"Mom, mom, mom how long afore Easter, huh mom, how long afore Easter?" Joe was persistent.

"I just told you Joe, Easter this year is the end of March, so you will have to wait till then," Mrs. Jackson said to her seven-year-old son as she finished fixing supper. "Joe got get the calendar and see how many days that is, she added hoping it would keep her small son busy for a few minutes.

"Mom, reckon the Easter bunny will come and leave me a big old basket and maybe a real live bunny, reckon he will mom?"

"Joe, son, yes he will visit, but what he will leave I do not know for it all depends on the year that big Easter bunny in the sky had. Were the crops good, was there enough rain, did the fox get too many small bunnies or eat too many little chicks?" She tousled her son's hair and handed him a carrot, hoping he would give her a few minutes rest. For when Joe started, he went on until something else crossed his mind then it was away on that subject.

Joe looked up at his mom, boy his mom was tall, and shucks here I am seven years old and she is soooo tall. He took the carrot, and said, "thanks mom, but reckon there was a big enough carrot crop for all the bunnies, for all bunnies like carrots?"

"I don't know Joe, hopefully there will be, supper will be ready in and hour," she said as she started to roll out the biscuits for supper. Then Joe took a big bite of the carrot and went aimlessly off to find something else.

Joe wandered into the living room and there his sister Jaylene was doing her homework. "Where did you get the carrot Joe, can I have a bite?"

Joe's face lit up, "Sure sis," he said as he broke it in about a half, then he gave the short thick end to his sister and asked, "Sis you think the carrot crop was big enough last year to feed all of the bunnies?"

"Oh Joe, that is just a story, rabbits and hares are herbivorous, but they don't eat many carrots, that was all started by Bugs Bunny."

"Really Sis, really?" He looked at her, cocked his head with that quizzical look on his face that only a seven-year-old brother could get. Then he took a bite of his carrot and went back through the kitchen and outside to play.

Joe's mother thought, only if he knew only if he really knew for Jeb, her husband had found a rabbit's nest, a momma and eleven young ones last week, and he had put them in the old sheep shed till Easter when the Easter bunny would deliver them. These were not the normal gray bunnies but of the eleven only one was colored like the normal wild bunny and the other ten were all of varied colors, pied, calico, and they were not to the normal wild bunny strain which seemed to abound on the Jackson farm. Jeb and his wife had talked about it and both thought it would be neat to have more multi-colored bunnies around and when and if there became too many, fried rabbit surely was good.

Joe forgot about Easter and the Easter bunny for about a week for he saw a mother robin building a nest and this kept him busy. Every morning after breakfast it was outside and check on the nest construction and then when he got off the school bus it was over and check the construction.

Joe was the youngest Jackson child and was seven, Jaylene was eleven and then Josh, Jodie and Jim, the triplets were seventeen, and at the University. But Easter at the Jackson house had always been a big and glorious event. Mrs. Jackson was very religious and the church and the scriptures were taught and followed; whereas Jeb Jackson was not very religious, oh he believed but he had never shown much that way and did not spend a lot of extra time at or in church. The normal Jackson Easter meant new clothes for all the children and at a minimum a new hat for Mrs. Jackson. That was set in stone. And on Easter morning, rain, shine, sleet or snow, the Jackson clan went to sunrise services, came home and had breakfast, then went back to Sunday school and Church. The Jackson's were just simple Presbyterians. And after Sunday school and Church they went home and Mrs. Jackson cooked up a big Sunday dinner and Grandpa and Grandma Jackson and Grandpa Smith, Mrs. Jackson's father would come over and they would hide Easter eggs and spend the afternoon hiding and finding Easter eggs.

And oh yes I nearly forgot, the Easter bunny does come very early and leaves the baskets on the dining room table and all of the eggs hidden within the house, two and a half dozen eggs, six per child and since the boys are older there are still six each and five Easter baskets on the table; although the triplets' baskets contain little things other than the candy and marshmallow eggs.

