The Easter Bunny Scandal

It was 1972, I was ten years old and my younger brother, Charlie, was six. We lived in a very modest home in Hammond, Indiana. We didn’t have much but we did have loving parents and siblings and managed to gather up enough memories for a lifetime.

My parents had four children, ages 6 to 12. We weren’t difficult teenagers yet. We were naïve children who still believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. That was about to change.

It was early spring and Easter was just around the corner. Our parents had already brought the baskets down from the attic and were stockpiling bags of candy and treats. Of course we were all unaware of this. My mother would start sharing stories about the famed Easter Bunny and we bought into it without hesitation. But of course, this was about to change.

For starters, the day before Easter the whole family was upstairs in our home finishing up lunch when we heard a strange noise coming from somewhere in the house. We left the table to locate the odd sound. Nothing turned up on the main level so downstairs we went. Us boys shared bedrooms on one side of the basement and the other side consisted of a laundry room, a workshop for dad, and a storage facility that he had built. The noise was coming from inside the storage area. The whole family arrived in time to see my little brother, Charlie, pounding away at the far end plastered-concrete wall with a hammer that looked way too big for his size. A hole the size of a large pizza was beginning to for . Rocks, pebbles, and wall dust littered the floor all around Charlie.

“What are you doing Charlie?” My mother questioned quite alarmed.

“Mommy, I am making a hole in the wall so the Easter Bunny can get it.”

***

Well that was bad enough but now it was bedtime and Easter would arrive tomorrow morning with artificial grass-filled baskets full of candies and treats. It’s nights like these that most children find it difficult to sleep, someone like my sister Karen for instance. My parents waited until all the children were in bed and quiet. They set out the baskets on the dining room table in preparation for the morning. Our newly dyed eggs were hidden around the house. Everything was set, except of course for the carrots that my mom would put on a plate by the back door. We learned over the years that Santa Clause liked getting his milk and cookies and it was polite to leave some carrots for the bunny.

My dad retired to the bedroom and my mom went to the kitchen and extracted four good looking carrots. She placed them on a plate and went to the backdoor steps. She sat down and unbeknownst to us she began her annual bunny eating trick. She nibbled the ends off of all four carrots. While working the last carrot she looked up to find my sister, Karen, standing there in her pajamas with her dolly hanging low to her side. There was nothing to say.

Happy Easter everyone and thanks for showing up each week to read my stories.

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