11. Invisible Bunnies

11 Invisible Bunnies We thought the fence around the garden would solve our problem. But it didn't. The next morning, Miss Nichol arrived on her tractor, wearing a T-shirt that said I FEEL GOOD FROM MY HEAD TOMATOES on it. Well, the

tractor wasn't wearing the T-shirt. She was. Tractors don't wear clothes. We opened the gate to check on our veggies. And you'll never believe what we found. There was a bite taken out of a tomato! "Gasp!" we all gasped. "Maybe the deer figured out how to open the gate," said Michael. "Maybe it's a really tiny deer," said Neil, "and it got through the fence." "Nope," said Miss Nichol. "It isn't a deer, I reckon. It must be some smaller varmint." "Hmmm," hmmmed Mr. Tony and Miss Nichol. Grown-ups always say "hmmm" when they're thinking. Nobody knows why. Miss Nichol said a bunny was probably eating our veggies. Then she snapped her fingers. Grown-ups always snap their fingers when they have an idea. Nobody knows why.

"I have an idea!" said Miss Nichol. "We can set up a video camera in the garden. Then we'll be able to see what's happenin' out here in the middle of the night." Miss Nichol should get the Nobel Prize for that idea.

"My parents put a video camera in my baby sister's room," said Alexia. "So they can watch her in the middle of the night." "Does your baby sister steal veggies?" I asked. Everybody laughed even though I didn't say anything funny. Mrs. Stoker gave us permission to get a video camera. Miss Nichol went to the store to buy it, and she set it up in the garden with Mr. Tony. The next morning, as usual, we went out to the garden to check on the veggies. "Gasp!" we all gasped. There was a bite taken out of a cantaloupe! "Okie-dokie," said Miss Nichol, "let's have a gander at the video from last night. I reckon we'll find out who did this." We went to the front office at school and fast- forwarded through hours of video. As we watched, we were all on pins and needles. Well, not really. We were just standing there. If we were on pins and needles, it would have hurt.

The point is, there was no bunny. For the whole night, there was no movement at all in the video. "Maybe it's a really small bunny," said Emily. "Maybe it's an invisible bunny," I suggested. "Invisible bunnies don't exist, Arlo!" Andrea said, rolling her eyes. How did she know? If invisible bunnies did exist, we wouldn't be able to see them.* Who knows? We could be surrounded by invisible bunnies all the time and we'd never know it. Miss Nichol snapped her fingers.

"I have an idea!" she said. "We'll have a stakeout in the garden." "I love barbecues," I said. "Steak is one of my favorite foods." "Not a steak out, dumbhead!" Andrea said. "A stakeout." Oh, that's different. "Yeah!" said Miss Nichol excitedly. "We'll have a sleepover in the garden and find out who's been eatin' our veggies." She should get the Nobel Prize for that idea.