Just then he heard footsteps inside the shop. The door opened, and Uncle Fred stumbled sleepily out on to the front step. He gasped as he felt the rain, grabbed the paper, and dashed back inside. He went to close the door and yelled in startled surprise as a large furry object leaped into the shop and flung itself at his feet. "Yipes!" He stared down at what appeared to be a soggy gray mass of fur wrapped around his ankles. He poked curiously at the heap with his toe. "It's a dead rabbit," he said in surprise

Milo sat up and shook himself.   "I'm not dead, just tired-and wet."

"Milo?" asked Uncle Fred in astonishment.   "How'd you get out there?   And why are you a rabbit?   You're supposed to be a parakeet."

"I change at sunrise, remember?   But don't ask me any more questions now-just dry me off before I catch pneumonia."

By the time Uncle Fred had dried Milo gently off with a towel, and taken him upstairs to get warm, Mia was awake.   Milo told them both of his adventures with the cat.

Mia was not amused.   "You could have died out there, Milo.   You shouldn't take chances like that."

"Well, I had to get out for a while," Milo told her.   "I'm going stir crazy, shut in all the time.   Hey, is there anything to eat?   I'm starving."

"I'll get you some rabbit pellets," said Mia.

Milo groaned.   "Alfalfa pellets again?"

"Well, you can have a carrot instead," said Mia.

"Great," said Milo. "I'm sick of being a vegetarian. I'd give anything for a nice, hot, cheesy pepperoni pizza."

 "Forget it, said Mia, shoving a dish full of bunny pellets under his nose. "It would do terrible things to your rabbit digestion. And make the other rabbits in the hutch sick too."

"I'm not going in a hutch!" said Milo.

"Oh, yes you are," said Mia grimly. "I'm not having Mom come home to find you ran away again and got eaten. I need you where I can keep an eye on you."

"I DID NOT RUN AWAY!" hollered Milo. But the most that rabbits can do is make squeaking noises or growls, so he didn't sound very threatening to his sister. Actually, he was pretty tired from his adventures, so resting in the hutch didn't sound so bad-until he saw it.

"Hey!" he said indignantly when she put him inside. "This place is a mess! Dries-up pieces of hay, food spilled everywhere, old bunny droppings-and it stinks! I can't stay in here!"

"Sorry," said Mia. "But it's not my fault. You were supposed to clean it, remember? You were complaining about it and shoving the rabbit cage around, right before-well, you know. So it didn't get done."

"I couldn't help it. I was turning into a hamster," grumbled Milo. He began shoving things around in the cage with his nose and his paws.

"What are you doing?" asked Mia. "Let me help," she said, grabbing a small hand broom and trying to sweep inside the cage.

She bumped Milo, and before he thought, he turned and pounced on the broom and attacked it, biting it furiously.

"Hey!" cried Mia, withdrawing her hand - and the broom - very fast.

"Sorry," mumbled Milo, "Rabbits are very territorial.   I couldn't help - oh, never mind," he said hastily, seeing the look on her face. "Look, just let me do this, OK.? Rabbits don't like people to clean their cages while they're still inside. We don't like people messing with our stuff."

"You never did when you were human, either," said Mia. "But you didn't want to clean things then. Your room was a pigsty." She left him to his cleaning and went to open the shop for the day.

Milo pushed and shoved and fussed with the shavings in the rabbit cage for quite a while, until he grew tired and needed a break. He turned and saw that all the other rabbits in the cage were staring at him with curiosity and a little alarm.

"You guys could lend a hand, you know," he said to them.  

The other rabbits stiffened, and their ears went back. They were not used to hearing one of themselves talk.

"I'm only here for one day, you know," he went on. "Why should I do all the work?"

"DADDY!" screeched a high-pitched voice right in his ear. "DADDY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS RABBIT! IT TALKS!"

Milo had forgotten that the store was open. He looked up to see a little girl of about four peering through the glass cage.  

"What did you see, sweetie?" asked her father.

"This rabbit, Daddy! It talks!" she said happily. "I want him!"

"Bunnies can't talk, honey," said her father.

"This one does, daddy!" she insisted. "I saw him. Watch him, daddy! Come on, bunny, talk!" she said to Milo, who of course didn't say a word. He just sat very still and tried to look cute and dumb.

"I want him, daddy. Can we buy him?" she asked, and Milo's heart stood still for a moment.

"No," said her father, to Milo's relief. "The cages are hard to clean."

"Tell me about it," grumbled Milo as they went to the other side of the store.

"Rabbit cages are a real pain to." he stopped suddenly as an alarm bell went off inside his head. Rabbit cages.there was something he needed to remember, something about the other day when he and Mia fought by the rabbit cage. Something important.if only he could remember.

Try as he could, Milo couldn't recapture that hidden memory.   

Uncle Fred returned with a grim face. He'd heard from the man in New York, but the man had no record of a book sale to someone in this city.

"It's almost as though the records have been mysteriously erased somehow," said Uncle Fred, shaking his head. He spent the rest of the day helping Mia in the store. They were very busy.  

When Mia finally turned the key in the front lock, she sighed. "What a day," she said. "I never knew working in this store was such hard work. No wonder Mom always looks so tired at the end of the day."

Uncle Fred looked thoughtful. "You know, I never realized how hard she works, either, Mia. Your mom is really a wonderful person."

"Hey, what about me," demanded a voice from the rabbit cage. "I'm wonderful too. I stayed in this stupid cage all day and didn't complain. Now could someone please let me out?"

That night Milo crouched in the living room to watch TV, but he couldn't concentrate. Over and over he kept trying to remember what was so important about that moment by the bunny cage. Eventually, Mia and Uncle Fred went to bed. Milo gave up and slept.and dreamed.

In the dream he was once again standing by the rabbit cage, pushing the rabbits around. Mia scolded him, and handed him something, and then she snatched it back, and he shoved her into the side of the cage. In the dream he saw her stand up, and he saw the gleam of something gold in her hand, and he saw her set something on the counter.  But he couldn't quite see what it was, because he was feeling dizzy, and falling, and shrinking into a hamster..

Milo woke with a start, his rabbit heart pounding. I saw something gold in Mia's hand. That's what I was trying to remember.That's the golden talisman the poem is talking about!

Milo hopped up and raced down the hall. He bounded into Mia's room and gave one huge leap onto her bed. Mia sat up and screamed as a huge gray rabbit landed on her head.

 "Milo! What the heck.you scared me to death!"

"I know the answer, I know what the talisman is!" Milo was jumping and bounding all over the bed as though it was a trampoline. "I know what it is, and I'm going to be cured!"

"Milo! Have you gone crazy?"

"What's all this noise?" said Uncle Fred from the doorway. He stood there in his pajamas, looking sleepy and bewildered.

"He says he knows what the talisman is," said Mia. "Quit flopping around like an idiot and tell us, Milo."

"I can't help it! I'm so happy!" said Milo. Bouncing off a pillow, he leapt high into the air, did a reverse with a half-twist, and landed at the foot of the bed. "Whee! Rabbits can turn one hundred and eighty degrees in mid-air, did you know? Let's do the bunny hop, everyone! You put your right paw in, you put your right paw out..."

"Milo!" snapped Mia angrily. "If you know anything for sure, settle down and tell us! Otherwise get out of my room and let me sleep!"

"Sorry," apologized Milo, "I got a little carried away.  ut I don't know why we didn't think of it before.   The golden talisman is."