"BOOKER!"
"Um, yes? Yes, sir? Er, yes, ma'am?"
"BOOKER."
"...Yes?"
"What did I ask you not ten minutes ago?"
"Um..."
"Um...?" Mira glowered at the dog shifting uncomfortably on his paws, the fire in her eyes almost as vibrant as the orange mask plastered to her face.
"I told you that there was a report that someone had washed up on the beach."
"And?"
"...And that I didn't get a good look at them, so I wasn't really sure..."
"Argh!" Mira stamped her tiny, boot clad feet in a fluffy fury. "The least you can do is ask for more information from whoever sends you these reports. That's not too much to ask, ya know?"
"Um, I'll try harder next time," the poor creature felt himself shrinking amidst the glare of the yellow cottontail, even though he was the considerably larger of the two.
"Hmph. You'd better. I was just down there, you know, and there wasn't one footprint - or claw print or hoofprint or tentacle trail - in sight! Whoever it is that keeps mysteriously "washing up" on our shore," she emphasized with air quotes, "also seems to be mysteriously washing down it, too. And, if not, then we've got a stranger on the loose on our streets, wreaking havoc in our fair city!"
"Um, we only have one street since this is actually a tow-"
"AND! The most disturbing part of it all is that no one besides you and these so-called reports know about it. Well?" She placed her gloved hands on her hips. "How do you explain this? Have you done any investigating, or must I do all the work?"
"Well, actually, I, uh..."
"Yes?"
"I talked to the mayor about it-"
"OH." Mira threw her hands up in the air. "Fantastic. You involved the mayor in this mess? Don't you know how little time she has with all of the new developments going on around here? It's all she can do to slave away on that island, night and day, catching disgusting insects so that this city can prosper, and you want to bother her with something that I, no, we, are supposed to be in charge of? I can't accept this." She shook her head vigorously.
"This is, uh, a town. Not a city..."
She stared at him. "GAHHHHHHHHHH!" Flashes of orange sparks flew from her paws and crashed straight into the pyramid of pitfall seeds stored in the corner of the tiny station. "BOOKER!!!"
The lumbering mutt dodged a flying seed, holding onto his cap that was in danger of becoming subject to more of Mira's sizzling might.
"Why do I have to do everything around here?" Mira cried, now flailing her arms about in a whirl of sunset colors.
"Mira..." Booker tried to say above the clamor, but to little avail. "Mira!" He repeated, only to yet again lunge out of the way of what looked like an orange shooting star. "MIRAAA!"
The bunny halted, mid-hysterical twirl. "What?" she cried shakily.
"Well, I was trying to tell you, before you got angry-"
"Yes?!"
"I talked to the mayor about the reports I've been getting, and she said not to worry about them."
Mira's eyebrow shot up, though this fact was concealed by her enormous mask. "She said that?"
"Um, yes. She told me that she was friends with the person who kept appearing on our shore and that she always helped him when he came along. She just wanted me to, um, keep her informed of when it happened. That's all."
Mira slowly lowered her arms, the sparks dying out in faint pops. "...That's all?"
"Well... yes."
Mira scratched her head as she peered around the one-room station, eying the pitfall seeds and other lost-and-found items that now covered the floor. "But how does she have time to deal with something like that? It's been happening at least once a week, now! She's always on that island. She's got no time to be here dealing with a vagabond who can't stop himself from landing on our beach."
"Um, well, I thought you also knew..."
"Knew what?"
"The mayor just goes to the island for vacation. In a couple of days she makes enough money to maintain the whole town for a month."
To claim that Mira's jaw had hit the floor would be an understatement. For once in her life, she had nothing to say, though, eventually, the words came. "Y.. You mean... this whole time... I've been worried sick about the safety of the citizens and the wellbeing of the mayor, and there was nothing wrong in the first place?"
The dog simply bowed. "Yes. That's all there is to it. There is nothing to fear." He offered a dopey smile.
Her little mouth hinted at a smile in return, though this was promptly corrected by her lips suddenly pursing. "So... this was all just a wild goose chase from the start, huh?"
"Well, I guess you could say that."
"And throughout all of this, I guess it never really occurred to you to let me in on these tiny details?" Her hands were back on her hips.
"Er... well, like I said, I thought you knew-"
"So, you've let me run around town like the Mad Hatter's sidekick, screeching at people to stay indoors during the day and to live off the fruit trees next to their houses?!"
"Um, well, I suppose that may have been an oversight on my-"
"BOOKER!!!"
