The Homeless Foal

by Tina Nolan

  This series is for my riding friend Shelley,

  who cares about all animals.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  The Injured Fox Cub – Sneak Peek!

  Other books in this series

  Copyright

  “Almost there!” Eva called to her brother, Karl.

  Karl was climbing a tree to rescue Tigger, a tabby cat who had managed to get himself stuck.

  “Climb to your right – a bit further,” Eva instructed. “Yes, now try!”

  Karl eased himself along the branch and reached out with one hand.

  “Take care!” Tigger’s owner, Miss Eliot, warned. She held her hands to her mouth, hardly daring to look.

  “That’s it, you’re nearly there.” Jimmy Harrison, Karl and Eva’s grandfather, urged his grandson on.

  The cat cowered on the branch. His yellow eyes glinted.

  “Come here, Tigger!” Karl called softly. He stretched as far as he dared. Down below, Eva, their grandad and Miss Eliot watched anxiously.

  “Don’t you worry,” Jimmy told Miss Eliot. “We’ll soon have Tigger down.”

  “That’s good,” Karl whispered as the cat stretched out a paw. “Come on, Tigger.”

  Tigger inched forward, his tail between his legs. Finally, Karl reached out and took hold of him.

  “Cool!” Eva cried, as Karl clasped the cat to him and began to climb down.

  “Oh my!” Miss Eliot gasped, smiling with relief.

  Jimmy Harrison grinned at his elderly neighbour. “I told you Karl could do it! Now all you have to do is give him his supper. And while you’re at it you can put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea!”

  As their grandad and the old lady disappeared inside the big house, Eva welcomed Karl and Tigger back to earth. “Nice one!” she grinned at her brother, taking the cat from him while he brushed himself down.

  “Animal Magic at your service, ma’am!” he laughed.

  “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I’m glad Grandad thought to ring us. Miss Eliot was about to call the fire brigade!”

  “Hmmm… It’s a good job Grandad lives next door,” Karl muttered. Looking up at Miss Eliot’s big house, Karl could see paint peeling from the window frames and ivy choking the broken gutters. “Ash Tree Manor is one gigantic house for an old lady living by herself.”

  Eva nodded, then carried Tigger indoors. “Who’s hungry?” she asked.

  The second he saw his food dish, Tigger leaped clear. Soon he was munching happily.

  “Thank you so much,” Miss Eliot told Eva and Karl. “It’s a relief to have Tigger back safe and sound.”

  Eva and Karl blushed. Their grandad smiled proudly.

  “Now I know why your rescue centre is called Animal Magic,” the old lady said, shedding a happy tear. “It’s as if I waved a magic wand and you brought Tigger and me a happy ending. We simply can’t thank you enough!”

  “OK, Bruno, lie still while I have a look at you.” Heidi Harrison spoke gently to the golden Labrador on her examination table.

  Eva and Karl had raced back from Ash Tree Manor and burst in on their mum’s surgery, eager to tell her the exciting Tigger rescue story.

  The injured dog whimpered and stared up at Heidi with his deep brown eyes.

  Joel Allerton, Heidi’s assistant, stood close by. “Slow down,” he said. “This poor chap’s had a nasty fall. He was found at the foot of a seven-metre high wall. It looks like he’s torn a ligament.”

  Carefully Heidi tested the movement in Bruno’s shoulder joint. “Yes,” she confirmed. “He’s probably going to need keyhole surgery to fix it.”

  “What happened? Did somebody dump him?” Eva asked.

  Joel nodded.

  “Your dad found him on the outskirts of town, where the railway bridge crosses the road. We think he got pushed over the edge and landed on the grass verge.”

  “And will he be OK?” Suddenly their exciting story about rescuing Tigger didn’t seem half so important.

  Her mum nodded. “He should be fine. He’s been very lucky. There’s a name tag on his collar, but no phone number. He’s not microchipped either, so it’ll be hard to trace the owner.”

  “Poor Bruno!” Eva murmured. Inside, she boiled with anger over the idea that anyone could shove this beautiful dog off a bridge. She stood back as Joel prepared a painkilling injection.

