaloo shook his head again. “Now, friend, you must believe me that I don’t eat rabbits, since you’re still standing there.”

Looking around as if suddenly nervous, Bounds continued, “But that’s just it. You have been eating rabbits. For a couple of weeks. I mean, we’ve seen you, and we’ve seen… well, it’s not pleasant, you know. Well, maybe you don’t know, but anyway, I’ve seen you carry off rabbits and I’ve always assumed you ate them but I mean…”

Losing his way in the confusion of ideas and mental pictures, Bounds stopped talking and looked at the bobcat.

“You must be mistaking me for another bobcat,” Boogaloo said with a wave of his paw.

“Oh,” Bounds said. It hadn’t occurred to him that there would be more than one, or that bobcats might be different. All his life, bobcats, like coyotes and owls and hawks, were just things to avoid, not anything to think about.

“Maybe that’s it!” Bounds said gratefully, “it was another bobcat.”

Boogaloo nodded and smiled. “So, what do you eat? I mean, not bobcats, I hope.”

The cat laughed harder at the shocked look on the rabbit’s face and Bounds realized he was kidding.

“No,” he said, shuffling his feet, “we like grass and flowers and dandelions, I especially like dandelions.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Bounds,” said Boogaloo. “Maybe we can share a lunch of dandelions some day.”

“You like dandelions?” Bounds asked.

Boogaloo cocked his head. “I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Never tried them. But who knows?”

Bounds laughed and added shyly. “Thanks for catching me.”

“No sweat, kid,” said Boogaloo. “Glad I happened to be sunning on that ledge when you decided to jump over the edge.”

Bounds started to explain about not actually jumping over the ledge and tripping and running in the sun like his mom told him not to, but thought perhaps he had pushed his luck as far as he could.

“Well, thanks,” he repeated and then he pointed to a small opening through a bunch of cacti. “Do you know if you can get to the cholla ravine by cutting through there?” Looking up the steep cliff, he added, “I hate to think of climbing all the way back up.”

“I’m not carrying you,” the bobcat said with another laugh. “You’re not the smallest rabbit in the world, you know.” Following Bound’s paw, he added, “Yeah, just through there. Follow around to the…”

Suddenly, the bobcat was practically on top of Bounds. So much for keeping out of range of his leap, Bounds thought ruefully.

“Cholla ravine?” he practically shouted. “You live in the cholla ravine? The one with all the cholla cacti, the one that dead ends at the foot of the other end of this plateau? That cholla ravine?”

Taking a step backwards and tucking his head as far down into his shoulder blades as he could, Bounds nodded his head, fear taking away breath to speak.

Grabbing Bounds’ shoulder and shaking him roughly, the cat continued, “And you say a bobcat’s been eating rabbits over there?”

Bounds nodded weakly.

“Over there in Cholla ravine?” the cat insisted.

“Yes!” Bounds squeaked out. By this time sharp claws were peeking out from the end of each toe of the cat’s paw.

Hearing the fear in Bounds’ voice, the cat let him go and brushed absently at the rabbit’s back.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just…” Pacing in a circle around the still terrified rabbit, Boogaloo started muttering to himself, his voice growing louder and deeper until Bounds couldn’t hear much beyond an angry growl.

“That’s my territory! I don’t eat rabbits, but still, all the same, I mean, those are my rabbits. No body comes into my territory and eats my rabbits!”

Suddenly, Boogaloo stopped pacing and stopped growling. With a determined swipe of his powerful paw, he pushed Bounds toward the opening in the cacti.

“Let’s go,” he demanded. “Show me where that lowdown, cheatin’, stealin’ snake in the grass has been hunting your family.”

Bounds resisted the push and asked with alarm, “What are you going to do?”

“What am I going to do?” the cat shouted. “I’m Mason Cummings Boogaloo! What do you think I’m going to do! I’m going to show that dirty, no-good, trespassin’ bobcat the error of his ways. I’ll teach him a thing or two about sneaking into my territory!”

Bounds shook his head as if trying to clear it, opened his mouth, closed it and with a long look into the eyes of the now extremely fierce looking cat, lowered his head and marched down the path like a rabbit going to slaughter.

On the way, he tried to figure out how he would explain to his brother, if he lived long enough to see his brother again, that he not only had managed to get himself caught by a bobcat, he was bringing said bobcat back home to take his pick of the family.

They were about halfway to the opening of the ravine when all that had happened that day slowly sorted itself out in Bounds’ brain. The process wasn’t a fast one where Bounds was concerned normally, and had been hampered that day by fear and the headache landing on his head had given him.

Bounds stopped so abruptly Boogaloo almost fell trying not to run over him.

“You’re going to stop the other bobcat?” Bounds asked.

