Mr. and Mrs. Bunny—Detectives Extraordinaire! by Polly Horvath Page A

things under control, but we haven’t done anything! Maybe we should see if we can get a doctor to
force
Uncle out of his coma. Do you think that would be possible?”
    â€œNot if he is enjoying himself,” said Mr. Bunny. “People can be very stubborn about remaining comatose. No, the first thing to do is to try to decode the note ourselves. Let us have the soup while we do it. No one can decode with a malnourished brain.”
    Madeline set the outside table, and Mrs. Bunny heated up some soup, and the three of them slurped soup and worked on the note.
    They read it frontways and backways and upside down. Mrs. Bunny suggested they try reading it while standing on their heads, and though that didn’t seem to make any sense, they tried that too. It didn’t help.
    Mrs. Bunny said that inspiration was sure to strike at anysecond. Mr. Bunny then remembered his secret decoder ring that had come in a box of Carrotloop cereal. He went inside to get it. But that didn’t work either.
    â€œOh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” said Madeline.
    â€œWould you like some more soup, dear?” asked Mrs. Bunny.
    â€œShe doesn’t want more soup, she wants her note decoded,” said Mr. Bunny. “There’s only one thing to do, and I had hoped to avoid it.”
    â€œOh no,” said Mrs. Bunny. “Don’t even think it.”
    â€œWhat?” asked Madeline.
    Mr. Bunny sighed. “We shall have to visit a marmot.”

 THE MARMOT 
    â€œN o!” said Mrs. Bunny. “NOT MARMOTS!”
    â€œWhat’s so terrible about that?” asked Madeline.
    Mr. and Mrs. Bunny laughed and laughed.
    â€œWhat’s so funny?” asked Madeline. They didn’t look as if they were having fun, they looked hysterical.
    â€œNothing,” choked out Mr. Bunny between guffaws. “It’s just
too terrible
to think about.”
    â€œWhat do they do that is so awful?” asked Madeline.
    â€œWhen they come to visit, they don’t bring cake,” said Mr. Bunny.
    â€œI came for a visit and I didn’t bring cake,” said Madeline.
    There was an awkward silence.
    â€œBut you’re family. You need
never
bring cake,” Mrs. Bunny said hastily.
    Madeline felt a faint glow. Then she thought, my adopted family are rabbits. I finally fit in somewhere and it is with a whole different species. Naturally.
    â€œBut there is one marmot talent that, while usually pretty useless, is of the greatest value to us right now.”
    â€œThey can decode,” said Mr. Bunny. “They can decode like sons-of-guns.”
    â€œVirtual Rosetta Stones, every one of them,” said Mrs. Bunny. “And the greatest one of them all, the one who has never been stumped, is The Marmot.”
    â€œThe marmot? Which marmot?”
    â€œThat’s his name. His parents named him The, and of course his last name is Marmot. So he is The Marmot. And
that
should tell you all you need to know about marmots, even if you didn’t already know about the cake thing,” said Mrs. Bunny.
    â€œBut we have to find Flo and Mildred!” said Madeline. “So can’t we forget about the cake thing temporarily?”
    â€œTemporarily,”
said Mr. Bunny.
    â€œBecause it really is
so
rude,” said Mrs. Bunny.
    â€œYes,” said Madeline. “Now, where do we find The Marmot?”
    â€œWell, that’s another thing,” said Mr. Bunny. “You never know about marmots.”
    â€œThey keep changing their houses. One day they’re here. One day they’re there.”
    â€œThey’re very transient,” said Mr. Bunny.
    â€œAnd they don’t bring cake,” said Mrs. Bunny.
    â€œYes, yes, we’ve covered that,” said Madeline impatiently. “Well, how do we find out where The Marmot lives, then?”
    Mr. and Mrs. Bunny looked at each other.
    â€œWe thought all children knew how to find things,” said Mr.