Beanie Buffet

Cotton was an Arborling who thrived on the simple things in life. The garden he started with the help of his dear friend, Dahlia, was the pinnacle of simplistic bliss for him. Although cleaning up Green Acres had been a very arduous task, it was well worth it. He had grown so fond of the daily mantra of watering his crops and brushing his barn animals. All was peaceful and bright in Cotton's world. Unbeknownst to him, this was not going to be an easygoing kind of day.

Cotton was digging up his latest harvest of daikon radishes. He was wiping the sweat from his brow when he spotted something rustling around in the dirt. “Oh! Another kittypillar!” Cotton gently swept his paw across the dirt to reveal the kittypillar, but the dirt felt strangely soft. Extremely soft, in fact. He was in the middle of trying to identify this dirt clod when suddenly it popped out its head! It had big, floppy ears and soft, fluffy bangs that covered its eyes entirely. “Oh my gosh…” Cotton picked up the little cocoa beanie with a big sparkle in his eye and so much joy in his heart. “You are just the cutest little thing!” The sweet little cocoa beanie nestled into Cotton’s arms to absorb the warmth of her new Arborling friend. And with that, Cotton was completely in love.

The Arborling setup a bushel of blankets inside his home for the beanie to sleep in, a box for her to chew and hide in, and a little gate around it all to make sure she didn’t hurt herself in Cotton’s very un-beanie-proofed house. Upon seeing this little Beanie all cozy in her new home and sound asleep, Cotton decided to go finish up tending to the garden. Perhaps some carrots would be ripe for the picking? That would be a perfect snack for his new friend when she awoke from her slumber!

All of the morning’s excitement delayed Cotton’s usual routine by an hour or so, and the morning breeze had grown warmer than he was used to, but he was finally done! He had a couple of carrots and some cabbage for his beanie friend that were already washed and ready to present. Cotton had even thought of a name for the newest addition to his little farm family: BunBun! It was simple, but Cotton liked simple. And so Cotton simply went inside his home, simply cut up the vegetables, and set up a simple charcuterie for BunBun to sample. It was nothing too fancy, but he did cut a couple carrot slices into stars for her. He knew she wouldn’t care about it, but he loved adding that finishing touch! He reached for a dish rag to wipe up the excess water and vegetation that he had left on the counter, but it was gone! How curious. He went into the linen closet to get another one. He found it, but he could have sworn he had more than the six dish rags residing in the closet. Perhaps he forgot them on the clothes line. It sounded very unlike him, but these things happen. Especially when you get caught up in the day’s adventures. He cleaned up the counter and picked up the plate to finally take it over to BunBun, but the carrots and cabbage were a little bit off. He nudged the pieces back in place and then proceeded to carry it over to his baby beanie.

He entered the room with a melodic tone to his voice, “BunBun! I’ve got your breakfast all ready for you!” He sauntered over to the beanie enclosure and set the plate down on the ground. The cardboard box was nothing more than a pile of shreds now. “Wow. You sure had fun while I was tending to the garden!” He looked under the shred pile, but she wasn’t there. Surely she must be cozy under all the blankets after all that chewing. But alas, when he looked, the blanket was empty! Where could she have gone? How did she even get over the gate! Cotton panicked and began to look under all of the furniture in the room. He didn’t see her under the bed, under the desk, or under the dresser, but he did see a lot of chew marks all over his bedroom! In fact, he had been so blinded by his rose-tinted glasses that he didn’t realize that everything was covered in chew marks! His bed, his pillows, his picture frames, and his ceiling fan! How could this have happened! Even worse, he still needed to find BunBun before he could find out what was chewing everything up. What if it hurt BunBun? He couldn’t let that happen. So he set out to find BunBun before anything could harm a single, cocoa hair on her little cocoa hare head!

The house was chewed up everywhere and yet no BunBun could be found. As he looked around, he noticed a small hole in the door — just big enough for a beanie to burrow through! He opened the door and looked outside. He would have shouted her name, but he hadn’t even told her what her new name was yet! He didn’t get the chance. He ran through the garden and saw all of his beautifully budding crops were destroyed — they were almost ripe and now he’d have to start all over! Just then, Cotton heard a loud “MOOOOO” from the barn. Oh no, what could it be now! He ran into the barn and saw a figure darting all around the mini moos and counting sheep, startling them as it jet past them. Thinking quickly, Cotton grabbed the water bucket nearby him, tossed out the water, and jumped onto the dashing figure! Cotton breathed an enormous sigh of relief. He had caught whatever was wrecking his home! Now he just needed to find BunBun — as he thought this, the bucket began to move, dragging him along with it! It dashed around furiously, bumping into the walls of the barn and the legs of the highland moos. It was chaos all over again! This was the last straw for Cotton. He climbed on top of the bucket, stopped it in its tracks, and then reached under to find… BunBun? Cotton turned pale upon the realization that this small little beanie could cause so much destruction! He sighed and then held BunBun in his arms. She was sound asleep now.

Amidst the moment of peace, Cotton decided to send a messenger peepling to Behr to get help taking care of this destructive cutie. While he waited for Behr’s response, he bundled the beanie into a swaddle and strapped it across his chest so he could clear up the colossal mess before him. He looked at her sleeping so soundly and couldn’t help but smile despite all that had happened today. With that, Cotton picked up a broom, looked around, and began the not-so-simple task of cleaning up.