Hopper Hopscotch was a young rabbit boy who had endless energy. Unlike his twin sister, Honey Hopscotch, who could sit still, Hopper could not. He was always found crawling or hopping. To be perfectly honest, Hopper only sat still when there was a sweet treat in front of him or when he was having a conversation with Teddy.
One afternoon, it was one of those afternoons where Hopper was still. He, Grace, Honey, Henry and their mother Heidi were at the Deluxe Living room watching the Communal Channel. Today a band of critters had decided to put on a show with singing, dancing and acting. Heidi let out a peaceful sigh, everything seemed well. Bell and Bellia had gone to the Toy Shop to help out their father. David and Skip were upstairs, working on their math homework. Heidi had finished cooking dinner and was getting some well deserved “me time”. While the babies watched TV, she opened up the Calico Times and saw the big headline: ‘He discovered a treasure!’
Seeing this would be an interesting story, she waited for the program to end before reading it to her children. “Listen closely, little ones, this is a real life story that just happened yesterday!”
The babies’ eyes went wide ‘and patiently waited as Heidi read, “Yesterday afternoon, near the Rainbow River, Brian Sugar Bear had found a crate! With much excitement, he shook the contents. It had a bit of weight on it and Brian peeked his black eye into the crate’s crack. Just barely visible was a sparkling object, a jewel or some gold perhaps. This stroke of luck makes Brian one of the special few that has actually found jewels next to the Rainbow River, which has been an iconic picnic spot because of the plentiful rainbows. Our ancestors have attempted to make a fortune by searching for treasure here, but they note the only treasure here are the endless rainbows. Occasionally, a piece of gold or two has been found, but if Brian’s box actually contains diamonds, we might have to rename the river. This afternoon, some critters will aid Brian in opening the crate and we shall be happily awaiting the results.”
The babies cheered in joy at the word “treasure”, Hopper especially enjoyed exploring and now a story regarding a bear who explored and actually found something. Honey and Grace began dreaming about the fancy necklaces or shimmering diamonds that might’ve been in the box. Henry had fallen asleep, but he had stuck around long enough to finish the article. His dreams were full of buried treasures, adventures and joy now. Heidi giggled at the sight of the youngsters celebrating over buried treasure being found. She knew they liked precious objects, especially shiny ones, but she never knew they liked them this much.
Then, Heidi left to help David and Skip with their math. At least, that was what Heidi thought they were doing. When she got upstairs, she had found Skip wrapped up in his blue blanket chasing David! Then, David grabbed his pencil and “slayed” the so called blue beast.
“What are you all doing?” asked Heidi, “I thought you two were doing your arithmetic.”
Skip answered, “Arithme-what now?”
“Math,” whispered David.
“We’re sorry,” he added, “We’ll do it right away.”
“Yeah,” said Skip, “Sorry, mom. It won’t happen again.”
Heidi shocked her head and sighed. David could always focus when it came to his lessons, but Skip never has been able to sit through a full lesson. When the kids started self teaching themselves, Skip had the most trouble focusing. His mind always seemed to wander, leading him to physically wander off to find a funner activity. Clang! A sudden sound came from the kitchen and Heidi and the boys ran to it. They found Hopper crawling out of the kitchen, letting out a small whimper. “Mama, sound scary,” he cried.
Heidi’s yellow pot had fallen on the metal floor. She picked it up and put it back on the counter top before asking Hopper what went wrong. “Me look for treasure like Brian,” he answered, “Me hop up and loud noise, clang!”
Letting out a small laugh, the mother picked up her son and brought him upstairs where Henry, Grace and Honey were playing a role playing game between their stuffed animals and their bath toys. “Now Sharko gives cookies to Teddy after they have a tea party,” Henry said.
Honey adds, “And Tedda invite them in for dinner. Today have squash soup.”
Hopper went towards them, but instead of joining the game, he proposed a new one. The babies quickly agreed to go searching for treasure and eagerly followed Hopper around the house as they searched every nook and cranny. They opened drawers,
cabinet doors,
fumbled through blankets,
and asked Teddy when he sat on his “magical” pink chair,
but no treasure could be found. Henry had fallen asleep twice throughout their journey and Honey’s attention span was dwindling. Grace was determined to help Hopper, but as time passed her boredom got the best of her.
“Me tired,” Honey said with a yawn.
“Let’s play Critter Train! We can do the Grace Hop!” suggested Grace.
A snore was let out by Henry, who once again fell asleep. “No, we find treasure like story! We find big, big treasure!” Hopper yelled.
Before a new or old activity could be chosen, the four of them were tucked in for a nap. Hopper could barely sleep, he was too giddy with excitement. He knew a treasure was out there and he just couldn’t sit still thinking about it. Soon, Skip took the babies out of bed and settled them at the living room for some TV time.
There was a knock at the door and in came Felicia Tuxedo Cat, holding a basket of bread. Heidi came at the door and smiled. “Oh, my, I forgot to pick up the bread I wanted to buy today! Thank you, Felicia, you can leave them at the table.”
“No problem, Mrs.Choch. Did you hear about Brian Sugar Bear and the treasure?”
Hopper turned his head from the Nature Program and immediately said, “I want to find treasure like him!”
“We’re not too sure what’s inside yet, we’re hoping it has value. However, I do know the box will be opened today and the news will be spread in tomorrow’s newspaper.”
Hopper’s eyes lit up and he reminded himself to make his mother read the paper to him tomorrow.
The day passed and on the next morning after David fed the babies breakfast, Hopper zoomed down to the first floor and searched the magazine basket for today’s newspaper. Unfortunately, the Calico Times, wasn’t there. Heidi came over to find Hopper frantically searching the living room and asked what had happened. “Where it go? Where it go?” he asked, “The paper gone!”
“Here it is,” she said, removing the Calico Times from the kitchen table, “Let’s read it together.”
Hopper sat himself down at the couch next to Heidi as Heidi read aloud. This time the article was in one of the inner pages and was half the size as the previous one. Heidi saw the picture and knew Hopper would be disappointed, but she didn’t want to hide it from him.
“During the opening, the crowd was full of excitement, but at the end ‘treasure’ was never mentioned again unless the word ‘no’ was in front of it. The crate turned out to be a broken box with cracks, that made the inside glisten. Brian Sugar Bear was disappointed as with the rest of the crowd. We hope the next time, we’ll be more fortunate.”
Hopper let out a small disappointed sound before he started to cry. “Nothing found, but I thought he find treasure. I thought I find treasure.”
“There, there,” comforted Heidi, “There’s lots of special things you could find. Everything will be alright.”
That night before going to bed, Heidi told her husband everything and they were determined to make Hopper feel better. They told their neighbors and the children about their plans and they got to work to make Hopper an unforgettable treasure hunt.
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