Boogaloo nodded his head and said, “I’m going to take that lousy rabbit-stealing son of a house cat and turn his fur wrong side out!”

Bounds stared at him a minute while he deciphered that and said, “You’re going to make him stop eating my family?”

Boogaloo opened his mouth, shut it again and sighed. “Yes,” he said.

Bounds stood tall and perked his ears up. “Great!” he said. “Let’s go!”

Bounds ran most of the rest of the way. Just as they reached the opening to the ravine, Boogaloo grabbed Bounds and whispered, “I can smell him. Go on home and tell your family their bobcat fears are over.”

With one powerful bound, Boogaloo was out of sight. Bounds stood staring for a long time, trying to figure out how the bobcat had disappeared so completely so quickly.

With a loud hiss and a deep growl, both bobcats flew around a boulder and plunged right for Bounds. He ducked as the first bobcat took a swipe at his head. Boogaloo, right on his tail, swatted the other bobcat away from Bounds.

Boogaloo gave Bounds a wink and chased the other bobcat off into the desert.

“Bounds!” Leaps shouted. He grabbed his brother while still running and tried to hug him. His momentum pulled both to the ground and they rolled over twice before stopping. Leaps grabbed his brother again.

“I thought you were a gonner!” he shouted. “I thought they had you!”

“Oh, no,” said Bounds. “That’s Mason Cummings Boogaloo, he’s my friend.”

Leaps took a step back. “Are you all right?” he asked, worry replacing the joy in his voice.

Before Bounds could reply, Leaps grabbed his brother’s head and started pulling the fur aside.

“What happened to your head?” he demanded. “You’re hurt!”

“It’s okay,” Bounds said, pulling away. “I fell off the cliff, but Boogaloo rescued me. He was thirsty so when he put me down I hit my head. It’s no big deal.”

Leaps studied his brother closely, examined the knot on his head again and sighed.

“You look okay,” he said nodding.

“I’m fine,” Bounds said. “Boogaloo is getting rid of that mean bobcat who was…”

Patting his brother’s shoulder, Leaps shushed him. “It’s okay,” he said. “You’ve just had a scare, that’s all.”

“But I’m fine!” Bounds insisted.

“I know, I know,” his brother said. “I just think it would be better if we get you in out of the sun.”

Looking at the desert where the two bobcats disappeared, he added quietly, “Soon. We need to get you out of the sun soon.”

As he led his brother away toward the family dens, he added quietly, “I think it would be better if you didn’t mention that Mason Cummings guy to anyone else.”

He silenced Bounds’ protest with a raised foot.

“You know how mom worries,” he said, leading a now silent Bounds away.

The End





Leaps and Bounds and the Attack of the Gila Monster


Chapter One

“Oh, my; oh, my; oh, my,” repeated Bounds over and over, his feet frozen to the ground, his eyes fixed on the flickering tongue of the monster bearing down on him.

Leaps, realizing his brother wasn’t going to move on his own, hopped to his side, pushed him roughly and whispered, “Move, you dummy!”

Once started, Bounds leapt out of the way and madly raced across the desert, abruptly changing directions back and forth in the hope of shaking off his pursuer. Leaps followed his brother more slowly, turning to watch the monster behind him.

After a few hops, he realized the monster wasn’t following them at all. It was marching with great determination exactly along the path it had been taking originally. It was as if the monster had no interest in the two rabbits at all!

Leaps stopped, watching the huge lizard-like thing disappear behind a large boulder. Turning back to his brother, he saw Bounds fade off into the distance, still running madly. Oh well, his brother would be easy to find. After that much exertion, he’d be good and hungry and once he finally realized he wasn’t being chased, would head for the grasses along the dry creek bed.

“What was that?” he asked himself, shaking his head. All his rabbit life, he’d never seen a lizard that big. It must have been at least twice his size and brightly colored. It stood out on the landscape but it stomped along with no regard to anything around it, well, like there was nothing in the whole valley it was afraid of. He shivered. That was scarier than its size.

And that tongue, flickering in and out like he could just taste a nice rabbit lunch. Ugh! Leaps shivered again and stomped his foot. He had to get over this or he would end up running wildly across the desert like his brother. One of them had to keep his head!

Slowly, he hopped along the edge of one of the ridges common in the valley. He tried to casually walk along like nothing was the matter but he kept turning back to make sure the monster hadn’t followed him after all and jumped at the slightest sound.

He met up with Bounds near the dry creek bed, as he expected to. Bounds was nibbling along the edge but he wasn’t getting much since his head was popping up to look over his shoulder every few seconds.

“I’ll watch, you eat,” Leaps said wearily as he approached. Bounds leapt straight up into the air, started to flee and froze in mid-stride, one back foot up in the air, one down.

“It’s okay,” Leaps said, laughing. “It’s just me.”

