Rabbo II-Chapter 2

By Mark Crocker

The village was about twenty houses with a large house in the center that was Bastet’s. There were large gardens for each house and the whole village was surrounded by a high stone wall with a walkway almost at the top of the wall there was a gate house at each end of the wall and towers dotted along the walls that over looked the village and surrounding area.

Each house had running water and a sewer system that took the waste water out of the houses and out of the village to an area that was set up to treat the waste water. Also each house had black solar panels and small wind turbines on the roofs to generate power for the houses and the village.

There was also a well in the village that supplied the village with water. And should anything happen the village was very capable of defending its self and out lasting any army that would lay siege to it. The total population of the village was two hundred men woman and children. But the available land inside the walls could hold four times that number and still be able to withstand a long siege if needs be.

It had been a week since Bastet had left for her village and Rabbo and Athena had watched her on and off until Bastet had reached her village safely. Athena had become worried on the second day of Bastet’s trip down the coast when the clouds had become dark and the waves had started to get larger and larger. But other than the one storm the trip had been very uneventful for Bastet.

Rabbo had been busy helping Merwyn harvest the last of the vegetables and making the house ready for winter. They had also hooked up the four cattle to a plow that Merwyn had built and they had plowed a large area and spread the manure from the cattle all over the ground. Shortly after they had spread the manure over the freshly plowed area the complaints from the warren started to arrive and the rabbits did not like the smell that came from all the fresh cattle manure.

Rabbo had to explain to his sisters and brothers that it would make the harvest next year very big and that they could all eat very well. But now three days after the manure had been spread the smell had faded away and the warren was happy again.

Rabbo awoke on his window sill and looked out of the window. He could see Cat sitting on Merwyn's wood chopping stump watching the rabbits from the warren. He could tell his own children from Athena’s room as they were bigger than the rest of the rabbits plus they tended to stay together and there was always one that would be sitting on his or her hind legs watching what was going on.

Rabbo heard a soft yawn from Athena’s bed and he turned around to see a tiny foot sticking out from under the covers. So Rabbo slipped off his window sill hopped over to the tiny foot and sniffed it before he started batting at it. The foot quickly withdrew under the covers and was replaced by an arm that started to grope around for him. Then the arm withdrew and a pair of eyes peaked out from under the covers and looked at him.

Then a blond little girl leaped out at Rabbo trying to grab him as she tumbled to the floor in a loud crash. Rabbo leaped over her and jumped on the little girl making sure that he did not dig his claws in before he leaped off of her and went and hid under the bed.

There was a second crash and the other little girl sat on the floor looking a little confused about what had just happened. Rabbo was not sure how the other little girl had fallen out of bed or if she had been dragged out of bed by her sister. Rabbo backed further under the bed and watched and waited for the twins to move in and make a grab for him. But instead they sat on the floor looking at each other looking even more confused. Then they got up and walked off to the bathroom.

Rabbo peaked out from under the bed and looked around.

“Now there were some questions that needed answers to” Rabbo thought. “First off where was Athena? Secondly how had the twins snuck into Athena’s bedroom and thirdly why had they not given chase like they normally would. And lastly where was his mother who was still normally curled up at the foot of the bed”?

Rabbo hopped out of the bedroom and saw the twins standing outside Merwyn's door waiting.

The door opened and Athena walked out dressed in her short robe that Bastet had given her. She looked at the twins and pointed down the hallway to the stairs. The twins walked past Rabbo and went down the stairs. Athena turned around looked into Merwyn's room spoke softly for a moment and then walked down the hallway to her room.

Rabbo hopped over to the elevator and rode down into the kitchen which was nice and warm. There Rabbo saw his mother sitting on the rug next to the fire place next to Cat who was lying on his back with his legs spread wide apart.

The twins where standing on tip toes and looking out of the window talking softly in very hushed whispers. The kitchen windows were all steamed up so it was hard to see how much frost had happened over night.

Athena walked down the stairs into the kitchen and looked over at her daughters standing at the window looking out. Athena was still dressed in her robe that Merwyn call her cheeky robe as it was short and when she knelt of bent over both cheeks could be seen. The robe its self had been a special gift from Bastet and Athena loved to wear it as it reminded her of Bastet and the love that they shared.

Athena went into the cool storage room and came out with a jug of milk, cheese, butter and eggs. She placed the food on the counter top and started to make breakfast for the twins, Merwyn and herself.

