polka-dots {in the snow}

Snow dripping off his hat, cheeks glowing pink, he gasps for breath, “I think I saw polka-dots in the snow!”

“Really?” I smile, quizzically.

“Yes! Three polka-dots! I’m thinking about what it could be.” He tilts his head thoughtfully then says slowly, “It’s a tiny bit of a mystery.”

“A mystery indeed,” I nod gravely.

The door shuts and the bundle of orange disappears.

My hands are in suds when he comes back inside. “Shut the door!” I holler from the sink and I hear a slam.

His eyes are glowing as he comes around the corner, “I think I solved the mystery.”

“I’m dying to know,” I respond, and it’s true.

“A rabbit,” he nods firmly.

“A bunny rabbit?”

“Yes! One mystery solved.”

“You don’t suppose,” I whisper, “that the Easter bunny got lost in the snow storm?”

“No, no.” He shakes his head.

I clap my hands together and suds spray, “Then it must be a chocolate bunny, running around. Do you think you could catch it for me? I do so love chocolate.”

“It’s not chocolate, Tasha,” he gives me his sorry you’re so slow  look. Then his eyes dance, “But maybe I can catch it! Do you have a box?”

I look around. “Sorry, buddy. Maybe you can find something outside?”

The door slams.

A few minutes later, my hands wrinkled but dry, he comes pounding in again, breathless. “A carrot? Do you have a carrot?”

I dig through the fridge and find a few left from last fall. I pull one out.

“Perfect,” he exclaims and the door slams again.

Not two minutes later, a head sticks back in.  “A string? Do you have a nice long string?”

Baler twine is sliced and he’s charging back out. “I’ll catch that rabbit for sure!”

It’s not until later, after his mom picks him up and I’m saying goodbye and, “Yes, I’ll check your trap over the weekend!”  and we’re grilling hamburgers on the back porch for dinner, that my husband says, “Tasha, you have to come look at this!”

A rabbit trap. Of course.