Relaxing, Bounds said, “Oh, good. For a minute…”

Turning to look back toward the spot where he had seen the monster, he continued, “I think I lost him. I did some pretty fancy footwork back there, bound to have confused any…”

“He wasn’t chasing you,” Leaps said.

“Sure he was!” said Bounds, annoyed. “He was coming right at me!”

“He didn’t even look at you when you ran,” said Leaps.

“But…” Bounds looked back again, but this time he looked more puzzled than afraid.

“Besides,” said Leaps dismissively. “He wasn’t moving that fast if you really looked at him. You could have outrun him easy. No need for all that fancy footwork.”

Bounds picked up his right back foot and examined it. “I think I may have hurt something,” he said.

“And all for nothing!” his brother said with a laugh.

Letting his foot drop to the ground in disgust, Bounds gave his brother a dark look and went back to eating the grass.

“I’m still hungry,” he said grumpily.

“Oh, don’t sulk,” said Leaps. “We could go…”

He was interrupted by a commotion suddenly arising not far from them. It sounded like a bird fight, wings flapping, scratching and scraping and a couple of loud wails.

Both rabbits turned to run, figuring that any trouble, even between birds, couldn’t bode well for them. But the commotion reached them before they took more than a step. It was actually several birds, not just two. And they weren’t fighting, they were running along the ground, some of them crying, some shouting in anger.

Leaps immediately recognized them as Roadrunners, having met one before.

“Did you see it?” they asked excitedly.

“The monster?” Bounds asked.

The group stopped as one in front of the two rabbits.

“You did see it!” they exclaimed. “Where did it go?”

“Why?” asked Bounds. “What happened?”

“That way,” said Leaps. “But you’re not going to go after it, are you?”

“We’ll get him! Tell us what he looks like, so we’ll recognize him when we find him!”

Bounds bounced up and down in his excitement. “Don’t go after him! He’s a monster! He had red, glowing eyes and fire shot out of his mouth and he was huge! I’ve never seen anything so huge!”

The Roadrunners looked at each other in uncertainty and not a little fear.

Leaps asked, before his brother could exaggerate any more, “If you haven’t seen him, why are you chasing him and how do you know it’s him you’re after?”

Confusion replaced uncertainty on the faces of the roadrunners. One shook her head and stepped forward.

“All we know is somebody just went through our nests,” she said. “Our community nests,” she added waving a wing to include all of the birds. “He smashed everything, and he ate our eggs. My eggs! My poor, poor, little babies!” her voice rose into a wail and another bird stepped forward to comfort her.

“No!” she said, angrily, pushing him away. “I’m okay! I just want to find whoever did this and peck his eyes out!”

“But he’s huge!” Bounds said.

“We know that!” said another of the birds. “Even if we’ve never seen him. From what we hear not many who see him live to tell about it!”

Bounds gave his brother an “I told you so!” look.

“He wasn’t chasing you,” Leaps insisted.

“Don’t think a big rabbit like you is too fast for him,” said one of the birds. “He’s sneaky, catch you nappin’! Worse yet, catch your little ones when you’re not around! Over in the back canyon, one of these monsters came through and wiped out a whole family of rabbits. Ate every youngun’ they had! Nearly killed the parents to see it. I hear they up and moved up into the hills to get away from the thing.”

“You said it didn’t eat rabbits!” Bounds accused his brother.

“I didn’t either,” said Leaps. “I said it wasn’t chasing you.” Turning to the birds he pointed off towards the boulder the monster had disappeared around.

“He went that direction,” he said and then froze with his paw still pointing.

“That direction,” he repeated, more softly now. Looking at Bounds, he said, “Towards our ravine. Towards our family. Towards our baby brothers and sisters!”

By the end, he was shouting and before the last words had left his mouth, both rabbits were running as fast as possible towards the boulder, with the frantic roadrunners trying to catch up.

The rabbits had put quite a bit of distance between themselves and the roadrunners by the time they reached the boulder, so the birds didn’t see them race full speed around the boulder and plow into the Gila Monster sunning himself on a flat rock.

Both rabbits bounced off the large lizard, flipped backwards, painfully slammed into the boulder and dropped to the ground, dazed. The Gila Monster took a slow step backwards and hissed.

The roadrunners arrived, some skidding into the rabbits, and some flying up and over the monster. The monster hissed, growled a sharp, loud bark, and hissed even more loudly.

Rabbits and birds flew in all directions. The monster whirled his head to watch them all scatter and then turned and marched off toward the ravines cutting into the hillside nearby.

Leaps stopped a few feet from where the monster had been, remembering belatedly that he still believed he could outrun the creature if it came down to it. A couple of birds flew a short distance to stand beside him.