Rabbo got busy setting the table for breakfast so that when Merwyn came down the table would be ready to sit at and have breakfast. Rabbo knew that breakfast was important and that today the would need a good breakfast as they had a lot of work to do in the garden plus Merwyn wanted to finish the new storage shed that was going to be placed down near the warren so that the rabbits there could have access to it when there was snow on the ground.

The rabbits under the instruction of Rabbo’s brothers and sisters had dug a long wide deep tunnel that not only acted as a tunnel to go back and forth though but also let warm air pass down into the warren by means of a forced air pump. But doing that it would mean that the warren would stay warm and there would be no repeat of the winter before where two rabbits had frozen in their burrow when they had been cut off from the rest of the warren when a small section had flooded.

Rabbo had finished setting the table and hopped over to see what the twins were looking at though the window.

What Rabbo saw was a thin coating of snow on the ground that just barely hid the grass and ground. Rabbo could also see rabbit tracks that came right up to the house and stopped at the door. So Rabbo hopped over to the door and opened it to see who was there. Sitting there was Mischief with her kittens who she was sheltering from the wind that had picked up.

“Mischief why are you here” asked Rabbo as he left them in.

“Big burrow you home, flooded and cold, I bring kittens here to warm check and feed” said Mischief “Father of me man talker check little soft eyes she not right”.

Rabbo sniffed the smallest rabbit out of Mischief’s current litter and smelt that something was wrong with soft eyes. So Rabbo closed his eyes and looked at her inside and saw that she was very cold and that she had a blockage in her tummy. Rabbo tried to move the blockage but it would not move. But he did know what to do to warm someone back up when they were cold.

“Athena I need a small steam tent for soft eyes as she is hypothermic” said Rabbo trying to keep the worry out of his voice. “Soft eyes also has something in her tummy I cannot move or make go away. Will you look please”?

Athena walked over picked up soft eyes and looked inside her. She looked at Rabbo and walked out of the kitchen very quickly.

“I am taking her to my med lab she needs surgery now. You take care of the twins and if they give you any lip or trouble use a mental lance on them to keep them in line. I know dad showed you how too” said Athena as she hurried out of the kitchen.

The twins looked at Rabbo then the three young rabbit kittens and started to move towards the three rabbit kittens.

“Please get back to the table and finish your breakfast” said Rabbo.

“No” said both twins.

“I won’t tell you again” said Rabbo.

“NO” said the twins again. And this time they started to run towards the three scared rabbit kittens.

Rabbo focused on both of them and fired a mental lance at each of them as Merwyn had instructed him how too. The lance was not too hard but just enough to make the twins understand that he meant business and that he was not messing around.

The twins let out a squeal and dropped to their knees with their hands over their ears.

Just then Merwyn came walking down the stairs and into the kitchen. He looked over at the twins who where crying more in anger than in pain.

“Rabbo asked you to return to the table to finish your breakfast; are you sorry” said Merwyn.

“Sowe Grampi” said the twins in one voice.

“Say sorry to Rabbo” said Merwyn.

“Sowe Wabbo” said the twins.

The twins returned to the table and climbed up and then sat down in their raised up chairs so that they could sit at the table and eat their breakfast. They kept looking over at Rabbo being careful not to risk pushing his kindness and good will further.

Merwyn helped himself to the eggs, cheese, bread, jam, butter and sausage that had been left in a warming pan by Athena. Merwyn joined the twins at the breakfast table and made sure that they did not get too much food on their cloths while at the same time eating his breakfast.

“How is soft eyes?” Rabbo asked Athena on the private mode.

“She will be ok. The growth in her stomach is being removed and I will take some blood so that I can have Isis test it to see what if anything is wrong” answered Athena on the same mode.

Rabbo looked over at Mischief who was sitting by the fire with her three kittens and her grand mother Rabbo’s mother. Rabbo could see that Mischief kept looking towards the door that led to Athena and Merwyn's med lab. But she did not get up from by the fire where she was warming herself and her kittens. Every so often Mischief would push one of her kittens with her nose and move them either closer to the fire of further away depending on how warm the fur felt to her nose.

Rabbo’s mother sat up stiffly and looked at her great grand children and sniffed them before she started to lick one of them clean. As she worked her way though each of her great grand children Rabbo could see that it was taking a lot out of her as she would stop for a moment take a deep breath and then continue cleaning. Mischief moved over to her grand mother and started to clean her taking care not to interrupt her while she cleaned great grand children.

When Rabbo’s mother had finished cleaning, she stretched out on the rug, rolled on her back and the three rabbit kittens hopped on her tummy and snuggled into her fur to sleep.

