The Garden Thief Read Online Free Page A

garden and ate all my lettuce and kale!”
    “When?” asked Alex.
    Taylor looked puzzled. “Well, I don’t know when, exactly. Some time between last night and this morning.”
    “Lucasta’s rabbits have been in their cages all that time. They haven’t been out.”
    “Not true,” said Mr. Yee, shaking his head. “There were two rabbits out this morning. We saw them when we saw you.”
    Alex and Lucasta looked at each other and didn’t say anything.
    “The rabbits were white and they had big brown spots and big black spots,” said Benny. “Like a pinto pony.”
    “That’s just two rabbits,” said Alex. “They were the only ones out, weren’t they, Lucasta?”
    “Yes,” said Lucasta. “Only Petra and Petrino were out. None of the other rabbits were out.”
    “Your leg!” exclaimed Mr. Yee suddenly, pointing at Lucasta’s left leg. “You are not wearing your cast. Has your leg healed already?”
    “No,” said Lucasta angrily. “I was just giving it a rest from the cast. I wasn’t walking around much.”
    Violet watched as Lucasta limped over to a nearby bench and grabbed her bright orange walking cast and strapped it onto her left leg.
    “There!” Lucasta said to Mr. Yee. “Are you satisfied?”
    Mr. Yee just scowled without saying anything.
    “I wish you wouldn’t wear that cast,” Alex told his sister. “Your leg is healed, you don’t need that cast.”
    “Young bones heal quicker than old bones,” muttered Mr. Yee.
    “I need the cast,” said Lucasta.
    “I don’t care about your cast!” shouted Taylor. “And I don’t care what you say about your rabbits being locked up! Somehow or other, your rabbits are responsible for eating my lettuce and kale. I expected to win blue ribbons for my lettuce and especially for my kale, and now I have to start all over again.”
    “My rabbits didn’t eat your lettuce and kale,” Lucasta told Taylor. “Their cages are locked from the outside, so they can’t escape.”
    “So,” said Mr. Yee, “did you let your rabbits out on purpose, so they ran in front of my bike and made me fall and break my arm?”
    “That was an accident,” said Lucasta. “I forgot to lock the cages.”
    “Well, maybe this time was an accident, too,” said Taylor. “I would like to see the cages.”
    “I have nothing to hide,” said Lucasta. “Everybody can look.”
    The small crowd followed Lucasta as she led the way to the back of the barn.
    Henry noticed many rabbit hutches, as many as thirty. Each one had a beautiful rabbit inside. Off in one corner, he noticed an ATV. It had three wheels.
    Benny went right up to one of the lower hutches and put his face against the wire. The rabbit that was inside the cage pressed its nose against the wire.
    Benny laughed. “That tickles!” he said, rubbing his nose.
    Lucasta twisted the wooden handle that locked the rabbit hutch from the outside.
    She opened the door and gently lifted the spotted rabbit into her arms and stroked it.
    The rabbit looked at Benny. The rabbit’s nose twitched.
    “It has a pink nose,” said Benny. “And the rabbit in the next cage has a black nose.”
    “There are many different kinds of rabbits,” Lucasta explained, “but I raise only Rex and American rabbits. This is a Rex.”

    She returned the Rex rabbit to its hutch, closed the lock, and moved to the next cage, which had a gray rabbit inside. Again she opened the hutch and removed the rabbit. “This is an American blue,” she said, stroking the rabbit. “Its fur is so gray and black that the rabbit looks blue.”
    “Your rabbits are beautiful,” said Violet, who admired the rabbits’ glossy fur and cute noses and long ears.
    “All of my rabbits are prize-winning rabbits,” said Lucasta. “I give them the best food and the best care.”
    “Do you feed them a special food to keep them so healthy?” asked Jessie.
    “I feed them special rabbit food that we buy at the farmers store,” Lucasta answered. “And I feed them