“We’ve got to be strong!” the mother bird said. “We’ve got to attack him!”

Leaps just looked at her. He had no intention of attacking anything that looked and sounded like that. It didn’t actually have red, glowing eyes, but to Leaps the dark, compassionless, murderous look he had seen was more frightening. And he had to admit that that flickering tongue looked a lot more like it was shooting fire when it was so close and so loud!

Off in the distance, Bounds appeared atop a rock outcropping that Leaps recognized. It should have taken him at least twice that long to go that distance. Leaps shook his head and turned back to the birds, now in full war cry. He followed slowly as they chased after the beast.

Leaps wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved when the creature ducked into a hole in the ground and disappeared from view before the birds could reach him. They paced the ground near the hole trying to figure a way to get at the beast.

In the end, a very sad and deflated group of roadrunners left to return to the remnants of their nests. Even the mother bird recognized the futility and danger of following the monster down into the ground.

Leaps stared at the hole in the ground for a long time and then slowly turned and started toward home. Bounds came up beside him just before he turned down the path into the ravine that led to the family burrows.

A wisecrack about the speed with which Bounds had run away died away when he turned and looked at his brother. Poor Bounds was barely keeping up, and he was limping. His fur was ruffled and covered with burs and twigs. His ears drooped and his eyes were dark and lifeless.

Leaps stopped and said, gently, “He’s not going anywhere for a while, I bet. Let’s get you some food before we go home.”

Bounds looked at him weakly but didn’t answer. Leaps slowly lead him to one of their favorite patches of wild flowers and stood guard while Bounds slowly chewed a few stalks.

Leaps looked around after a bit and his brother was cleaning his coat. Leaps thought that was a good sign and turned back to watch the spot where the monster had disappeared. When he looked around again, Bounds was curled in a ball in the middle of the flowers, sound asleep.

Gently waking him, Leaps led the barely conscious rabbit across the desert floor, along the ravine and down into the family home.


Chapter Two

Leaps didn’t sleep at all well that night. He had gone from home to home, warning everyone of the danger lurking outside their ravine, but he still felt there must be something

The minute it was light enough he felt safe, he returned to the spot he had last seen the monster. Carefully rounding the edge of the large boulder, he saw the Gila Monster sunning himself on the same rock as yesterday and was able to hop back out of sight before the creature saw him.

Leaps looked around and spotted a large bush that would be good cover should the monster leave the rock. Hopping to the edge of the bush, he settled down to wait and to think. He had to find a way to get this monster away from their home.

Unfortunately, thinking is a difficult thing for a little rabbit brain, so when Bounds arrived a couple of hours later, he found Leaps stretched out under the bush, sound asleep.

Bounds was saved the embarrassment of waking him by the arrival of the monster, being chased and pecked at by the roadrunners. He turned his great head and snapped at one of the birds, missing him by a feather’s width. That was the only indication he even saw the crazy birds squawking and screeching above his head.

He completely ignored the two dumbfounded rabbits as he marched relentlessly by them, climbed the rock and nestled down for a little nap in the sun.

Leaps shook his head. “How’d he…” he muttered. “What?”

“I came looking for you,” Bounds said. “You left really early and didn’t wake me up!”

Leaps shook his head again, looked up at the sky and realized just how long he must have been sleeping. He shuddered at the thought that the monster must have walked right by his sleeping body on his way out.

“I thought you needed the rest,” he said. “I mean, after yesterday.”

Bounds shook his head. “He really did just ignore us,” he said, amazed.

The roadrunners came around the boulder, disheartened, shaking their heads.

“We’ll never scare him away,” one said, stopping to talk to the rabbits. “Did you see, he almost got Sammy!” He pointed to a bird walking by who had a featherless patch of skin showing.

“You can’t give up!” Bounds declared.

“It’s too risky,” Sammy said, stopping. “And he doesn’t care how much we harass him. He just ignores us until one of us gets too close, then he snaps. It’s too risky.”

“Maybe we could find something to lure him away!” said Leaps. “What would you want if you were an ugly old monster?”

“Food,” said Bounds. The birds laughed. He added tentatively, “Or maybe a girl monster?”

“That’s it!” said Sammy. “Why didn’t we think of that? We’ll find him a mate! Then they can go off and live happily ever after!”

“Or,” said Leaps, “they can settle down right here and start raising a family.”

He glared at his brother and added, “A whole family of monsters, hungry monsters, right here in our part of the valley!”

“Bad idea,” said Bounds.

“So, we’re back to food. What could we use to lure him away?” asked Sammy.

“He likes eggs,” Bounds said hopefully.

The two birds just glared at him for a long time. Leaps said, “Go stand over there and make sure that monster doesn’t come this way.”

Bounds hung his head and slowly shuffled over to the boulder to peak around it.