Mischief hopped over to the closed door to Athena and Merwyn's med lab and sat and waited for Athena and soft eyes. Rabbo who had finished supervising the twins hopped over and sat down next to his daughter and waited for Athena.

“How much longer? Mischief is worried” said Rabbo to Athena.

“Not much more to do. I am closing up her tummy right now. But soft eyes will have to stay here until she is better” answered Athena.

“Soft eyes will be better soon. Athena is making her better. But soft eyes will have to stay here until she is better. It is too cold in the burrow for her and the thing in her tummy has been removed so she can eat now and not feel like she is full” Rabbo said to Mischief.

“Soft eye stay here?” said Mischief.

“Yes she stays here” said Rabbo.

“I stay here too with her” said Mischief.

“Can Mischief and her kittens stay here until soft eyes is better?” asked Rabbo on the general telepathic mode.

“Pleasssssssse” said the twins.

“Dad would that be ok?” asked Athena.

“Yes that will be ok. We can let them sleep by the fire I will get Rabbo’s old hutch so that they feel like they are at home” answered Merwyn.

“Why do I get the feeling we have house guests for the winter” muttered Merwyn as he got up from the table and went to clean the dishes in the sink.

Rabbo looked over at Merwyn and was about to answer.

“That’s a rhetorical question, Rabbo,” said Merwyn.

“What’s rhetorical?” asked Rabbo.

“It means it does not need an answer” replied Merwyn as he finished washing the breakfast dishes.

Rabbo turned back to the twins who had returned to looking out the kitchen window. Rabbo hopped over and joined them at the window and he could see that the clouds were very heavy overhead and that it looked like it might snow later.

Cat who had been a sleep though all the excitement opened his eyes and looked around at Rabbo’s mother, mischief the rabbit kittens and the twins. He gently and very lazily stretched, arching his back before he walked over to the kitchen door. He then stood up on his hind legs pulled down on the handle and let himself outside.

“I hate snow on my paws. I hate cold on my pads. Why so cold” muttered Cat as he closed the door behind him.

Merwyn looked at the back door “Cat really hates the snow. He always the same when we get out first snow fall”.

“Yes I remember. He said the same thing last year when it snowed for the first time” said Rabbo.

“Well I better get to work and finish the storage shed where we will keep the food for the warren. All I have to do is put in that forced air pump and hook it up and test it and make sure that the warm air is not too warm and that it can make it down into the warren. And after I have done that it’s just a matter of finishing the shed of which means making it is rodent free and we will be done”.

Merwyn walked out of the house making sure before he left that the twins knew that Rabbo was in change until Athena was out of the med lab.

Rabbo eyed the twins who had now steamed the window up totally with their hot breath as they pressed their faces against the window to get a better look at the snow. Rabbo tried to think of someway that he could entertain the two little hellions and finely came up with something that they would sit still and listen to.

Rabbo hopped off to the library and returned with a small paper book that was filled with hand written poetry. Poetry that he had written himself.

The twins stood still with their eyes closed and their mouths open in totally wonderment of what Rabbo had just read to them.

“More” said the twins in one voice.

So Rabbo looked though his book for another poem that he thought the twins would like to hear.

“That’s very beautiful” said Athena standing in the doorway to the med lab holding the sleeping soft eyes. “She will be ok. She just needs sleep and rest now”.

Athena carried soft eyes over to the rug and placed her next to the other rabbit kittens that were snuggled a sleep next to their great grand mother.

Athena walked over and looked down at Rabbo who still held his book in his paws. She reached down and rubbed Rabbo’s ears.

“May I look at your book of your poems?” asked Athena.

“Umm, well not really. I don’t feel ready for someone to look at my poems. Besides they are not very good and well I am not sure about someone seeing them” Rabbo said trying to hide his confusion.

“I think they are very good indeed. Far better than I could write and far better than dad’s poetry” said Athena trying to reassure Rabbo.

Rabbo looked at his book and then at Athena.

“Look at how powerful that poem is and what it has done to my girls. See how they are standing still with eyes closed and a huge smile on their faces” said Athena.

Athena walked out of the kitchen leaving Rabbo once again in charge of the twins while she got something from the library.

Athena returned with a large hard covered book and sat down in one of the chairs by the fireplace. She then looked over at the twins and waited until they opened their eyes before she pointed to the chair on the other side of the fireplace.

The twins quietly walked over to the chair climbed up in it and sat down facing Athena. Their feet did not even reach the end of the seat but that did not bother them as they knew that their mom was going to read to them.

Rabbo hopped over, sat down on the rug ready to listen to Athena read. But instead Athena leaned down and handed Rabbo the book to read.

