Oreo was still howling. Although I was thankful for my palace, which allowed me to burn off some pent up anger, I was not happy with my humans. It had already been a long day. They had all gotten dressed and left fairly early. It was a Monday, and for some reason Big Rabbit had the day off. I knew when Mama gave me early snack and early lunch that they’d be gone for hours. Mama said she thought they’d be back by lunch – yeah, right. I love her, but she stinks at time estimates.
I heard the truck pull into the garage around two, during my afternoon nap. My tummy rumbled. Mama and Big Rabbit flew into the house, each to their furry. From the master bedroom I could hear Oreo giving Big Rabbit the what-for. Little Girl said a hurried “Hi, Bun, I love you!” as she rushed past my palace to her room. Mama apologized and gave me early dinner and some carrots. Not good. Food is always good, but since I was getting early dinner, that meant – Big Rabbit emerged from the master bedroom and asked if they were ready. She apologized and said it would all be worth it, then they took off again. Little Girl had left with a backpack. That probably meant she was heading to Mimi and Grampy’s for an impromptu overnight.
Oreo resumed howling. This was by far the longest he had been left alone since arriving (about six weeks at this point). I huffed, and tried to reassure him. Usually I don’t even attempt to communicate with him. If he heard me, he totally ignored me, although I doubt he did since he was so…very…loud. Foot stomping did nothing to shut him up, but it made me feel better, so I forcefully ran up to my loft and down, up and down, foot stomping at every turn.
I didn’t even wake up until I heard the feed container top swivel open. Mama softly padded over to my loft door, quietly apologizing for it being so late. She had missed bedtime. I looked around for Little Girl in between gigantic mouthfuls of feed and remembered the bag. Mama confirmed that Little Girl was at Mimi and Grampy’s. She pet me gently. Between the feed and being so sleepy I was almost swayed to forgive her.
Mama told me about what had happened that day as she pet me and I chowed down on my feed. Blue Jean Baby (the truck) and Grey Wolf (our travel trailer), were gone. No longer ours. I almost choked. No truck? No camper? This was the cat’s fault. It had to be! He ruins everything!
She told me that instead, we now have a motorhome. I paused in my chewing and looked at her. I’d heard the term before, but didn’t really know what it meant. Mama, of course, kept talking, and explained that it’s a camper, but all one piece – no hooking up a truck. She told me I was going to love it, that it was the perfect floor plan for our entire family. I knew it was the cat’s fault. Big Rabbit convinced Mama to upgrade from Hideout to Grey Wolf for several reasons, but one of the big reasons was I was living in the shower. No, not my fondest memories! Grey Wolf made me fall in love with camping. I went from living in the shower, to my own condo and a place for my condo on the top bunk, where I could safely survey my family.
I realized I hadn’t been listening to Mama as I reminisced. The words, “You’ll have even more space in the motorhome than you did in Grey Wolf!” pulled me out of my reverie. She told me Oreo and I both had our own bunks, and I would still have the top! This was starting to not sound so bad. Then I thought of Little Girl…where would she sleep? As if reading my mind, Mama explained that the motorhome had a third bunk, above the driver’s cab. That sounded really weird but if I was actually getting my own bunk – all mine – and I’d be safe from the cat, and Little Girl would still have her own bunk – well, maybe this long day would be worth it after all.
It took Grampy a solid month of working hard (really, really hard), but he crafted me (ok, fine, Oreo too), the most amazing bunk! When we finally got to stay in the motorhome, I could hardly contain my joy. I really do have my own, full sized bunk – complete with window! Grampy designed them so we each have a sliding door, and they have wire mesh, so even if Oreo could climb up to me, he still couldn’t enter my domain!
Mama even surprised me by bringing my hay tunnel and original hidey-hole! My favorite Christmas present from 2018 was a hay tunnel. I love it, because tunnels are so fun, and also because it doubles as a snack bar whenever I want. My original hidey-hole is precious to me, because Little Girl made it for me shortly after I came home. Well, when we brought Oreo home, he decided he loves my hay tunnel and hidey-hole too. It’s true what they say: little brothers are annoying. It drives me crazy to see him near my stuff, but he actually would attack my hay tunnel and try to go through my hidey-hole! I’d look over, and there’d be a big predator butt sticking out of my tunnel! So when I saw them safely in my private bunk, I was overjoyed. Mama saw how happy I was and she promised that Oreo would never touch them again. Sometimes, change is good.