It was the afternoon sun that finally broke up the vigil. The monster slowly marched to his lair and curled up in the shade to sleep and the birds and rabbits decided to do the same.

Not that any of the four defenders slept much. Each racked his brain for a way to get rid of the monster. Each grand idea dimmed with a closer look and each finally drifted off fitfully, only to rewaken in a panic at each sound.

The next morning dawned cool and overcast, highly unusual for the height of summer. Leaps and Bounds headed toward the monster’s favorite sunning rock just as the sun first peaked over the ridge, hoping to catch him if he left his lair.

They caught him alright. He was marching his determined, relentless way up the pathway to their ravine. The two rabbits stopped, panicked and fled back toward their home. Leaps had just enough presence of mind to stop at the top of the opening and pound out a warning on a flat, heavy rock used for that exact purpose by the rabbit colony.

Bounds fled, headlong and at full speed, shouting a warning as he ran. He ran the entire length of the ravine, all the way to the end where the walls closed together. There he bounced off the wall and turned, without slowing a bit, his voice horse from the shouting but still loud and strong.

The monster moved slowly, his tongue flickering from side to side, searching for food. Most of the family stayed in their dens, holding their breath, waiting for the monster to pass.

He stopped over one of the openings, not quite hidden enough under the edge of a bush and his head slowly moved back and forth as he smelled and tasted the air.

Leaps, seeing the monster stop, ran as close as he dared, thumping loudly on the ground in warning. The monster began to dig just a loud clap of thunder brought a downpour. The rain didn’t bother the monster. He just kept digging and digging, opening the shallow end of the rabbit’s warren.

Bunnies poured from the opening, running in every direction. The sharp jaws of the monster snapped at the scurrying bunnies but missed each one. The babies were just old enough to move quickly and each dashed away, zigging and zagging to make pursuit more difficult.

Leaps was proud. Their lessons had been learned well. His family had survived the first direct attack by the monster. He stood up at full height, trying to see where the monster would go next but didn’t stay upright long. Bounds, underestimating the distance it would take to stop, once again plowed into him and the two rolled to within a foot of the monster.

The monster raised his head, flicked his tongue and Leaps was sure he heard something that sounded like, “You two again!”

The rabbits stood their ground. Leaps wasn’t sure if Bounds was finally getting his courage back or if he was just too tired to run at this point. The monster stepped toward them. They backed up, keeping the distance between them the same.

The rain stopped as suddenly as it had started. The sky cleared. The monster turned and started to go in another direction. Bounds kicked his strong back foot, sending a shower of water and pebbles at the monster. The monster turned and hissed. Both rabbits stood their ground.

The monster turned away again, but Leaps dashed around him and stopped just out of reach (he hoped) of those powerful jaws in front of the monster and stomped a shower of water at him.

The monster hissed again. Bounds kicked a large pebble and scored a direct hit on the monster’s back.

Enraged, the monster flew at Leaps with a speed that surprised both rabbits but Leaps had earned his name almost from birth. He sailed over the head of the monster and landed on the other side, unscathed.

The brothers exchanged a look of relief but didn’t back down.

With a disgusted grunt the monster turned and marched out of the ravine and back toward his lair, followed by the two rabbits. They met the roadrunners on the way, coming to see what all the shouting had been about.

The birds fell into step with the rabbits, matching long strides with the rabbit hops. The monster stopped at the edge of his lair. He had made it quickly, it only being a temporary place out of the sun until he could dig a bigger and better one. But he hadn’t expected a late summer shower when he had made it. It had filled the hole and the only shade the monster could find was under a nearby bush.

The rabbits and birds took advantage of the situation, the rabbits kicking stones with their powerful back feet and the birds dropping them from above. The monster shook his head when there was a direct hit, and hissed.

The birds were in favor of giving up and trying to find something that would hurt more when it hit the monster, but Leaps would just shake his head and say, “It’s working. Be patient.”

Bounds, concentrating on accuracy with the particularly large stone he was kicking, stepped just a little too close and almost lost a foot into those huge powerful jaws. He pulled back just in time. It took all his strength to make himself stay put but he agreed with his brother that all they had to do was wear him down, annoy him enough he’d want to leave.

Finally, with a slow, deliberate step, the monster left the shade and approached the rabbits. The birds ran to the rabbits sides.

Shaking his head, he hissed, “Bunnies and birds working together. Never saw the like! This is your fault!”

“We want you to go back where you come from!” shouted Bounds.

The monster looked around, muttering to himself, “What kind of crazy desert is this? Birds and bunnies working together! Raining in the middle of the summer! What’s the world coming to! Birds is one thing, but birds and bunnies together are just too much trouble!”

Turning and stomping off towards the valley floor, he said over his shoulder, “I’m going home where things make sense!”

