Jeff, this is a bit too basic for me, I was hoping for more of a challenge.” Kit sighed again, making the coin reappear by reaching out to one of Chris’ long rabbit ears and withdrawing it from there.

 

“We’ll get to that, cuz.” Jeffery assured him. “Just be patient. This is the way my Mom taught me: review all the tricks you know so far before learning new tricks.”

 

“Yeah, I understand…” Kit said with a sad sigh. “But Jeff, this is so boring, it’s like taking algebra and I hate algebra.”

And so they practiced, but within a few minutes into reviewing the most basic of tricks, Kit let out a huff of frustration, he felt like he was spinning his propellers but wasn’t getting anywhere. So he decided to take it up a notch.

 

“Cuz? What are you doing?” Jeffery asked nervously, as Kit took a newspaper and rolled it into a cone.

 

“I’m going to try the disappearing milk trick.” Kit announced. “As soon as I get the milk that is…”

 

“Kit, cuz, that’s not exactly a basic trick...” Jeffery protested weakly, his voice squeaking slightly. “C’mon, cuz, try separating these rings first.” He held up three hoop-like rings that were joined together. 

 

Kit eyed the rings for a moment then sighed sadly; he wished Jeffery would have a little more faith in him and show some encouragement.

 

“Aw c’mon, Jeff, I’m not doing any of that kid stuff.” Kit said. At these words, Jeffery looked a little offended. “I can do this, trust me.” He turned to his currently bunny rabbit brother. “Chris, go get the milk please.”

 

“Aye-aye, big brother!” Chris said brightly, with a salute and sounding like an army boy obeying his commander; and he left, hopping down the hall like the bunny he was dressed as and leaving Kit and Jeffery alone in the room.

 

“Kit,” Jeffery said warningly, trying again to make his cousin see reasons before it was too late. “My Mom won’t like it if you waste her milk on a trick gone wrong.”

 

“Nothing’s going to go wrong, Jeff.” Kit said confidently. “This will work. Trust me.”

                                                                    

“Alright…” Jeffery said in defeat, not wanting to damage Kit’s self-confidence. “You better hope this works, cuz! Because my Mom is going to be madder than a hornet if you get milk all over her clean floor.”

 
Before Kit could reply, Chris returned, walking into the room with the milk jug. He had abandoned his bunny hops, so that the milk wouldn’t slosh around in the jug.

 

“Here you go, big brother.” Chris said happily, handing Kit the milk jug. “I can’t wait to see this neat trick!  Are you going to turn the milk into marshmallow?” he asked as his stomach gave a little rumble. He had obviously spotted some food in the refrigerator while getting the milk, making him a little hungry.

“Thanks, Chris.” Kit said, taking the milk jug and pouring milk into the newspaper cone. “And no, I’m going to make it disappear.”

 

Chris looked a little disappointed. “Aw, but I was hoping I could eat it…”

Ever since Baloo and Melissa started persuading him to eat a little more, Chris’ appetite has increased a little bit, and as a result, he was ready for a little snack more often. Though still eating a little less than Kit and Jeffery, he was eating more than he usually did. 

 

Jeffery had his hands together, as though in prayer and begging the Lord for a miracle, talking fast and in a low voice: “Please, oh please let Kit get it right the first time or Mom will have my hide!”

 

Kit threw the newspaper cone open. “Ta-da! As you can see, there is no milk in the cone!” he said, sounding very thrilled.

 

“Uh…that’s because it’s on my feet, cuz…” Jeffery muttered in a hollowed voice, looking down at his feet. “Oh, Mom’s gonna kill us…” 

 

Kit gulped as he and Chris looked down at Jeffery’s feet too, which were white and wet, surrounded by a puddle of milk.

 

“Eww, yucky! You got milk on his feet!” Chris moaned loudly, with a look of disgust on his face. “Yuck! We’re not going to drink that, are we?”

 

“Ew, no!” Jeffery said with a disgusted look and a shudder. He lifted one foot off the floor and examined it, wet as it was. “That’d be nasty, Chris.”

