Arbor - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - The Quest

“Life in the Arbor,” Rollie crooned,“Is good, so good. / So why do I feel so bad? / Life in the Abbor with all my friends, / Should be fine for this rabbity lad. / Why oh why am I so unhoppy, / When I should be so glad? / I’m feeling so very drippy-droppy, / Instead of like Galahad.”

“Stop, stop, stop!” shouted Fred. “What in the Arbor is a Galahad?”

“I don’t know,” answered Rollie. “I just thought it sounded good. And it makes a nice rhyme.”

“And ‘unhoppy,’ and ‘drippy-droppy?’” Fred asked disgustedly. “Now that’s what I call a real stretch for a rhyme.”

“Well, that’s how I feel, unhoppy. No spring in my hop anymore. And everyone knows what it feels like to be drippy-droppy. You may not know ‘hoppy,’ Fred, but you can certainly be a drip every now and then.” Rollie continued singing in his little tremulous tenor.

“But I feel a need to go, / That I cannot ignore, / To find a place with more, much more, / To see the world out there, / To find a place for our rabbity race, / That is kind and gentle and fair. / Oh where, oh where might that be? / I’ll have to see for myself, you see. / A place where the orange / And the grapefruit trees / Have leaves that touch the sand, / With ladders that climb to the very tip, / So all the rabbits can make the trip, / To this rabbity Promised Land.”

No one said anything for a moment. Fred was silent, Millie was silent, Buzz was silent. They all looked at each other and nodded. Then Fred, acting as spokes-lizard said, “We like it, we like it, Rollie. It’s a very good song. But just a little too much of a downer for my tastes. How about it, guys? Do you agree?”

“Yes,” both Buzz and Millie said in unison.

“Why, Rollie, do you feel so down about your life here in the Arbor?” asked Millie.

Rollie rolled his eyes and said, “I told you before and I’ll tell you again, I just know that somewhere there’s a better life than here. And I just have to find it. I’m planning to begin my search tomorrow. I’ll go alone or I’ll go with anyone who wants to join me.” He looked at his companions expectantly. “Well, who’s with me?” “We don’t know what’s out there,” Buzz responded. “But I could act as a forward scout, you know, to see what’s ahead.”

“And I could help Buzz do that very thing,” chimed in Millie. “After all, two sets of eyes are better than one.”

“Ohhhh, all right,” Fred growled. “I’ll go along with you. You need a keeper, my odd bunny friend, and I guess I’m the keeper you need.”

It was decided then, the four of them would make their preparations and the journey would begin as early in the morning as they could all get together.

“I think we should call it our Quest,” Rollie said. “I mean, a ‘question’ asks for an answer, and a quest is just a question, but it searches for a goal, like a treasure. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Like the Four Musketeers, they all agreed they would ask the question and find the answer, and they’d go on a quest and find the treasure.

“Tomorrow!” they shouted together, raising a butterfly wing, a hummingbird wing, a lizardy foot, and a rabbity paw, touching them together in a sacred pact.