After the robins had built their nests each day Joe would climb the walnut tree, which overlooked their nest, which was on, the corner of the wood shed, and see if there were any eggs. Joe was typical of a boy of those days for he climbed trees, and climbed on top of the barn and sheds and did all the normal boy things which most kids these days never get to do. And he did occasionally fall too. "None today mom, no robin eggs, maybe they don't have any because I have been watching them, reckon so mom?" It was so funny to listen to this seven year old when he got himself a big problem, sounded just like his grandpa, yes he did.

"It is only the second of March Joe and you know robins mean spring, you think maybe Mr. and Mrs. Robin flew up here a little early this year?" Mrs. Jackson found that when just idly chatting with her son she could teach him more if she just threw stuff out and let him hear and then find it.

"Yeah mom, I think maybe they just looked at the calendar wrong and came up here a little early. Mom you have any bread scraps I can put around there for the robins?"

Mrs. Jackson opened the breadbox and found an old dried piece of cornbread she had been saving to make stuffing with and gave it to her son. "Now remember to break it up into very small crumbs so the robins can eat it," and away he went.

"Thanks mom," she heard as the back door slammed.

Saturday night after supper the night before Easter was egg dying time, this was also the only time the Jackson's bought eggs at the store, for they would buy white eggs for Easter since white eggs dyed easier and much prettier. The Jackson ate brown eggs for their chickens laid brown eggs. And if was funny for before Mrs. Jackson became Mrs. Jackson and was Miss Smith, the Smith family would only eat white eggs. And oh yes there had been a big discussion between the in-laws, the Smith's and the Jackson's over the correct color egg and why. In the end the Jackson's ate whatever eggs their chicken laid.

Friday, just after supper, the triplets got home from school and Joe had a real romp with his brothers, they would take their younger brother and toss him from one to the other with Joe yelling, "Higher, higher, higher." Then of course being older they would go out; then on Saturday morning there was the family breakfast, pancakes, scrambled eggs, fried shoulder slices, biscuits and a big mixed fresh fruit bowl.

Jaylene would ask her mom, "Why so much on this Saturday morning why not every Saturday morning?"

"Because Easter Saturday morning, Christmas morning breakfast and New Years morning breakfasts are special to this family and it is one of the few times we get to sit down together and have a big slow breakfast." Jaylene just shook her had and nodded OK.

After supper the table was cleared and the clean up done, then the eggs were carefully placed in the big blue enamel cooker and the eggs slowly heated and then cooked as Easter eggs must be cooked, for you cooked other eggs to eat and Easter eggs you cooked to color. Mrs. Jackson was very specific about how much vinegar must be added to make the shells more colorable and exact how long those eggs should be boiled and how long they must set after they were taken off the fire.

Finally the oilcloth covered the kitchen table and then newspapers covered that and lots of glasses were set out. Then the seven Jackson's got around the old oak kitchen table great grandpa Smith had made from the oak his great grandfather had planted and which had been struck by lightning. That grandpa Smith was a cabinet maker and he had taken that mighty old white oak which was split and felled by a thunder storm, and made it into furniture for the house and it had so been kept in the family and passed down with this family getting the kitchen table and twelve chairs, all made by grandpa Smith.

Joe was getting old enough to color his six eggs by himself but he got all upset because his turned out purple or green and not fancy like the others seemed to be able to do. "Joe, you will learn, just watch mom and Jaylene, they will show you how." Then Joe wanted to make a rainbow-striped egg but he let go of the egg and it broke the glass the yellow dye was in; but another quick daub with a standby newspaper alleviated the problem.

"That is OK Joe," mom said as she quickly found more yellow dye. In the end Joe's eggs were easy to spot whereas a lot of the others were similar.

Now Mr. Jackson would usually do two eggs and then sit on the stool and observe. "I am good at raising the eggs but not good at coloring them," then he laughed and added, "Frankly I don't see anything wrong with the color they are."

"Ah Dad," Jaylene said and the triplets said, "Hiss, hiss in unison."

The dyeing was going great when Mr. Jackson left the room and reentered with six giant goose eggs, six large cooked goose eggs. "Now you have warmed up with the chicken eggs here is a special egg you all," and he handed each person an egg leaving himself without one.

"Where is yours Dad, where is your big egg?" Joe asked as the other four children and Mrs. Jackson had placed themselves so they could observe their little brother.

