#5 Beanie Boo Easter Story – Road Trip on Horseback

As far as islands go, Easter Island is not very big. Did you know that it is only 15 miles across? By hop, that can take quite a while. Which is why it was great luck for me to bump into Harriet tonight.

“Hey little fella, what are you doing out here all alone?” Harriet asked me.

“I was about to ask you the same question,” I said, mostly because the horses on the island usually travel in groups.

“Well, if you must know, I am sad,” she said. “There was a horse race today and I lost.” Harriet looked down at the ground and kicked up some dust with her hoof. Harriet’s parents are legends on Easter Island. Their barn stalls are filled with trophies, medals and blue first-place ribbons.

“I’m the slowest in my family. I’m a failure,” she said.

Wow! I know what that feels like.

“I’m sorry, Harriet,” I tried to comfort her. “But your situation can’t be worse than mine. Your parents may be disappointed, but I’ve let down the whole world.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “I heard about that. The missing Easter chocolate. Sorry, Carrots.” I’m not sure why, but hearing about my troubles seemed to make her feel better. “So you’re running away?” she asked.

“No!,” I said. “I’m going to find the chocolate so everything can get back to normal. If I have to hop the entire island, I’ll find it. There will be chocolate on Easter!” I said.

“I may not be the fastest horse, but I’m a lot faster than a rabbit. You’ll do much better with my help,” said Harriet. “Hop on my back – I can run shore to shore in about an hour.”

“Really?” I couldn’t believe my good luck. “Let’s do this!”

And then Harriet got down on her knees. I crawled up on her back and used my paws to grip her mane. “Giddeyup,” I cried.

“Carrots,” Harriet said “We horses hate that word.”

“Oh, sorry.” I said.

And then the most amazing thing happened. Harriet started to run like the wind. I had never moved that fast before. The sun was setting and we were off. I could hear the waves braking against the shore. I could see the Moai, watching as we flew across the land, deep into the island’s center. What a joy it must be to be a horse and run like this.

We galloped toward one of the islands volcanic craters – this is like a bowl-shaped valley in the ground, created hundreds of years ago by a volcano. There, a lonely turtle was perched on a ledge, looking out over the land.

It was Zippy.

“Good evening,” he said. “What are you two doing here?”

“We’re on a mission,” I said. “We’re looking for something that was stolen from Easter village on the South side of the Island.”

“Ah yes,” he said. “The chocolate.”

Harriet and I looked at each other and then at Zippy.  It’s a small island and news sure does travel fast.

“Have you seen anything, Zippy?” asked Harriet.

“And yes, I have seen things.”

I hopped off Harriet’s back so I could make close eye-contact with him.

“I know exactly what happened to the chocolate.”

Read Chapter 6: Beanie Boo Easter Story: World’s Largest Chocolate Bunny