Lulu’s Leaf-Flag Parade

Lulu waved her leaf flag. Two rabbits dashed off—and went in opposite directions.

“Wait!” called Lulu.

But Wicket raced to the left, and Sula hurried to the right. They ran along the loop-shaped path that circled the old stump in the middle of the woodland clearing. Soon, each rabbit disappeared behind it.

Lulu lowered her flag. “That is not how a parade is supposed to go.”

She had planned the parade all morning. She had found the brightest leaf in the clearing, a wide golden one with a red edge. She had tied it to a straight little twig with a piece of grass. Then she had invited her friends to march around the stump together.

“One loop,” she had told them. “All together, like a line of ducklings!”

“I can be the duckling in front,” Wicket had said.

“I can be the duckling with the best ears,” Sula had added, though rabbits were not ducks and her ears were already excellent.

Now Lulu stood beside the stump, holding her flag. She heard quick feet on one side. Then quick feet on the other.

Wicket popped out from behind the stump just as Sula popped out from the opposite side.

They stopped nose-to-nose.

“Hello,” said Wicket.

“Hello,” said Sula.

Then they both hopped backward with a surprised little boing.

Lulu tried not to laugh. She mostly succeeded. “Why did you go different ways?”

“I saw your flag wave toward me,” said Wicket.

“So did I,” said Sula. “It waved toward me, too.”

Lulu looked at the leaf. It was bright from the front and bright from the back. The breeze had turned it this way and that, so each side seemed to point somewhere new.

“I wanted to lead everyone,” Lulu said. “But my flag made two leaders.”

Wicket and Sula sat down by the stump, still facing each other.

“Can we try again?” asked Sula.

Lulu looked around the clearing. The path curled neatly around the stump. The parade could still happen. She just needed a better way to show which way to go.

She studied the flag, the path, and the soft dirt beside it. Then she had an idea.

“Let’s make the path tell us,” Lulu said.

She set the leaf flag beside the trail. Then she found a small stick and drew a long arrow in the dirt. Its point aimed along the path toward the right.

Wicket leaned close. “That’s a very pointy arrow.”

“It has to be,” said Lulu. “An arrow shows which direction to go.”

Sula nodded. “Even if the flag waves both ways?”

“Especially then,” Lulu said.

She drew the arrow again, making its tail wide and its point clear. Then she placed the flag beside it, where everyone could see both the bright leaf and the dirt arrow.

“Now we follow the point,” Lulu said. “All of us go this way around the stump.”

Wicket lined up behind her. Sula took her place behind Wicket. Lulu lifted the flag, but this time nobody tried to guess what its waving meant. They looked at the arrow.

“One, two, hop!” Lulu called.

The three rabbits started together. Lulu led, Wicket followed, and Sula brought up the back. Their feet made a pattering sound on the path.

Around the stump they went.

At the far side, the stump hid Lulu from Wicket for a moment. Lulu kept following the trail, and Wicket followed her footsteps. Sula stayed close behind him. The line curved around the stump like a ribbon.

Soon Lulu came back into view. Wicket saw her and kept hopping after her, with Sula right behind. They followed the path all the way around until they reached the clearing again.

“Are we going the right way?” Wicket called.

Lulu glanced at the arrow beside the trail. Its point still showed the way. “We are,” she said. “And we made it around together!”

The rabbits burst into giggles. Even the stump seemed to be listening.

Lulu checked that the arrow still pointed clearly along the loop. The three friends followed it around the stump once more, keeping their places in line. Their little parade rounded the trail together, one hop after another, while the leaf flag waved beside it.

The parade came around the stump and reached the clearing again. Lulu stepped off the path, and Wicket and Sula followed close behind.

“We did it!” said Wicket.

“And nobody got sent the wrong way,” said Sula.

Wicket glanced at the arrow in the dirt. “That arrow was a good idea.”

Lulu smiled. “Your idea to ask was good, too. And Sula’s idea to check the path.”

Sula’s ears tipped forward. “My ears are good at checking things.”

“Especially snacks?” asked Wicket.

“Especially snacks,” Sula agreed.

They sat together beside the stump, where the ground was dry and the grass made a little cushion. Lulu rested the twig across her knees. The bright leaf had begun to droop at one corner, so she laid the flag beside the arrow.

For a while, the rabbits watched the path. It made a tidy loop around the stump, just as it had before. Now it seemed like a parade path instead of a puzzling path.

“Tomorrow,” Wicket said, “we could march around it again.”

“Tomorrow,” Lulu said. “And we’ll keep the arrow.”

Sula brushed a paw over the dirt beside it, careful not to smudge the point. “It can help the next parade, too.”

The clearing grew quiet. A night breeze passed through the leaves overhead and gave Lulu’s flag one small wave. The arrow stayed clear beneath it, pointing along the trail.

Wicket leaned against the stump. Sula curled up, resting her chin on her forepaws. Lulu settled beside her friends, pleased with the parade they had made together.

The leaf flag rested on the ground, its red-edged tip barely moving. Around the stump, the loop-shaped path lay still, ready for another day. The three rabbits sat close beside the old stump, listening to the woods grow quiet as bedtime came near.