Devil's Waltz by Jonathan Kellerman

the bunny. After a minute or so, Cassie’s volume dropped a notch.
    Cindy said, “Look, honey — you see? Dr. Delaware likes the bunnies, too.”
    Cassie gulped, gasped, and let out a wail.
    “No, he’s not going to hurt you, honey. He’s our friend.”
    I stared at the doll’s overbite and shook one of its paws. A white heart on its belly bore yellow letters:
SillyBunny
and the trademark ®. A tag near its crotch said MADE IN TAIWAN .
    Cassie paused for breath.
    Cindy said, “It’s okay, honey, everything’s okay.”
    Whimper and sniff from the bed.
    “How ’bout a story, baby, okay? Once upon a time there was a princess named Cassandra who lived in a great big castle and had wonderful dreams about candy and whipped-cream clouds….”
    Cassie stared up. Her bruised hand touched her lips.
    I placed the yellow bunny on the floor, opened my briefcase, and took out a notebook and a pencil. Cindy stopped talking for a moment, then resumed her story. Cassie was calm now, caught up in another world.
    I started to draw. A bunny. I hoped.
    A few minutes later it was clear the Disney folk had nothing to worry about, but I thought the end product managed to be cute and sufficiently rabbitlike. I added a hat and a bow tie, reached into the case again, and found the box of colored markers I kept there along with other tools of the trade.
    I began coloring. The markers squeaked. Rustles came from the bed. Cindy stopped telling her story.
    “Oh, look, honey, Dr. Delaware’s
drawing
. What are you drawing, Dr. Delaware?”
    Before I could answer, the word
doctor
precipitated another tear-storm.
    Again, maternal comfort squelched it.
    I held up my masterpiece.
    “Oh, look, honey, it’s a
bunny
. And he’s wearing a hat. And a bow tie — isn’t that
silly
?”
    Silence.
    “Well,
I
think it’s silly. Do you think he’s one of the LuvBunnies, Cass?”
    Silence.
    “Did Dr. Delaware draw a LuvBunny?”
    Whimper.
    “C’mon, Cass, there’s nothing to worry about. Dr. Delaware won’t do anything to hurt you. He’s the kind of doctor who never gives shots.”
    Bleats. It took a while for Cindy to calm her down. Finally she was able to resume her story. Princess Cassandra riding a white horse…
    I drew a companion for Mr. HatBunny. Same rodent face but short ears, polka-dot dress — Ms. Squirrel. I added an amorphous-looking acorn, pulled the page out of the notebook, reached over and placed it on the bed near Cassie’s feet.
    She whipped her head around just as I got back to my seat.
    Cindy said, “Oh, look, he’s done a…
prairie
dog, too. And she’s a
girl
, Cass — look at her dress. Isn’t that
funny?
And she’s got big
dots
all over her dress, Cass. That’s so
funny
— a prairie dog in a dress!”
    Warm, womanly laughter. At the tail end, a child’s giggle.
    “So
silly
. I wonder if she’s going to a
party
with that dress… or maybe she’s going to go
shopping
or something, huh? Wouldn’t that be silly, a prairie dog going shopping at the
mall?
Going with her friend Mr. Bunny, and he’s got that silly hat on — the two of them are really dressed up silly. Maybe they’ll go to Toys “R” Us and get their
own
dolls — wouldn’t
that
be something, Cass? Yeah, that would be silly.
Boy
, Dr. Delaware sure makes silly pictures — wonder what he’s going to do now!”
    I smiled and lifted my pencil. Something easy: hippopotamus… just a bathtub with legs…
    “What’s your bunny’s name, Dr. Delaware?”
    “Benny.”
    “Benny
Bunny
— that’s
ridiculous
!”
    I smiled, concealing my artistic struggle. The bathtub was looking too fierce… The problem was the grin… too aggressive — more like a dehorned rhino… What would Freud say about that?
    I performed reconstructive surgery on the critter’s mouth.
    “Benny the
Hat
Bunny — didja
hear
that, Cass?”
    High-pitched, little-kid laughter.
    “And what about the prairie dog, Dr. Delaware? What’s
her
name?”
    “Priscilla…”