“Did they dump it?” she asked two of the large brown bunnies eyeing them from the nearest patch of shaded bush. One rabbit calmly washed his face, making it clear he had nothing to say. Jake decided they should notify one of the rangers, on the offhand chance someone had spotted the items. They changed out of their boots into sneakers and, setting the car in motion, found a placid-faced middle-aged ranger in his small four-wheeler at the intersection of the Campground road and the main access road. He had a stack of paperwork on the seat next to him.
He listened to their explanation calmly, nodding his head at intervals. Pam felt almost embarrassed, for nothing had been taken from her but a pretty vinyl tote bag. Still, it didn’t belong to a couple of guys who were undoubtedly annoyed they hadn’t snagged anything of worth.
“Well, this happens from time to time,” the ranger drawled. “If you’re a local there are ways to get into the park, mostly on old forest roads we’ve let get overgrown. I can’t imagine they were impressed by what they got from you,” he shook his head. “And why they’d want an umbrella beats me.” His expression brightened. “I think you should go back, make a tour of the campgrounds, check all the garbage bins and the toilet and shower buildings. They might have driven over to one and then dumped what they found before moving on.”
He agreed to meet up with them after he delivered that day’s mail to the entrance booth. Pam and Jake slowly rolled back into the Juniper Campground. With the weather so nice, they rolled down the windows and concentrated on searching the various bushes alongside the road. Solemn brown eyes stared back at them as the rabbit denizens sprawled in the shade. They made no effort to get up, although the two humans knew any physical walking toward them would result in a mass departure. From time to time, Pam would address them, “Seen any bright blue bags, bunnies?”
Stops at actual campsite grounds called for more thorough checking. Fortunately, there were not too many actively occupied sites. Garbage cans were checked, outbuildings explored, but no results. They reached the last campsite parking area, close to the main trailhead parking where they’d started, when Jake spotted a flash of blue in a cluster of bushes. Pam was so excited, she ran forward heedless of the alarmed animals who had staked out this area for themselves. As they retreated in indignation, she snatched up her shiny tote bag, which had been tossed into the undergrowth. To her amazement, despite the proximity to rabbit mouths, the bag had no chew marks on it. The umbrella, however, was still very much gone.
They decided the hunt was over, and victory indeed. On their way out of the campground, they stopped to speak to the ranger, who was just arriving at the intersection from the entrance booth. Pam excitedly held up the tote bag and regaled him with the details of their triumphant discovery. The ranger smiled and shook his head at the same time. “Glad you found it but this is the first time anyone’s ever stolen an umbrella here in Bandelier that I can recall. Just one of those things that makes no sense…”
They parted company in different directions, the happy tourists heading back to a good meal in a nice restaurant, where Pam could admire her almost-lost bag, while ignoring the much more expensive variations on the theme in rich leather sported by fellow diners, and the park ranger joked about the incident over lukewarm coffee down at the station near the Visitor’s Center.
Nobody thought about a scene of a different kind taking place in an area of scrubby brush about 400 feet from where the tote bag had been recovered back at Juniper Campground. Three plump and self-assured rabbits sat chewing the nylon fabric of a black Totes brand umbrella, two juveniles seated next to them with barely concealed eagerness waited for their chance at this tempting snack. What would be the next outlaw action of the Bandit Bunnies of Bandelier National Monument?