As Rabbo read he used his voice to paint a mental picture in the heads of the twins so that the story would come alive for them. He used different voices for each of the characters in the story that he was reading from the book.

The story itself was about a girl that lived in a huge house with her mom and dad. Her mom and dad were always to busy and often left the young girl alone with just her toys and the pets that they had around the house.

As Rabbo got deeper and deeper into the story he started to realize that the story was written by the girl when she was older. After about an hour of reading Rabbo had to stop reading as his throat was dry and his voice was getting weak from all the reading out aloud. Athena brought over four wooden cups full of milk and a tray of cookies for them to eat.

“Rabbo you bring the story alive. Did dad teach you to read like that?” asked Athena.

Rabbo shook his head. “It seemed natural to read the story like that. Umm who wrote the story?”

“Mom did” said Athena with pride. “It’s how she won a scholarship to go to college”.

“It’s a wonderful story and so easy to read” said Rabbo.

“I know. After mom left dad would read it to me. But never the way you did. I guess it was still painful for dad to read a book my mom wrote” said Athena sadly.

The twins who had been sitting still while they had listened to Rabbo started to get restless. They shuffled in the chair and then kicked their legs and finally started to slide out of the chair.

Rabbo’s mother looked up at the twins and moved around so that she was protecting the sleeping rabbit kittens. Mischief started to chatter at the twins as they looked down at the sleeping rabbit kittens and moved around next to her grand mother to also protect the rabbit kittens.

“Mischief said not to come any closer,” Rabbo said to the twins.

Athena stepped over the rabbits and picked up her two girls and carried them out of the kitchen. She took them upstairs to their room so that they could play, be loud, and not upset the rabbit kittens.

Rabbo was down at the shed that was close to the warren sitting talking with his brothers and sisters. Everything was ready for the big test of the forced air pump and it was hoped that on the first test it would work right.

Big sister who had appointed herself head rabbit sat off to one side listening carefully as Rabbo explained that there was going to be nice warm blowing air and that he wanted someone down in the burrow that could make sure that the warm air was blowing into the warren.

Big sister pointed to Boxer with her nose who nodded and then hopped down into the burrow. Then she nodded to Little Brother who then hopped down into the burrow. She then nodded to fat sister who also went into the burrow.

Big sister then turned to Rabbo and said in rabbit “Ready for big test. Make burrow warm”.

Rabbo turned to Merwyn and told him that they were ready to test the forced air pump.

Merwyn turned on the pump and soon warm air was flowing down into the burrow.

After about five minutes Rabbo heard a muffled sound of boxer saying something. Then he heard little brother say something and then fat sister say clearly “Warm heat in burrow”.

Rabbo turned to Merwyn and told him that they had said that there was warm air flowing into the burrow.

“If you want I can make it warmer for them. But when it gets cold there will be steam coming out of the burrow and that might give away the warren to things that hunt and eat rabbit” Merwyn stated.

“No let’s keep it just warm, as if it’s too warm they won’t come out at all in the winter and that might not be good or healthy,” said Rabbo.

“Good idea” said Merwyn.

Rabbo felt something soft and cold land on his nose so he looked up and saw a few flakes of snow starting to fall.

“Looks like we have got this finished just in time” said Rabbo.

“Yes I think so too. We have just one last thing to do and let’s hope we can get it done before the snow starts to fall to heavy” said Merwyn.

For the next three hours Merwyn and Rabbo worked hard and fast to make sure that the shed would be rodent free for the winter. As they looked outside they could see that the sky was now very heavy with the threat of snow and if they did not leave the shed now they might get snow on them on the way back to the house.

When they arrived back at the house Athena was setting the table for dinner with the help of the twins. The kitchen smelt of fresh baked bread as well as of fresh cooking venison. It was clear that Athena had been busy all day cooking and looking after the children and the rabbits that where all sitting around the fire.

Mischief was sitting on her hind legs talking to her kittens and from what Rabbo could hear she was explaining about the humans and that they would be spending a few sleeps at the house until soft eyes was better. She was also telling them not to play rough with soft eyes as she was not well. Mischief also explained that Cat was going to be around and that he would not hurt them and that their great grand mother had been safe with Cat so they would be safe too.

After dinner Athena took the twins upstairs bathed them and got them dressed in their night clothes. She then brought them back down stairs and had Rabbo read to them by the fireplace until they started to get sleepy. She then carried them back upstairs to bed.

Rabbo who was sipping on wine after getting parched from reading looked at Merwyn who had his eyes closed and was clearly off on an astral travel trip.