  The dog whimpered again and raised his head.

  Karl frowned. “Can I enter him on the website?” he asked.

  “Go ahead, put his details up,” Heidi said. She took the syringe from Joel and stroked Bruno’s ears. “‘Golden Lab, male, about four years old. A lovely dog who likes people.’”

  Nodding, Karl disappeared into the office and sat at the computer. He typed quickly then came back to take a photo of Bruno to put on the site.

  “Where’s Dad?” Eva asked.

  “Outside, putting the finishing touches to the stables,” her mum told her. “Can’t you hear him hammering?”

  Yes, the stables! The very word cheered Eva up.

  Animal Magic was about to open its doors to bigger unwanted animals such as horses, ponies and goats, as well as the dogs, cats and rabbits they already looked after. A team of volunteers had given up their time to convert a cowshed in the corner of the old farmyard. By this time next week the stables would be ready.

  “I’ll go and help!” she decided, escaping from the surgery and across the yard to join her dad.

  All that evening and the next day, Eva worked in the new stables with her dad. She used a screwdriver to fix bolts on doors, and a hammer to nail planks of wood to a partition wall.

  “Good job,” her dad told her before he left for work the following morning. “Tonight I’ll pick up the bales of straw I ordered from Tom Ingleby’s farm. You can come with me if you like.”

  “Yes, please.” Eva always enjoyed a visit to Tom’s place. High Trees Farm was on the edge of the village and Tom owned the fields at the back of Animal Magic.

  Eva hammered on. “How’s Bruno?” she asked Joel when he popped his head over the stable door.

  “Surgery went well,” Joel replied. “The shoulder should heal within a few days.”

  “That’s great news.” Eva knew that Karl had already had two enquiries about Bruno from the website. “At this rate, we’ll get him better and find him a new home before the end of the half-term holiday.”

  “Another success story,” Joel grinned. “We’re working our magic…”

  “…to match the perfect pet…”

  “…with the perfect owner!” Joel and Eva chanted the Animal Magic slogan.

  Eva put down her hammer and stood back. “Time for a break,” she decided.

  “Fancy coming to pick up our bulk order of cat food from the Red Barn?” Joel asked.

  “Yes, cool. I’ll just let Mum know.” Eva followed him out to the yard, trying to creep past Mrs Brooks next door without attracting attention.

  But Linda Brooks looked up from planting a neat row of red and white flowers along the side of her lawn.

  “How’s Annie getting on in Devon?” Eva asked about her friend who was on holiday with her cousins.

  “Fine, thank you, Eva,” came the brisk reply. Mrs Brooks peeled off her gardening gloves and came up to the wall. “Joel, I’d like a word with you if you can spare a moment!”

  “Sure. What can I do for you, Linda?”

  “You can pass on a message, please. I’d like
you to tell Heidi to expect a visit from the Council.”

  Joel and Eva exchanged worried looks.

  “Jason and I have lodged our petition at the Town Hall,” Mrs Brooks explained. “We gathered signatures of people opposing Animal Magic on the grounds of excess animal noise and car traffic, and I delivered the petition to the Council office on Monday morning.”

  “Good for you, Linda,” Joel muttered under his breath.

  Eva could hardly bear to listen. This is the countryside! she thought. Animals live in the country. You expect them to make noise! She couldn’t believe that Annie’s parents had actually gone ahead and done what they’d been threatening to do ever since Animal Magic started up a year earlier.

  “So you’ll inform Heidi?” Linda asked stiffly. Joel nodded. Mrs Brooks gave a triumphant smile before turning on her heel and going back to her gardening.

  Joel sighed and hung his head. “Come on, Eva, let’s forget the cat food,” he muttered. “I’d better pass this news on to your mum before I lose control and leap over that wall to tear up Linda’s precious flower bed!”

  “I’ve been expecting it,” Heidi admitted when Eva and Joel gave her Mrs Brooks’s message. She was in her surgery, busy with a new arrival – a cat which was still fastened inside a wicker basket, miaowing to be let out.