Tail swinging, tongue flickering, the monster made his way back down into the valley, to the cheers of the birds and joyful thumping of Leaps and Bounds.

The End








Leaps and Bounds and the Desert Tortoise


“I told you!” The small tortoise raised his head as far as he could, considering the shell it was poking out of, and stamped a small stump of a foot.

“I’m endangered! And it’s illegal for you to so much as touch me!”

The two large ravens circled the outraged tortoise with a chuckle.

“You hear that, Lenny?” one of them said, cocking his head. “It’s illegal to eat this little fellow!”

“Yeah,” said Lenny. “I’d be shaking in my boots, if I had boots.”

Both birds laughed and slowly closed the circle.

Undaunted, the small tortoise stood his ground.

“If you so much as touch me, they’ll arrest you and kill you!” he shouted.

Laughing, Lenny pecked at the back of the still-soft shell.

“Nice and soft,” he said. “You want to do the honors, Benny?”

“Oh, sure!” Benny said with a laugh, “What’s the matter? You just afraid of whoever that is that will hunt us down and find us in the middle of all the other ravens and arrest us and kill us.”

“Yeah,” said Lenny, taking another small peck. “Whoever that is.”

The two rabbit brothers, Leaps and Bounds, looked at each other. They didn’t understand what the guy was talking about, but they certainly knew he was about to be lunch. Neither of them wanted to tangle with a couple of ravens that size, but they couldn’t just leave the silly creature to his fate.

Abruptly leaping from the cover of the bushes they had been hiding in, they raced toward the birds shouting at the top of their lungs. Confused, the two ravens lifted off the ground and hovered just above it. Lenny eyed the small tortoise longingly and was obviously trying to decide if it was worth fighting for when Bounds jumped beside the little one, bared his teeth and raised a large, strong back foot.

Deciding it wasn’t worth fighting a crazy rabbit, the two birds flew off.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?!” asked Leaps in total exasperation.

“Yeah, you trying to get killed?” Bounds agreed.

At the first shout from the rabbits, the tortoise had ducked his head into his shell. He now peeked out cautiously.

“Who are you?” he asked timidly.

“Your best friends!” Leaps snapped. Turning to his brother he added, “What were we thinking? We could have gotten ourselves killed!”

“We’re too big for ravens to eat,” said Bounds, dismissing his brother’s fears.

Leaps stood up and waved his front paws.

“We’re not too big for them to peck our eyes out!” he shouted.

“We’re fine,” insisted his brother. With a friendly nod of his head he turned to the little tortoise, who had been intently watching the two.

“Don’t hurt me!” the tortoise. “I’m endangered!”

“We’re not going to hurt you,” said Bounds gently. “We’re going to try and find a place to get you under something where you won’t be so… well, so visible.”

“You sound just like my mother,” the tortoise said with annoyance. “She thinks I should hide!”

“Well, it’s good to know that someone in your family has some sense,” said Leaps.

Looking skyward, Bounds said, “I think we should be someplace else.”

With an exasperated sigh, his brother asked, “Like where?”

“Like under a bush,” Bounds said as he ran for shelter. Before Leaps could react, he saw the two ravens diving straight at them. Instinct said, “RUN!” but when he turned he saw the tiny tortoise just sitting there, helpless.

Without thinking, he leapt into the air, hitting the first incoming raven directly in the side with a large, strong back foot. The raven squawked, dropped to the ground like a rock and rolled along the desert floor for quite a distance before finally standing up and shaking his head.

The second raven had aborted his dive when he saw the fate of his mate and was circling overhead.

“Quick!” said Leaps as he waved the tortoise toward a large prickly bush. Bounds appeared beside the tortoise, and grunted “I don’t think he understands quick,” as he pushed the small creature along the ground with his nose.

Leaps joined the effort and before the two ravens could regroup for a new attack, they had shoved the tortoise into a small space under the bush. The ravens could squawk all they wanted now. They were much too big to fly into the bush and would never slide along under it on their bellies like the rabbits had.

“Whew!” said Bounds. “You could have helped us a little!”

“Yeah,” said Leaps. “I’m certain you were purposely dragging your feet.”

“There was no need to try and rescue me,” said the small creature. “I was fine. As soon as those two realized who they were dealing with, they would have gone away. I’m endangered, you know.”

“Yeah, we heard,” said Bounds, pulling burrs from his fur. “What’s endangered?”

The small tortoise pulled himself up as high as his shell would allow and said, “There are very few of us left. We are very rare and very special and very…”

“Likely not to survive as a group.” Bounds finished the sentence for him.

“I’m not surprised,” said Leaps. “If all turtles are as…”

“I am a tortoise!” demanded the little fellow.

