Mom compromised by saying that they could start building the hutch right away, but while James had to lie in bed, he could have them for a short while each day.
“But don’t let Butchie get his hands on them,” she warned. “My, my, what’s this house coming to? Grandma has her canary, and Billy is always having bumble bees standing around in fruit jars. Davey has Butch, and now a pair of rabbits. What next?”
The hutch was started right after lunch, with great pounding and sawing and running back and forth. It was a pen enclosed with chicken wire, raised about two feet off the ground, with a little box at one end for a shelter. They gathered clover industriously, and the floor of the pen was carpeted with fresh green leaves and fragrant white blossoms. Bees zoomed in and out of the chicken wire to investigate. Billy placed a crock of cool, fresh water for each rabbit, and Mom smiled.
“Don’t you think that’s a lot of food and drink for just two tiny infants?” she asked.
“Oh, that’s all right, Mom,” said Billy pulling up more clover by the roots. “They’re small now, but they really eat a lot, and they’ll grow.”
Mrs. Landry came through the gap in the hedge to see the new arrivals, and she promised Billy all her carrot tops. “When they grow up, I’ll expect the first fur coat as my share,” she added jokingly.
The air was hot and still, and there were clouds piling up in the west. Before Mom went back to the cottage she warned the children to pick up all the tools, and put them away.
“It looks like a storm,” she said. “Don’t leave any thing out that might get wet and rust.”
Billy nailed a small canvas flap to the door of the shelter, and then he wondered if he should take the rabbits down to the cottage for the night. The wind was rising and there were low growls of thunder. He looked into the shelter. They were snug and warm and dry, and they were nestled close to each other, fast asleep. He smiled. Better leave them alone, he thought. Putting the tools away, he snapped the lock on the garage door and hurried down to the front lot.
Janie met him at the door. “Hurry, Bill,” she said, “Mom said we should fasten the boat. It’s pitching around out there.”