"I don't have one Joe, those eggs are only for top rated A number one egg dyers," Mr. Jackson said as he shrugged his shoulder and turned his hands.

"Take mine Dad, cause you are a lot better egg dyer than I am, take mine dad," Joe was serious and offered his egg up to his dad who once again was sitting on the stool.

"Dad gave it to you and you should dye it Joe, OK?" Mrs. Jackson said.

The others started talking of what they wanted to do with their egg and Joe watched each one as they came up wit their own idea. Finally Joe looked at his egg and all at once his eyes lit up, a big smile came to his face and he blurted out, "I want to make mine a striped egg, striped like a rattlesnake watermelon."

Jaylene spoke up, "It is your egg but who ever saw a striped Easter egg?" Then she went back to her coloring.

Mrs. Jackson went over to the kitchen drawer and came back with a roll of thin masking tape, an Exacto knife and a pair of scissors. "OK son what we have to do is to mask the stripes on the egg, then we will decide the colors an with each color we will take a strip of tape off, then after it is dyed we will retape if for the next coat, see," she said as she took a pencil and begin to mark the egg to Joe's specifications. Mr. Jackson just sat on his stool and grinned, watching his wife and youngest son talking, working and planning. After the dying party was over the triplets headed into town, girls, Jaylene went into the den and read a book. Mrs. Jackson then very carefully dyed a special egg for Grandpa and Grandma Jackson and her father Grandpa Smith.

Each egg was a thing of beauty, for it was slowly and exquisitely decorated and colored; for this year, Grandma Jackson's had a little blue gingham bonnet, and matching apron, with little spectacles, which turned out to resemble grandma Jackson, with a little bit of imagination. Grandpa Jackson's egg was done up as a Bosox, sine that was his favorite team. And finally for her own dad, Grandpa Smith, she made his into a Wally Walrus, jabbing his big moustache. Then mom and dad, who else cleaned up all the papers and poured the dye out. Afterwards, they went into the den at turned the radio on. Joe went to bed for it had been a long day and tomorrow would be another big one. And besides that he had to take his big striped egg to Sunday school to show his buddies.

Jeb Jackson arose every morning, Sundays and Holidays included at five minutes to five and Easter morning was no different. He had just opened the damper on the warm morning and got her going and was in the kitchen when he heard footsteps on the stairs. "Morning Joe," he yelled in a subdued manner.

"Morning Dad. Aas the Easter bunny been here yet?" Joe yelled.

"Try to be quiet Joe and look for yourself," he replied and started a fire in the big old cook stove where the coffee pot had already been placed.

"Wow Dad. Lookie. Lookie at my basket. Wow and I got a note from the Easter bunny," Joe yelled as he came flying into the kitchen from the dining room, his bare feet splatting on the cold hardwood floors.

"Joe, go back upstairs and put on your robe and your bedroom slippers, now," Jeb said to his excited young son.

The boy did and immediate one eighty and was gone, within seconds he was back.

"Dad will you help me read this, please dad will you?" Joe held the bright blue piece of paper with pink writing on it. "Help me read this please Dad, please."

Jeb Jackson could hardly hold it in as he sat down and his small son sat on his knee and they looked at the note. "First son, lets turn it this way," he said as he turned the note over. "It is to you so lets read it together, OK son?"

"OK dad, it says J o e ," then he stopped.

"Joe, look in the back bedroom behind the big bed, Love Easter Bunny." Joe was gone and no sooner did you hear the latch on the back bedroom door than there was a scream,

"Dad, dad come, come quick, look what I got, oh look what I got," the small boy yelled as he came running back into the kitchen holding a pied bunny in his arms. "We got bunnies, the Easter Bunny left us bunnies, lots of little bunnies."

The portable little fence with an imitation grass pad was brought into the living room and the fun was on.

Joe got so involved with the bunnies that he forgot to take his egg to Sunday school, but when he told Bud about his bunnies, Bud laughed for he had gotten a big old flop eared buck which was black spotted.

Need I say more about Joe's Easter for at the last known count there were 275 funny bunnies around the Jackson place and a whole lot more since Bud's buck liked Joe's momma and as soon as it warmed up the rabbits were released to run free.