 

“Oh, Jeff…” Kit said faintly, backing away. “I-I’m so sorry, Jeff!” he cried, and he threw the newspaper down and ran from the room. 

 

“Kit, wait!” Jeffery called after him, but too late, Kit was long gone. He sighed and turned to Chris. “Chris, why don’t you go find Kit while I clean up?”

“Okay, Jeffery,” Chris said, and then he sniffed in Jeffery’s direction, his nose picking up a mixture of sweaty feet and milk going bad. He suddenly grabbed his own nose and exclaimed: “Ugghh! P-U, Jeffery, you stink!  You need a bath!” and then he turned on his heels and ran from the room.

“Oy! You’d smell too if you were covered in milk!” Jeffery yelled indignantly after Chris’ retreating back.

With a sigh, Jeffery begins cleaning up the puddle of milk on the floor. When he was finished and the floor was spotless once more and after spraying the room with the air refresher spray (he’d sprayed a little bit of it on his own feet), he was off in search of his two cousins and surrogate brothers.

Jeffery had a pretty good idea of where Kit would go, and when he climbed up to his attic bedroom a few minutes later, he turned out to be quite right.

Kit was sitting on Chris’ bed, arms wrapped around his knees and his chin resting on top of them. He wasn’t crying, but he did appear depressed. Sitting next to him on the bed was Chris, patting Kit gently on the back while giving him a one-arm hug across his chest.

“There, there, big brother.” Chris was saying comfortingly. “You didn’t mean to make that mess. I’m sure Aunt Melissa would understand….” 

Kit made no reply, but looked up as Jeffery approached them.

“Jeff, I’m so sorry about the mess.” Kit said sincerely. “I’m so stupid! You tried to warn me and I didn’t listen. I’m sorry; I’ll go clean up…”

Kit made to get up but Jeffery pushed him back down.  

“Kit, cuz, relax.” Jeffery told him. “I’ve already cleaned it up. And if you call yourself stupid again…” he pulled out his wand from the inside of his sweater and raised it threateningly. “I’ll turn you into a rabbit and keep you as a pet!  You just made a mistake, that’s all. That’s no reason to beat yourself up about it. You’re not stupid, Kit, and if I remember right, I failed that same trick five times before I got it right.” 

“Hey, can we both keep him as rabbit?” Chris asked cutely

 

Kit cracked a smile at that, and then an image of Jeffery and Chris taking turns cuddling a little brown non-anthropomorphic rabbit in their arms, cooing Kit’s name flashed to the forefront of Kit’s mind after Jeffery and Chris’ jokes and he had to suppress a laugh.

“And anyway,” Chris continued. “You’re not stupid, big brother.” he said, hugging Kit. “Stupid is Mrs. Cole.”

“And Karnage and Trader Moe’s minions.” Jeffery added with a humorous grin, tucking his wand back inside his sweater.

These words from his two brothers and best friends cheered Kit up a great deal. It meant the world to Kit to hear them say that and he could not emphasize strongly enough of how much he appreciated and love the pair of them.

“Thanks guys,” he said with a grateful smile. It was all he could think of saying.

“You’re most welcome, cuz.” Jeffery said. “Just remind me next time to wear my rain boots,” he added, laughing while playfully shoving Kit.

“Ha, ha, ha, cut it out, Jeff.” Kit laughed, playfully shoving Jeffery back. “No, you’d better wear a wet suit next time,” he added slyly.

 

“Well, I do have one—huh?” Jeffery said, looking confused “You’re not thinking of the cake in the top hat trick, are you?”

“Oh, yeah… I am.” Kit said, grinning slyly at Jeffery.

Jeffery groaned in dismay, but then he was interrupted by Chris tugging on his sleeve.

“Jeffery? I’m a rabbit, so does that means I’m your pet?” he asked innocently, referring to Jeffery’s joke threat about turning Kit into a rabbit.

“What?—Oh no, Chris, it doesn’t. I was just joking.” Jeffery said, patting Chris on top the head between the costume’s rabbit ears. “But you can be my pretend pet if you want to.”

“Okay!” Chris said brightly.

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