Leaps shut his eyes, obviously trying to control his temper. He opened them and said, slowly and precisely, “I’m not surprised you’re endangered if all tortoises are as eager to get themselves killed as you are.”

“I’m not eager to get myself killed,” said the tortoise with great dignity. “I was just trying to explain to those two that the consequences of…”

“Enough!” said Leaps, waving a paw. “Do you have a name? Where are you from? We haven’t seen you around here before. How did you get here? We have to get you home to your mommy.”

The tortoise wiggled his nose in disgust. “I do not need my mommy! I’m old enough to go by myself to visit my grandfather. I’m…”

“You turtles are a hazard not only to yourself but to unsuspecting rabbits who happen by,” said Bounds waving a particularly nasty looking sticker he’d pulled from his fur.

“I’m a tortoise!”

A loud racket from outside the bush hushed them all at once. It sounded like the ravens had returned with an entire army. Bounds peeked out as cautiously as he could. There were ravens everywhere, perched on trees, on rocks and walking on the ground. They were all watching the bush where the two hapless rabbits sat with the stubborn tortoise.

Jerking his head back into the somewhat shaky safety of the bush, Bounds whispered through gritted teeth.

“Look what you’ve got us into!” he demanded.

The small tortoise started making his way toward the opening, his movements deliberate and somewhat awkward but surprisingly fast, well, not exactly fast but faster than you would expect by looking at him.

Leaps grabbed the back of his shell, stopping him and said, “He didn’t mean that literally.”

Turning to his brother, he asked, “How bad is it?”

“It can’t get much worse,” Bounds said with a sad shake of his head. “There are enough of them, they could just tear this bush apart.”

Still showing no signs of fear, the small tortoise slipped away from Leaps and stuck his head out the opening. He popped his head back and turned to face the others just as an even larger uproar rose outside.

“Oh, goody,” he said. “I think you’re being rescued.”

“We’re being rescued,” said Leaps, his annoyance beyond hiding, now. “While he, the smallest and most vulnerable of all of us doesn’t need saving.”

“Yeah, he’s endangered,” said Bounds.

The two rabbits looked at each other, suddenly realizing what the tortoise had said.

“Rescued?” they asked in unison.

Their question was lost in the tumult that followed. The flapping of many wings couldn’t drown out the scream of ravens rising up and flying off in fear. Their screams were replaced by the yipping of an entire family of coyotes as they rounded a low ridge and chased after the ravens.

A small coyote puppy, not half the size of Leaps or Bounds, squirmed his way under the opening and almost into the small space where the rabbits sat cowering. His baby growls and barks were attracting the attention of their mom, Leaps could tell from the answering barks coming toward them. His mind raced frantically trying to figure out a safe way to get the puppy to leave.

Suddenly, Bounds stood and gave the small puppy a very powerful kick with his back foot. The puppy yelped as he rolled out of the opening and away from the bush.

Leaps gave Bounds a surprised, frightened look. The only sound was the tortoise rustling along the base of the bush, as if looking for a place to take a nap.

Bounds shrugged and whispered, “Maybe nobody noticed.”

Suddenly the small space was filled with the yipping of small coyotes and, worse yet, a large nose snarling and growling, pushed through the bush, followed by a very malevolent looking eye.

The tortoise turned to face the irate mother and said, “There’s no need for all this bother. They think they’re protecting me but really, I’m endangered, so you see you should just leave before someone arrests you.”

The surprised mother hesitated. The two rabbits closed their eyes, not wanting to see what was sure to happen next.

A sharp, deep bark from her mate made her raise her head and answer with what sounded to Leaps like a complaint. He repeated his bark, a little louder and sharper this time. The puppies scampered off toward him and after another malevolent look at the tortoise, the mother turned and joined her family.

The rabbits didn’t move, not even to breathe, until they could no longer hear the scampering of the small puppies.

Leaps turned to the tortoise and said, “Just for the record, that wasn’t a rescue.”

“Yeah,” said Bounds, collapsing beside his brother. “Coyotes eat rabbits!”

“And tur..tur…tortoises,” said Leaps.

“I like you guys,” said the tortoise, happily. “It’s really exciting around here!”

The two rabbits looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Where did you say we could find that mother of yours?” Leaps asked.

Bounds peeked out the opening and seeing no ravens or coyotes, cautiously crawled outside. The tortoise ignored Leaps and followed.

“What are we going to do now?’ the little guy asked, anxiously looking around for the next adventure.

Leaps brushed his fur and said firmly, “We are going to find your mother and leave you with her.”

The little tortoise sunk to the desert floor in disappointment, not a great distance considering that the bottom of his shell was only inches from it to begin with, but enough to bring Bounds to his side in sympathy.

