Chapter 4

Chapter FOUR Zoe stared worriedly at me when Mum and I got back to my seat in the theatre. You didn't find him!' she said. 'Where's Pink Rabbit?' 'It's all right,' I told her, sitting back down in my chair. 'I did find him but... he's busy.' 'Busy?' said Zoe. 'What do you mean?'

'It's a surprise!' I said. 'You'll find out really soon!' Zoe looked confused but she didn't ask any more questions. 'OK...' she said suspiciously. We chattered quietly for a while longer but then the lights in the theatre went down and a great hush fell over the audience. The orchestra started to play and the great velvet curtain began to rise. Zoe and I breathed out in wonderment. The stage didn't look like a stage but a beautiful garden. In the middle was a tree with frothy pink cherry blossom all over it. The ballet dancer playing the part of Alice was sitting on one of the branches.

She was wearing a white tutu with a black headband in her pale blonde hair. Everything shone and sparkled, and the cherry blossom petals rained down from the tree. The music suddenly got faster, and the White Rabbit leapt on from stage left. Except it wasn't a white rabbit...

It was a little pink rabbit! My Pink Rabbit! He looked very small up there on the stage and I suddenly felt very nervous for him. But I also felt extremely proud.

Pink Rabbit tiptoed across the stage in his striped waistcoat. He was holding a pocket watch in his paw and looking at it as he leapt along. 'I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!' the music seemed to say. Pink Rabbit bounced and bounded past the cherry-blossom tree and the dancer playing Alice jumped down and followed him. Together they danced round the pretend garden, twirling and soaring amongst the cherry-blossom petals. 'Isadora,' whispered Zoe. 'Is that... is that—?' 'Pink Rabbit!' I whispered back. 'Yes!' 'Wow!' breathed Zoe. 'He's amazing!'

We watched as Pink Rabbit did a pirouette and then disappeared down a pretend hole in the stage. Alice followed him and everything on the stage began to change. The tree vanished, the walls and floor became black-and-white checks, and suddenly Pink Rabbit and Alice were falling down from the ceiling on strings.