"OMG! No, no. Oh, I'm sooo sorry." She turned to the rabbit. "I didn't mean you were stupid. I meant I was - I was stupid." And, upon uttering that phrase, Lulu felt a small jolt of energy followed by the distinct feeling of getting smaller.
"Harumph!" was the rabbit's response. "I'll be sure to tell Uncle Albert."
"Oh, please don't harumph me. Please, please accept my apology. I'm sorry. I really am. It was so thoughtless of me, and I'm usually, well almost always a thoughtful person." she said feeling another small jolt. "I mean, I'm not like my friend Pollyanna - oh no! You see, um, well, I don't usually call people stupid but you see I'm, well..." and here she paused for a long minute while the rabbit sat motionless studying her.
"Well, what?" he said somewhat unpleasantly.
After the briefest moment Lulu brightened. "Quite simply - I'm sorry and that is that!" she said, quite sure of herself, but still anticipating the little jolt that never came.
"Sorry? You're sorry?"
This was getting a little monotonous. "Well, didn't I just say so?"
"Indeed, you did. But just exactly what are you sorry for?"
Lulu frowned. "You see, I've been following you and well, I have certainly had some adventures and–and I really just want to go home." With that her eyes began to fill up with tears.
"So, you're sorry you've been following me?"
"No, not at all! Well, I mean a little, perhaps—but then that's not your fault, is it? Not really. Oh, dear, I am so sorry for everything." And sad to say, she now found herself almost as small as the rabbit.
The rabbit took out a pair of spectacles and put them on his nose. "There are so many, many sorrys, aren't there? Feeling sorry for yourself, in a sorry state, a sorry sight is a sorry sight indeed, but," here he held up a finger, "better than being part of a sorry lot, sorry to say. And of course," and here he began to thump his feet, "better safe than sorry!"
The thumping turned into a little dance and he began to sing:
Sorry if,
Or sorry for,
Sorry, sorry, more and more.
Sorry up and sorry down,
Sorry swirling round and round
Sorry worn
Like a crown.
Sorry this and sorry that
Sorry rat, and cat and hat.
With that the rabbit stopped his performance. "Ah yes!" said the rabbit. "If you are SO SORRY, where is your sorry hat?"
"So sorry, I don't have a sorry hat." And with that, Lulu got even smaller.
"But you ARE sorry. That's clear. Ah," said the rabbit triumphantly, "This is a classic case of perspecticide!"
"Perspecticide!?!" Alice's first reaction, if you can believe it, was to glance at the rat's black bag. I wonder if there is anything in there for perspecticide?
Just then, the rabbit looked at his watch or GPS (Lulu still couldn't tell which was which) and his ears went ramrod straight. He gasped, and without further ado, or see you, or anything at all, took off like—like—like a scared rabbit following the path that wound through the giant trees. Lulu could only catch a snatch of his muttering as he fled, something about late and a date.
"Well," said Lulu quite aloud to no one in particular because of course there was no one in particular about. "Well... I really! Wait! No! I never... Well! It's his turn to say sorry now, isn't it?!"
And with that she picked up the rat's bag and began to follow the rabbit along the winding path through the magnificent trees.
YOU ARE READING
Lulu in the Woodlands
AdventureLulu wants to become, well, a billionaire, a tycoon! Smart, stylish, and modern , she also enjoys time spent in the woodlands near home. She has been working at her first job for some time now, and is thinking of getting rich in a more traditional...
