Little Blue Bunny lay on the floor in front of the fireplace.
“OK.” Franklin said. “We’re downstairs. What’s your best idea yet?”
“I’m looking at it,” Little Blue Bunny stared at the guitar stand.
“Oh come on,” Franklin giggled. “We can’t play the guitar.”
“Not the guitar,” Little Blue Bunny hopped up. “The ukulele. And we’re not going to play it.”
He looked at Franklin and his ears bounced up and down on his head. “We. Are. Going Sailing!”
“NO!” Franklin gasped and then he coughed. “How? What? You can’t..That’s Insane!”
“I know!” Now all of Little Blue Bunny bounced up and down. “Isn’t that the best idea yet? AND…”
He winked one shiny black eye.
“If we are careful, no one will know anything about it.”
Franklin’s eyes were as big as marbles and considering that Franklin is only 4 inches tale that is very big for his eyes to be.
Franklin drew himself up to his full height -four inches, that’s what I said, but with his ears, Franklin is closer to 4 and one half inches.
He looked at Little Blue Bunny who is not any taller. Then, Franklin said. “It cannot be done. Period. We are too little.”
Little Blue Bunny laughed out loud and then he called out, “Hey Lily! Could you help us.”
Lily the leopard is over two feet tall, very close to THREE feet tall. That is 9 times as tall as Franklin or Little Blue Bunny. Lily sleeps on the bench in front of the living room window most of the time. That day, she was grooming herself on the sofa when Little Blue Bunny called.
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| Lily and Little Blue Bunny before they decided to be "just friends". |
You might remember that there was a time when Little Blue Bunny and Lily were “an item”. It was not a good match but their friendship is still strong.
So on that day - a day when Nana and Gramps were coughing and sneezing at THEIR house and D was with Mommy in far away South America and Daddy was off at work - on that sunny day in February, Lily looked up and gave a bright toothy smile.
“What is it, my little bunbun?” she purred.
“I want to go sailing!” Little Blue Bunny explained his plan.
Soon, Lily was on the hearth of the fireplace right next to the guitar stand. Little Blue Bunny and Franklin sat on her head. They each pushed up on the ukulele until it lifted off the hooks on the stand.
“Help!” squeaked Little Blue Bunny as the ukulele teetered between his paws and Franklin’s paws.
“Here,” Lily said with a sigh. She opened her mouth and the ukulele fell right in.
“Don’t hurt it!” Franklin croaked. “Don’t bite down.”
Lily could not answer with a small wooden instrument in her mouth but she growled - just a bit - and rolled her golden glass eyes.
The next step was tedious. Little Blue Bunny used some hair ribbons to make a harness for the ukulele. He and Franklin were going to pull the ukulele up the stairs.
“Oh really.” Lily snorted. “Give that to me.”
“I don’t want the ukulele swinging from your mouth,” Little Blue Bunny said gently. He had climbed back on Lily’s head and he scratched behind her ears. “If you got excited or something, the ukulele might swing and hit something and..”
“Help!” Franklin covered his eyes with his paws.
“So.” Lily spoke slowly and carefully, “Tie it to my back.”
And that’s what Little Blue Bunny and Franklin did.
The three of them crawled up the stairs to the bathroom tub. Well, Lily crawled up the stairs with a ukulele and two small bunnies on her back.
Little Blue Bunny slid up to Lily’s shoulder and using the back brush, he managed to push the stopper down AND to turn on the water - the cold water.
“Now what?” Franklin stared as the water slowly filled the tub.
“We wait until it’s deep enough.” Little Blue Bunny said. “Let’s get this boat ready to launch.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Franklin sighed.
He helped Little Blue Bunny move the ukulele from Lily’s back to the edge of the tub. Then holding the hair ribbons, the two bunnies gently lowered the small guitar into the tub.
“Lily, could you hold the mooring ropes for us?” Little Blue Bunny asked.
Lily took the hair ribbons in her mouth to keep the ukulele next to the tub’s side.
“Come on, First Mate Franklin,” Little Blue Bunny lowered himself on to the ukulele.
“Here goes nothing.” Franklin muttered and he joined his friend in the hole of the ukulele.