  “Mrs Brooks is so mean!” Eva cried. “She’s asking the Council to close us down without even thinking about what will happen to all our animals if they do!”

  “I know.” Over the months Heidi had got used to her neighbour’s constant complaints and threats. Even now she was determined not to let it upset her. “Let’s not think about that now, Eva. Why don’t you open up the basket and help me take a look at this little chap.”

  “What if Animal Magic has to close?” Eva demanded, unbuckling the leather strap. “Where will all our animals go?”

  “Not now, Eva. Joel, we’ll need to open a new bay in the cattery. Can you go and make sure there’s food and water?” Eva opened the basket and Heidi reached inside, lifting out a wary tabby cat with staring yellow eyes.

  “Hey, that’s Tigger!” Eva recognized him straight away. She ran to the door and called for Karl, who was busy cleaning his bike in the yard. “Karl, come and look. Miss Eliot’s tabby has been brought in!”

  “What happened?” Karl asked, his forehead damp under his floppy, dark fringe. He’d just cycled to Okeham and back with his friend, George Stevens.

  “Hey, Tigger!” Eva murmured, stroking his soft, striped fur. “What’s happened to Miss Eliot?” she asked her mum.

  “Better ask your grandad,” Heidi answered, beginning to examine the new arrival. “He brought Tigger in half an hour ago.”

  “Let’s cycle over there,” Karl said in a hurry, hardly waiting for Eva to grab her bike and follow.

  Eva and Karl sped along Main Street, towards their grandfather’s garden centre on the edge of Okeham. Soon they saw the large green and white Gro-Well sign and the long rows of glasshouses where Jimmy Harrison grew (and sold) his plants.

  “Grandad, how come you brought Tigger to the rescue centre?” Karl asked, charging into the shop.

  Eva was hard on his heels. “What happened to Miss Eliot? Is she OK?”

  Jimmy, who was potting small green seedlings into larger pots, looked over the rim of his glasses. “Ah, yes. Not good news, I’m afraid,” he murmured. “I found poor Miss Eliot collapsed on her kitchen floor this morning. I had to ring for an ambulance.”

  “Did she go to hospital?” Eva gasped.

  Her grandad nodded. “I’ve no idea how long she’ll be there, but she asked me to take care of her animals.”

  Karl fiddled with the plastic plant labels on the counter. “Animals – plural?”

  “I thought Tigger was the only one,” Eva cut in.

  “Tigger is the only cat,” her grandad agreed. “And it was easy enough for me to drop him off at your place.”

  “But?” Karl prompted.

  “But Guinevere is more of a problem,” Jimmy admitted. “I’ve already phoned your dad and he’s coming over as soon as he can.”

  “Guinevere?” Eva stared at the tall, grey house next door. “Who’s she?”

  “Come and see,” their grandad invited. He led the way down the side of the glasshouses and through a narrow gate into a field beyond. “I couldn’t exactly fit this fine lady into the back of my Land Rover!”

  The green field sloped gently towards a stream where a row of willow trees grew. As Eva and Karl took in the view, they made out a large, grey shape in the shadow of the overhanging branches.

  “Wow, is that a pony?” Karl gasped.

  Eva’s mouth fell open. Sure enough, a beautiful dapple-grey pony emerged from the trees. Her mane and tail were pure white. She trod heavily up the hill towards them.

  “Meet Guinevere,” their grandad announced. “This is Miss Eliot’s grey mare. And as you can see, she’s about to give birth to a foal any day now!”

  “She’s gorgeous!” Eva breathed, watching her dad and grandad begin to load the grey mare into a trailer which Mark had borrowed from Tom Ingleby.

  Guinevere’s mane was silky soft, and her dappled coat shone in the sunlight.

  “Take good care of her,” Jimmy Harrison said. “Remember, I promised Miss Eliot that her pony would get five star treatment!”

  “Looks like we’ll have to open the stables early,” Karl said. “Shall I go ahead and make sure everything’s ready?”

  His dad nodded. “I dropped off the bales of straw on the way here. Eva, you go with your brother and make a nice deep bed in the stable closest to the door, OK?”