“I know, it’s disappointing,” he said. “But we’re rabbits and we do rabbit things, fast things, things you couldn’t keep up with. You need to find your own turtle friends, who do turtle things, like swimming, I saw a turtle swimming once and it looked like fun but rabbits don’t like to get their fur wet, so you see, it’ll be more fun if you find your own friends.”

The tortoise looked up at him and said slowly, “Turtles do like to swim.”

Bounds beamed at him happily. “So let’s go find your buddies,” he said.

The tortoise didn’t move. “But I’m not a turtle,” he continued, “so I don’t swim.”

Bounds sunk back, looking almost as deflated as the tortoise.

Leaps, who had been studying a wash that curved off between two small rolling hills, turned and said, “I know where I’ve seen turtles, I mean tortoises!” with excitement.

Pointing down the wash, he continued, “Down that wash! There’s a bunch of them that live through there! I bet that’s where you’re from.”

Bounds jumped for joy. “Yeah!” he said, “We can find your mommy over there!”

The small tortoise marched away with a determined, if not exactly speedy pace in the opposite direction.

“Hey!” said Bounds, running after him. “You’re going the wrong way!”

“I’m going to see Old Stubs!” the small tortoise demanded.

“Who’s that?” Bounds asked.

Walking slowly behind the two, Leaps said, with certainty, “Your mom doesn’t know you’re out here, does she? You’ll get in trouble, won’t you? Is that why you want to see your grandfather?”

The tortoise stopped and looked back at Leaps. “He’s the only one who likes me. He lets me do whatever I want to, whenever I want.”

“And your mother doesn’t want you to go see him, does she?” Asked Leaps. “That’s why you had to run away.”

“She doesn’t think it’s good for me to do anything I want,” the small tortoise said with disgust.

“But he’s your grandfather,” said Bounds. “You should be allowed to see your grandfather!”

“Well,” said the small tortoise, looking at the sand in front of him. “He’s not exactly my grandfather, I mean really. He’s the oldest tortoise in the valley, maybe in the whole world and he lives out here on the valley floor rather than up in the wash where the family lives because he says their all idiots.”

“And he lets you do anything at all you want? Like wander out here and talk to ravens?”

Defiantly, the small tortoise raised his head. “It’s how he got so old, he says. It’s worry that kills you, he says. In this life, you just do what you do and sometimes you live and sometimes you don’t. Once you realize that, you never worry about anything again.”

“I’m beginning to see your mother’s point,” said Leaps.

“I’m not going back there!” He said. “And you can’t make me!”

“Whoa!” said Leaps, in two strong bounds landing in front of the tortoise. “Nobody’s trying to make you do anything, we just want you to be safe.”

“I don’t need to be safe!” argued the small tortoise, pulling up to his full height.

Bounds, coming up beside him said, as much to himself as the others, “Well, we could make you, I mean if we wanted to, we could. We are a lot bigger than you and…”

“I’m endangered!” insisted the tortoise. “Nobody can hurt me. The squirrels said so!”

Leaps, busy glaring at his brother and Bounds, busy being glared into silence, took a couple of seconds to realize what the little guy had said.

“Squirrels!” they both shouted in unison.

“You can’t believe squirrels,” Leaps said.

“Never listen to squirrels,” said Bounds.

“Yeah,” Leaps said shaking his head. “They told Bounds there were carrots deep in the ground, if you dug deep enough.”

The tortoise looked from one to the other, wary but curious.

“So, he believed them and started digging. He dug day and night. I had to stand watch for coyotes so neither of us got any sleep. Then the hole he was digging caved in on him and it was a mess. It took the whole family to dig him out and when Mom was dragging him off to get a good cleaning, I saw an entire row of squirrels on one of the high rocks, laughing their heads off.”

Bounds looked at his front paws sadly, “She practically scrubbed my paws off,” he muttered.

They both looked sternly at the small tortoise. “Never, ever believe a squirrel!” they admonished.

They watched as the look on the tortoise’s face went from confusion to surprise – “You mean I could have…he could have… to terror. He slowly backed up as he spoke, jumped higher than either rabbit would have guessed he could when he backed into a rock, turned around and, seeing a large, sturdy rock, scrunched his shell against it as tight as he could, scanning the skies for ravens.

“You want us to take you to this Old Stubs?” asked Leaps, gently.

“Are you nuts?” the tortoise said. “Between him and the squirrels, I won’t live long enough to harden my shell!”

The rabbits, one on each side, pried him from the rock and gently nudged him toward the wash.

“Come on,” said Bounds. “We’ll help you get home.”

“Yeah,” said Leaps, “And I bet your mom will be so glad you’re not listening to that Old Stubs anymore…”

“Not to mention giving up the endangered stuff,” added Bounds.

Laughing, Leaps continued, “She’ll probably forget to punish you for running away!”

The End