WtP: Lost Treasures chp21

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to figure out what could have happened, and why things were disappearing or changing. They spoke with Kanga and Owl about the incident as well, finding that they too had noticed related issues. Owl in fact stated that books in his house had begun to disappear, one by one, that very morning.

They made a list of things that were disappearing. They jotted down what habits of theirs had changed or vanished. They crossed out on a map in Owl's house the trees without honey, or the trees that had disappeared into thin air.

By the time the sun had set and they all called it a day, everyone was so overwhelmed that they had not noticed that no rain had fallen yet.

And that none would fall that night.

"Do you suppose, Rabbit, that the Hundred Acre Wood is broken too?" Pooh wondered as he and Rabbit walked up to the house that evening.

Rabbit held up a lantern to light the dark path until he had reached his front door. "I'm not sure, Pooh," he replied. "I mean, it isn't possible for a forest to be broken… or, at least I thought it wasn't, before."

"It's very bothersome."

"Yes, it is."

"I hope we figure it out soon. I feel like change is coming. And it's not even winter yet."

*****

The next day started quite differently than it normally did. Rabbit woke up, not at the crack of dawn, but nearly three hours afterwards. It was strange; he had never done that before.

And Pooh, who had slept over again, had been up three hours earlier, sitting by the fire doing nothing in particular. Not even humming. And not thinking about honey.

He and Rabbit sat together at the table, with a glass of warm milk each, but neither of them drank it. They simply sat in silence, wondering what should be done.

When they did so for another hour, Rabbit finally decided that it was high time they went to see how their friends were doing. So, not bothering to empty their cups, Pooh and Rabbit headed out for the day. Their first stop would be Piglet's.

"The clouds seem rather gloomier than usual today, Rabbit," Pooh noted as they went down the path.

"Hm; that's nothing new anymore," Rabbit mumbled without looking up.

Neither of them noticed, as they rounded the bend in the woods, that the fence around Rabbit's once cared for garden, had faded out of view. And following that, the vegetables disappeared.

*****

"Piglet, are you home?" Rabbit knocked on the door to their friend's house and set his ear against it. "Piglet? It's Rabbit and Pooh Bear. Are you in?"

There was a muffled reply and the spilling of a glass of some sort, before the door was opened to them. Piglet poked his little pink head out the door. "Oh, I'm very sorry, Rabbit," he said. "I've just been in a very peculiar mood this morning."

Rabbit and Pooh looked on in curiosity. "Oh?" Rabbit said. "And how?"

"Well for one thing… I'm not afraid of anything anymore."

Pooh raised his eyebrows.

"I slept very soundly, without any frightening nightmares. And when I woke up, I wasn't afraid of my shadow, as I normally get startled by. And my alarm clock didn't frighten me, and the sounds of the wind in the trees didn't frighten me, and—!" Piglet stopped here and gasped, his little pink ears rising high. "Oh, d-d-dear! I almost forgot; there is no wind today!"

He stepped out of the house and held out his arms. "No breeze, Rabbit. Can't you hear?"

Rabbit and Pooh raised an ear each to the wind—but found that there was none. They both looked at each other in shock. "You're right, Piglet," Rabbit agreed. "There's absolutely no wind."

"Perhaps things are disappearing, Rabbit," Piglet said worriedly. "What should we do?"

Pooh put on a thoughtful face and attempted to think up a plan of action, since Rabbit seemed too flustered to think anything up now. But just as he was about to speak his thoughts, there came a shout of fright down the road. All three animals turned their heads and looked on, just in time to see Tigger, Kanga, Roo and Eeyore rush their way. Tigger was waving his arms about worriedly.

"Oh bother," Pooh muttered. "I believe we have more disappearances, Rabbit."

Tigger was the first to stop in front of them and catch his breath. He then leaned against Rabbit, who nearly stumbled backwards with him. "It's horribible, Rara!" the feline cried. "Horribible, I say! Downright terrifyin'!"

"What in the world are you talking about, Tigger?" Rabbit wondered as he pushed the feline off of him. He looked at the other three. "And what's so bad that you have to come yelling down the way about?"

"It's another disappearance, Rabbit," Kanga said anxiously.

"Told you," Pooh muttered in Rabbit's ear.

"A mighty worrisome one too," Eeyore added.

"Oh d-d-d-dear," Piglet fussed.

"You won't believe it!" Roo said while leaping up and down.

Rabbit waved his arms about in order to calm them all. "Quiet down, for Heaven's Sake!" he exclaimed. "How are we supposed to understand each other if we all speak at the same time?" He cleared his throat and looked at Tigger. "Now; what in the Hundred Acre Wood has happened?"

Tigger moaned. "Owl's disappeared!" he exclaimed.

Rabbit, Pooh and Piglet froze before recoiling in horror. "What?!"

*****