Cottontail

Book 1: First Easter

                          Prolog

'Here comes Peter Cottontail, hoping down the bunny trail; hippity hoppity...'

"Hold on there, partner. Nope, down here. Howdy! My name is Josie Cottontail. Daughter of Peter Cottontail the sixth. See, my daddy is retiring soon. But don't worry, there will still be an Easter Bunny. He will be passing the Golden Carrot down to either me or my twin brother Gerald. Wait, you don't know about the Golden Carrot? How do you know about the easter Bunny without knowing his story? You have a lot to learn my friend, and I'm just the bunny to teach you. So, sit back and relax while I take you back in time to the first Easter Bunny. The story of Peter Cottontail."

Chapter 1

The year was 1727 and King George II had just taken the throne in Great Britain. America only had thirteen colonies and welcomed all world immigration. In Pennsylvania, more ships were arriving with German immigrants. The men went to work in factories while the women became maids. Being close to Easter, it was a busy spring morning.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was one of the largest growing cities in the colonies. It was also one of the largest cities in the country due to the arrival of immigrants. Philadelphia was also the home of many upper-class citizens. All citizens were working hard from working in bakeries, to teaching in schools. On one of the ships that was arriving in the city was a young man from Great Britain.

He was twenty years old, and this was his first trip to America. He had first arrived by boat in January on his father's orders. Wearing his light tan suit, black dress shoes, and matching tan bowler hat, he was on a mission. He came from a family of tax collectors and had been traveling for the past four months collecting taxes. Being the only male child of his name, it was his duty to carry on the family business. But he never wanted this job, instead he had another career in mind.

Pushing the thought out of his mind, he gathered his things as the ship came to a stop. Once he made his exit, he searched and found his carriage escort. The young man traveled through the large city collecting taxes from every business. It was nearing dinner time when he approached his last visit of the day. A large mansion on the outskirts of the city, and the home of the Cadbury family.

"Well, hello there." A young teen girl said, opening the door.

"Evening m'lady." the young man said. "Are your parents' home?"

"You're British! You must be the tax collector. Come in and I'll go get momma and pappa."

The young man waited inside the door while the teen went to get her parents.' He looked around the Cadbury mansion from top to bottom. The house was one of the first to be built when Philadelphia was founded. It wasn't long before the teen had returned with her father. He was tall slim man with short black hair as dark as his suit and a strong figure.

"Welcome to our home." the man said. "My name is Richard Cadbury. Forgive me, but you're not our normal tax collector."

"Yes, well my father sent me instead." the young man replied. "The name's Peter Cottontail."

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"Now I know what you're thinking, but just go with me here. It will all make sense very soon, I promise. And I bet you'll be surprised, happy, and sad all at the same time. You see what I did there?" Giggles.

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"Cottontail?" the young girl giggled. "That's cute. What kind of name is that? Do you have one?"