"No! No! No! Get away! Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!"

Vinky hurried across the owl box to Vobble's side. She shook him gently. "Vobble. Vobble. Vobble, wake up. You're having a bad dream."

Vobble trembled. He opened his eyes and saw Vinky standing over him. He screamed. "NO!!! Don't do it! PLEASE!"

Vinky jumped back. "Vobble, it's just a dream. I'm not going to hurt you."

Vobble shivered. "It was REAL! And you were a part of it. It had to be real. My mind couldn't make THAT up!"

Vinky sat down beside Vobble and said soothingly, "Hey, take a minute to catch your breath and take a few deep breaths. Just try to relax and then you can tell me about it."

Vobble's lower beak quivered. "Okay," he whispered, "just give me a minute. It was the most awful thing."

He took a few deep breaths and then continued. "You see, this is what happened. It was hot outside, kinda like now. I wanted to try to cool off. I thought if I stood out on the porch I might catch a breeze or something. And then I saw it! It was . . .

"A thing! A kind of wobbly floating purple thing, just hovering a little distance away!" He spread his wings out. "It looked about THIS big!"

"I thought to myself, that's a little weird, so I got you and we went to investigate. We went right up to it, and it was making a scary noise. It sounded like a million bees! I told you not to touch it but you did and then you started attacking me!" Vobble's eyes narrowed. "It wasn't very nice of you, even if it was just a dream."

Vinky gave her brother a gentle shove. "It wasn't real, silly Vobble! But if you're still scared, let's go see Zorro. He's a brave mouse, I bet he can help you calm down."

They hurried over to the Dude's house and looked for Zorro.

They found him with his nose in the refrigerator, like always. They called his name and he popped up with his cheeks full of cheese.

"Mmmmphmmphm mmpmmphmmm," he said.

After a big swallow he said, "What's up, guys? Vobble, you don't look so good. What's the matter?"

Vinky told Zorro about Vobble's dream. Zorro said, "Here, have some Nightowl Cheezecake. That'll help you feel better."

Just then, the Dude came in talking about a bad dream he had—mumbling about a purple something or other.

Vobble said, "I had the same dream. Purple blobs."

The Dude said, "There was a weird buzz, not bees, but a Deep Down buzz—like underground. I woke up fighting my pillow and . . . "

"Hmmmmmmm," said Zorro, his mouth still full of cheezcake. "So you both had dreams about scary purple things making some sort of noise coming from underground?"

Both nodded their heads earnestly. "What were you doung before you went to bed?" asked Zorro.

"Well, I was watching a TV show about hit songs from the '50s and '60s" said Vobble thoughtfully.

"Hey, I sort of watched that show to, but I was also ddoing other things at the same time" said the Dude thoughtfully, "so I wasn't paying very close attention."

"Well then," said Zorro. "I watched that show too, and they played that old song 'Purpowl People Eater,' so there's your explanation!" said Zorro, triumphantly.

Vinky frowned. "Hang on Zorro," she said. "I watched that show too. Vobble dragged me over. I didn't have any weird dreams, and neither did you."

"I still think it's strange that Vobble and the Dude would have the same dream. It's not even really similar to the song at all."

She was about to say more, then noticed that Vobble was starting to quiver again. "Well, maybe it IS nothing. But just in case I want to ask Tauntz if he's seen anything weird underground."

Vinky headed off to talk to Tauntz. The dude opened the refrigerator. "Zorro!!! You ate all the cheese! And the cheezecake! And the grapes and the peaches and . . . oh geez . . . you even ate Mary's yogurt!"

Zorro said, "But Dude, I was hungry."

The Dude said, "What am I supposd to eat?"

Zorro said, "Call CC."

The Dude thought a minute. "Hey! That's not a bad idea."

He called CC and told her to bring him whatever she had on the menu for the day. In a few minutes she showed up with pans of Midsummer Burgers, Purple Dream Clouds, and Dreamsicles.

They all began to chow down.

Just then Vinky showed up with Tauntz. He said there had not been any underground activities lately.

"BUT," he said, "all the underground friends are getting ready for the new Under The Stars Theatre skit 'Midnight Summers Dream,' but it doesn't explain the purple stuff.

Then CC spoke up and reminded everyone of her special cupcakes that were purple.

"You know," said Vinky slowly, "What I've been hearing is that a whole lot of different things have been happening that have to do with noises and purple, and kind of scary things. There's the song, which is funny, but kind if scary, too, if you take it seriously, and CC's purple foods, and rehearsals for a play, which probably has lots of noises.

Besides, maybe you've forgotten, but you and I had a big argument yesterday, and I got really mad. That might have scared you some. Then while you were asleep, your mind put all those things together into a scary dream. Vaca, something similar may have happened to you.

Vobble thought hard, and then began to feel relieved. "Vinky, I think you may be right!" Then every one started talking about weird, scary and funny dreams they had had, and …

just when everyone was starting to realize that it was just a dream and meant nothing, the Tauntzlets came barreling into the midst of the group. "DUDEZ!!! You shoulda seen us! We almost flew!!"

Tauntz thumped his foot and hollered, "SILENCE! You will conduct yourselves in a manner befitting your station! Stop this nonsense at once. Rabbits do NOT fly."

"But, Dad! We did! We almost got airborne. We just needed a little less drag and little more lift and we'd have made it. And then we gotta find a way to make the Dude's air compressor cordless."

Tauntz thumped again. "Explain yourself. Cotton, since you're the eldest, you may go first."

Cotton drew a deep breath, knowing that he had to make this good. "Well, since we live around owls and other birds, we wanted just once to know what it was like to fly. We knew we didn't have wings, but there had to be a way. We thought about it for a long time and decided to try to make a big balloon. We found a great big purple cloth in the theater . . . "

Tauntz interrupted, "My backdrop??" You took my Midnight backdrop?"

"Uh, well, yeah, I guess. We didn't know it was important or anything. We tied the big cloth into a big balloon shape and attached the Dude's air compressor to it—man, that thing's noisy—and inflated it. It was awesome! It got bigger and bigger and we thought we were really gonna fly and then the ropes tying it all together came loose and the big thing sorta twisted around and around and flew around the yard and then it landed on the owl box and we couldn't get it down and then the wind picked up and blew it off and it kinda stuck to the side of the Dude's house for a minute and then we grabbed it and ran and . . . and . . . and . . . well, I guess you had to be there. But, Dad! We almost FLEW!!!"

Tauntz turned to the rest of the group and said, "Well, there you have it. No monsters, no scary things, just some miscreant bunnies who will definitely be learning a lesson from their hijinks. I bid you all Good Day."

As Tauntz led his wayward children toward the burrow, the others broke into nervous laughter. Vobble looked at the Dude and asked, "Do you think that's all it was? Do you think THAT was the scary purple thing?"

The Dude shrugged and said, "Well, it's one explanation, I guess. Who knows? Dreams are really weird things. I say we all head back to sleep and see if we can't come up with something better to dream about.

Zorro closed his eyes and said, "Limburger, Muenster, Monterrey Jack, Swiss, Gruyere . . . Cheezy dreams, here I come!"


The End