The Curious Case of the Misplaced Easter Bunny

I've cracked 4 cases in my life so far. The Case of Mrs. Feldman's Stolen Garden Gnome (raccoons, duh). The Case of What Was Smelling So Bad in Our Locker Room (someone's gym sock they left in there over a long weekend, also duh). The Case of Who Ate The Last Fruit Snack (my brother, of course it's always him). And now, as of October 17th in my neighborhood in the daylight, with pumpkins out on every front porch, The Case of the Lost Easter Bunny.

First, I want to clear that I was not searching for this mystery. It found me. My Nana always tells me the best mysteries will come find you.

This is what I came across. I was biking back from Priya's house, and I saw a bunny on Mr. Okonkwo-Bell's front lawn. A bunny. An actual bunny. It was big and brown and was wearing. I double-checked. Wearing a little straw bonnet with a ribbon tied under its chin, and it was sitting up on its hind legs by a bunny basket as if waiting to have its picture taken.

It's not April. That's the whole point; it was not April. There were 71 days until Easter. I double-checked that on my phone when I got home. Sat on my bed and opened up my detective notebook, which is actually just a notebook with case files written on the cover in gel pen.

So suspect #1 was Mr. Okonkwo-Bell. He owns the property I figured, but I immediately eliminated him because Mr. Okonkwo-Bell loves Halloween more than anyone I know probably in this whole county. Having a bunny with an Easter bonnet would ruin the atmosphere he has worked so hard to build with his fog machine and life size skeleton that screams. When I pulled up to his house and asked him about the bunny in a "detective" sort of manner he just looked at me confused.

"That is not my bunny," he said. "I did not buy that decoration. I walked outside to try my fog machine this morning, and there she was sitting proud as a duke. I've already called Animal Control, and they haven't returned my calls, which is unacceptable, seeing as how much I pay in taxes."

I wrote that down. I then asked my second question, which is always: who knows of anyone in this neighborhood that may have a bunny?

"Well," He said. "The Pembertons over there. Old man Stan used to have bunnies. He did it for the church Easter, something I don't remember. Used to have that big cage out in the yard too, but haven't seen it in years."

Okay, so that's our second suspect. Great, we have our second suspect who used to own bunnies and lives on our street.

As many of you know Mrs. Pemberton passed away this past April. Near Easter which was a rough time for our church. She always made sure to have a bunny there for easter every year. With baskets and bunnies and she would dress the bunny up and let the little kids pet them.

I didn't know that Mrs. Pemberton passed away until Priya filled me in on her story when we were going over to his house.

"My moms told me that he stopped doing that after she passed," she said. "They asked him to continue this year, and he declined. Said he didn't think he could do it."

Well, that gives us our motive. Why would he place his bunny outside on October 17th? On top of another man's property, no less.

When we got to their house, his front door was left open, which, as a detective, would be fishy. But I wasn't too worried because I saw him inside sitting at his dining room table staring at a photo.

"Mr. Pemberton?" I knocked on the screen door. "There's a bunny on Mr. Okonkwo Bell's lawn wearing an Easter bonnet."

He looked at me, and I could tell he had been crying. His eyes were puffy, and he showed me the picture. It was Mrs. Pemberton in the garden with her bunny.

"Yeah I let her out this morning" he replied. "I was going to bring her back inside before anybody saw."

"Who?"

"Marigold." He rubbed his face. "She's Clementine's granddaughter. It's silly, I know. But I can't help it. I don't think she's supposed to be out yet, but I didn't care. It's just silly."

"It would have been my wife's 41st birthday today. We got married in October, and every year I would get her flowers. She used to joke that I should of proposed during easter so our anniversary would line up. Well, today I woke up and felt weird, so I decided to go outside to the bunny cage for the first time since her death. Marigold was sitting there, and I had her bunny costume in my garage; I never threw it out. So I decided to dress her up and let her out." He looked sheepish. "Sorry about Mr. Okonkwo Bell I will bring her inside right away."

Normally my note book wouldn't include what I have to say next. Because this isn't some riddle or who did it kind of mystery. Its about Mrs. Pemberton passing away and Mr. Pemberton wanting to celebrate her life one last time on her anniversary. I just remembered what my nana told me about how some days you do things out of season. Like she puts out grandpas picture before his actual birthday sometimes. Just so she can have a little piece of him with her longer.

I guess that's what Mr. Pemberton was doing.

Priya and I brought Marigold back to Mr. Okonkwo Bell's property. We even kept her bunny costume and basket on. When we explained the situation to Mr. Okonkwo Bell, he was silent for a moment and said she could stay there as long as Mr. Pemberton wanted her there.

A few hours later half the neighborhood was coming to see Marigold. One of the parents even brought carrots for her. A little girl was crying because she thought she was getting Easter twice.

Mr. Pemberton stood on his driveway and smiled. Seeing his wife's legacy live on through her bunny. For that one day at least.

I closed my case that night.