After about thirty minutes Athena came back down stairs wearing her cheeky robe. Her hair was still wet and she smelt of fresh soap. She picked up her wine goblet that she had left on the window sill refilled it and sat back in the chair tucking her legs up under her.

“Can I ask you a question?” said Rabbo on her private mode.

“Sure” answered Athena on the same mode.

“Is soft eyes going to be ok?” asked Rabbo trying to keep a worried tone out of his voice.

“To be honest I don’t know. Isis is being slow with the test results. I truly hope she will be. But the growth in her stomach is not good. I think I should check the other kittens to make sure that they don’t have any growths in them either” said Athena sounding hopeful.

“I wonder what Merwyn is watching” Rabbo asked Athena on her private mode.

“I don’t know. But I wish he would get back I so want to talk to him” replied Athena.

“What about” asked Rabbo

“Something” said Athena coyly.

“Something? That could be anything” said Rabbo.

Rabbo and Athena talked for awhile and Rabbo noticed that Athena seemed flushed around the face a little and that her lips seemed to be really red like when she was with Bastet.

“Have you talked to Bastet lately” Rabbo asked.

“Yeah” replied Athena. “She is with Solee. I was just talking to her and she was telling me about what she and Solee were doing. It’s left me feeling umm well umm”.

“Solee? Who is Solee” asked Rabbo.

“Solee is the captain of her ship. You remember the young beautiful woman that is the captain of Bastet’s ship” said Athena.

“Oh her! The one that made all the noise when you Bastet were in the room on the ship with her” asked Rabbo.

“Yes her” laughed Athena.

Just then Merwyn opened his eyes and looked around the room a little dazed. He stood up walked around the room and then looked out of the window.

“Oh it’s snowing hard outside” said Merwyn. “I’m just glad that it’s nice and warm in here”.

“Yeah it’s warm” said Athena with a soft laugh.

Merwyn sat back down in his chair and looked at Athena and smiled then he looked over at Rabbo.

“So Rabbo how are your grand kittens in the kitchen” asked Merwyn.

“Ok, I think? But I am worried about soft eyes,” replied Rabbo.

For the next hour Rabbo Merwyn and Athena talked about soft eyes and the other rabbit kittens in her litter and went over possible issues.

Rabbo was not sure who the father was of the litter and when he went and asked Mischief who the father was of her litter she had answered “many”. When Rabbo told Athena and Merwyn the answer she had given him they both laughed and said that explains where the phrase came from and then laughed hard for a while longer.

They talked for about an hour more before Rabbo felt sleepy and left Athena and Merwyn talking. Rabbo rode upstairs in his elevator and then hopped into Athena’s bedroom. He hopped up on the window sill and as about to pull the curtains too when he noticed the snow falling hard outside.

The snow was coming down hard and it was impossible to see much more than the faint outlines of the buildings near the house. Rabbo just could just make out the shape of the oak tree that sat next to the lawn.

As he watched he saw Athena run outside and take off her robe before she started dancing around in the snow. As she danced Rabbo noticed that she was making no tracks in the snow and that her feet seemed to be inches off the snow. Sudden she spiraled upward about ten feet and then floated back down to just a few inches off the snow. Athena then skipped back into the house still holding her robe in her hand.

Rabbo sat and watched the snow falling hard and harder and soon his eyes started to become heavy. He fought the urge to sleep watching the snow get deeper and deeper.

In the time that Rabbo had been watching the snow fall the chopping stump that Merwyn used had been covered with snow and a huge mound of snow had built up on top of the stump making a lump in the snow.

Rabbo wondered how tall the stump was and guessed that it was about two feet high? So there had to be about two feet of snow so far and as far as he could see the snow showed no signs of stopping.

Rabbo closed his eyes and instead of going to sleep he stepped out of his body and moved up above the house so that he could get a good look at the snow. Rabbo saw which way the clouds where moving and headed back along the storm going in the opposite direction of travel. Rabbo arrived at the trailing edge of the storm and saw the path of the snow that ran some fifty miles before it stopped being snow and had rained due to the lower elevation.

The area that it had rained in was awash with water and the few houses in that area had been built well away from the path of any flood that might happen. But still the river that ran though the area was high and the fields were flooded.

Rabbo turned back towards the house and traveled slowly looking at things along the way making sure that no one was hurt by the storm or trapped by the snow.

As Rabbo arrived back at the house he noticed a bright glow from the living room. He was about to descend and coming in though the living room before he returned to his body when Merwyn spoke to him on the private mode.

“Athena and I are having a private chat. Please don’t come in though the living room”.