Written & Illustrated by: Laurie Trotman

It was a warm, sunny day, and the colony was very peaceful today, although he didn’t understand why that was. Timmy found his cousin Johnny, and they decided to go outside of the anthill to explore. Johnny was younger than Timmy and had not been outside of the colony very often. Timmy was more than happy to tell Johnny about some of his adventures. As they walked, he told him of his trip to the park, where he saw his first picnic; to the playground where he met the small humans, Mae, Winter, and Areean; and when he met Tom the Snail.

Timmy was so excited sharing his stories of adventure, that he almost ran right into a huge, colorful…something!

As they walked around it, a creature hopped up nearby, saw them smiling and investigating the egg he had hidden under the tulip flower.

He hopped closer and said, “Happy Easter to you both!”

Timmy and Johnny looked up and Timmy said, “Good day to you! My name is Timmy and this is my cousin, Johnny!” Now, Johnny had never been on adventures before, so he was a bit nervous, but he shyly said, “It’s nice to meet you!”

“We are ants from a nearby ant colony. I’ve never seen a creature like you before,” Timmy said.

“My name is Thumper and I’m a bunny! Actually, I’m an Easter bunny and I see that you have found one of my Easter eggs that I hid under the tulip.”

Timmy was confused. “What is an Easter Bunny and what is an Easter egg?

“Well, I have been told that ‘Easter’ means new dawn in the east. I was also told that I was born on a day that humans celebrate a holiday that they call Easter,” Thumper explained, “So my parents told me that I was an Easter bunny!”

“That is very exciting,” Timmy said.

Thumper continued, “There is a legend that bunnies lay eggs and then hide them at this time of year for children to find. So I have hidden some eggs for someone to find and you two found the first one! Would you like to see some more?”

“That would be wonderful, but how do we do that? You can move so much faster than we can!” Timmy said.

Why don’t you climb up onto my ears and I’ll take you around?” Thumper answered.

So Timmy and Johnny climbed and climbed until they reached the tip of Thumper’s ears. Thumper was soft and furry. It felt so good on their feet. Timmy was on the left ear and Johnny had climbed up the right ear.

Thumper started hopping over to a bush with lots of pink flowers on it. “Do you see it?” he asked.

They looked and looked but all they saw were flowers. “No, I don’t see it anywhere. All I see are flowers!” Johnny said sadly.

“Look closer!” said Thumper. He put his head down a little so that they could see better.

“I SEE IT!” Timmy shouted. “It’s bright pink with purple polka dots!”

“It’s beautiful!” Johnny exclaimed when he saw it too! “Let’s find some more!”

Thumper hopped all over the place and showed them all sorts of colorful eggs. They were so excited that Timmy and Johnny started hopping up and down too.

They saw a blue egg with purple stripes under an apple tree.

They saw a turquoise egg with pink polka dots in some tall grass!

They were all so beautiful that they didn’t know which egg was their favorite.

Then they saw a purple egg with magenta stripes! Or was it a magenta egg with purple stripes? It was hidden in a flower bush and they almost missed seeing it.

They couldn’t wait to get home to tell all of their cousins about the Easter bunny and the wonderfully colored eggs they had seen today. Johnny was also very excited about the ride on the Easter bunny’s ears! He had never experienced anything like this before.

Timmy was getting used to riding on interesting things, but this was very special for him too. Thumper hopped back to the tulip where they met, let Timmy and Johnny climb back down to the ground, and said again, “Happy Easter! Thank you for sharing this fun day with me!”

“It was a great day, and we think your Easter eggs are the most beautiful things we’ve ever seen! Thank you for the ride, and Happy Easter to you too!” Timmy said to Thumper.

“Yes, Happy Easter and thank you, Thumper!” echoed Johnny.

Thumper hopped away. Timmy and Johnny started walking back to the anthill. Johnny didn’t stop talking the whole way back. This was the best day he ever had! Timmy smiled and laughed as Johnny talked. He learned that Easter was a very special day, which is probably why the anthill was so peaceful today! It was a day he would always remember.