Episode the First: Little Dot Makes Funny Bunny

By: Mr. E. S. Stranger

In the beginning of important history, at the center of the Universe, in a house, lived a little girl named Dot. She had brown hair in pigtails, wore big glasses, and was little. Little Dot had parents and a brother, who was, aside from being her brother, a big, hairy gorilla.

Now, Dot had quite a number of things that she loved to do. When her brother the gorilla was around, for example, she loved to kick him in the shins. It was fun, and she always got away with it, because no one would believe that a big hairy gorilla was being terrorized by a little girl. She also loved to sit and play with beads for days at a time, and she was good at working puzzles blindfolded. Sometimes she did all of these while watching television.

One day, Dot was bored of all these things and picked up some new shoelaces to play with. She sat and tied them together, her hands moving rapidly and her eyes coldly guiding the work. When she stopped, she had a bunch of knots with four lace-ends hanging out like arms and legs and two loops like ears. She thought it looked like a bunny, and she grinned with delight.

"Hello, Bunny."

"Hello," the bunny said with a knot like a head. "You're funny looking, and what am I?"

"You're a bunny," she said, and she took the bunny to show to her mom. "Look, Mom," said Dot, holding the bunny for her mother to see. "A bunny."

Her mother looked at it curiously. "That's a funny-looking bunny."

"I'll show you who's funny-looking!" the bunny shouted, and he struggled to reach Dot's mom to give her a piece of his mind. Dot calmly carried him back to her room.

"Since you're funny-looking, I'll call you Funny Bunny," Dot said.

"Oh yeah?" replied Funny Bunny. "Well, what are you?"

"I'm Dot."

"Well, you're little. Since you're so little, I'll call you Little Dot."

That suited Dot just fine. Smiling, she carried Funny Bunny with her around the house. From then on they did everything together. When Dot worked puzzles blindfolded with others, Funny Bunny would take the others' pieces so Dot could work them. When Dot played with beads, Funny Bunny would count them to the tune of "99 Bottles of Root Beer." His favorite thing to do, though, was to watch Dot play a brisk game of Kick the Gorilla. He laughed hysterically as Dot’s brother tried to save his shins. And when Dot's mother came, Funny Bunny never snitched.