The strings plucked and plunked and Lily let go of the ribbons. Water poured from the faucet as the bunnies floated in their pink “boat”.
“Isn’t this great?” Little Blue Bunny climbed out of the hole and stood on the deck.
“How do we steer?” Franklin asked.
Little Blue Bunny did not answer. He whistled a sailor song as he walked around the ukulele.
“Steer?” Franklin shouted.
While Little Blue Bunny pretended to be a ship’s captain, Franklin realized that their boat was twirling closer and closer to the roaring faucet.
“Help!” Franklin shouted.
Lily grabbed the back brush and slammed it down on the faucet. Hot water poured into the tub.
“Give me that,” Franklin yelled.
He grabbed the back brush and shoved it under the hot water faucet until that faucet closed and then he did the same with the cold water faucet.
The ukulele rocked back and forth and water sloshed into the hole.
“Grab on to this, please,” Franklin held the back brush out to Lily. She grabbed it in her mouth and pulled the ukulele to the side of the tub.
The water was so high that Franklin only had to give a little hop to reach the rim of the tub.
“Come on, Captain Little Blue Bunny,” Franklin pulled his best friend up off the ukulele. Little Blue Bunny grabbed the hair ribbons as he jumped to the rim.
“That was awesome.” Little Blue Bunny laughed. “Actually, Franklin, now that the faucet isn’t on, we could sail around the tub all day.”
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| Not a ukulele, but I bet Little Blue Bunny would LOVE this boat. |
Franklin had already jumped to the floor and was tugging on a towel hanging from the door handle.
“Sorry,” Franklin grunted as he shoved and pulled and kicked the towel over to the tub. “I quit. I think I get sea sick.”
“But it worked, right?” Little Blue Bunny was still as happy as a seafaring bunny could be.
“Yes, it did, Little Blue Bunny.” Franklin looked up and he just had to smile at his friend. “The next time we go sailing, though, let’s turn the faucet off before we get in the boat.”
“Good idea!,” Little Blue Bunny grabbed on one end of the ribbons and he and Lilly lifted the ukulele out of the water and lowered it gently onto the waiting towel.
“And,” Little Blue Bunny continued. “We’ll bring paddles or something next time.”
Lily gave a deep laugh. “Maybe you could actually use a boat next time. If there IS a next time.”
Little Blue Bunny and Franklin dried that ukulele inside and out. Then the two bunnies tied the ukulele around Lily’s neck again.
“Hold it against your tummy,” Little Blue Bunny suggested. “We’ll slide down the stairs.”
“What about the water in the tub?” Lily asked.
“Oh, that, “Little Blue Bunny pinched his nose and jumped into the tub. He swam to the plug and pulled it up.
He swam to the edge of the tub.
“Give me something to grab onto,” he gasped. He forgot that the draining water could pull him down. He felt the water tugging at his legs and tail.
“Thnss guns fff thi bruh,” Lily held the back brush in her mouth and Little Blue Bunny grabbed it.
Lilly flipped him onto the towel.
“What did you say?” Little Blue rolled around on the towel to dry off.
“I said, ‘Thank goodness for this brush.” Lily dropped the brush on the floor.
The bunnies tied the dried-off ukulele around Lily’s neck and she tucked it under her chin. Then the bunnies sat between Lily’s ears as she slid down the stairs.
They managed to return the ukulele to its perch on the guitar stand. Then, Lily went back to the bench by the window as the afternoon sun poured in.
Franklin and Little Blue Bunny lay on the rug by the fireplace.
“Um, Franklin,” Little Blue Bunny said lazily. “Should we go back upstairs to put the towel back on the doorknob?”
Franklin opened one eye and looked at Little Blue Bunny. “You have to be kidding.”
Then, he closed his eyes again and started to snore.
Little Blue Bunny wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep. He watched the late afternoon sunlight as it striped the floor and wondered what the next day would bring. Adventure, that was for sure!
I sure hope you're planning a compilation of LBB & Friends adventure stories. I love reading them! I can picture all the action in my mind's eye and find myself laughing a lot at the dialogue. The magic is in how you still have such great imagination to animate these critters!
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