  As Karl rode off, Eva lingered to see her dad lead Guinevere safely up the ramp into the trailer. Then she set off, pedalling hard until she reached home.

  “Mum,” she yelled, “Dad’s bringing a pony! She’s having a foal! We have to lay straw in a stable for her!”

  Heidi stood in the doorway to the surgery. “I know. Karl already told me. It’s exciting, isn’t it?”

  “Totally. She’s gorgeous, Mum. Just wait till you see her!” Flinging her bike down, Eva raced into the stable block, where she found Karl cutting through string that tied the bales of straw. She dived in and took an armful, scattering it on the floor. “How cool is this!”

  “Calm down,” Karl grunted. “Look at you – you’re covered in straw.”

  “I don’t care. We’re getting a pony!” Eva’s dark eyes shone. Suddenly she stared at Karl. “Hey, do you think the foal will be born while Guinevere’s here?”

  “It depends how long Miss Eliot has to stay in hospital,” Karl pointed out.

  “The pony did look pretty pregnant, didn’t she?” Eva said eagerly.

  “Oh, so now you’re an expert, are you?” As usual, Karl tried not to let his feelings show.

  “I bet she has the foal here!” Eva insisted. “How cool will that be?”

  At the sound of their dad’s van, they both ran out into the yard. They helped him slide the bolts at the back of the trailer, and then lower the ramp.

  “Let’s take a look at the mother-to-be,” Heidi said, coming forward to examine Guinevere before they unloaded her. “Oh yes, it’s going to be any day now. Bring her out gently. Keep her nice and calm.”

  Eva held her breath as her dad led Guinevere down the ramp. “Her stable’s ready,” she said, holding the door open.

  “Easy, girl,” Mark said. He waited for the mare to take in her new surroundings.

  She stood in the doorway, looking this way and that. Her ears were pricked and she swished her tail. Then she must have decided that her new home was good enough, because she stepped forward on to the fresh straw bed and let out a long, satisfied snicker.

  “Guinevere needs peace and quiet,” Heidi told Eva. “When a mare is about to give birth, the last thing she wants is people petting her and fussing.”

  “But how will we know when it’s happening?” Eva asked.

  “We may not.
It often happens in the middle of the night, quite naturally, without any help from us.”

  Eva nodded. “So we come out in the morning and the foal is here, already tottering about on its wobbly legs!” She pictured the magical moment.

  “Fingers crossed,” Heidi said. “So what I’m saying is, leave Guinevere alone for a while. How about taking a dog for a walk instead?”

  Eva nodded and went to fetch Dougal from the kennels. As she went in she was greeted by a chorus of woofs and barks.

  “Hey, Sam, hey, Lottie, hey, Millie,” she said as she passed by each kennel, saying hello to a retriever, a cairn terrier and a cheeky cross-breed.

  “Your turn for a walk, Dougal,” she told the cute Dalmatian.

  Dougal loved his runs along the riverbank and when he saw the lead in Eva’s hand he went crazy with delight.

  “Down!” she told him sternly. “Heel!” she said as she got him on the lead.

  They left the kennels, crossed the yard and cut through an alley towards the river, where Eva let Dougal off the lead.

  Off he dashed, sniffing at the entrance to a rabbit burrow, then on through the long grass with just the tip of his white tail showing.

  “Dougal, come back!” Eva cried, as the playful Dalmatian made a sharp detour over a narrow stone bridge towards Okeham golf course.

  Luckily he obeyed and came bounding back to Eva. Over the far side of the river, a group of golfers gathered on a smooth green. Eva recognized Jason Brooks, their next-door neighbour.

  “Heel, Dougal!” she murmured, glad that she and Karl had spent time training him not to run off. He even ignored the two fishermen sitting on the riverbank, who surprised Eva by standing up and yelling at her to clear off.

  Eva frowned. She didn’t like the look of the two men, who seemed to be angry without good reason. “Come here, Dougal. Heel!” she called again.

  Obediently Dougal walked to heel, tail and head up, as they headed away from the river, along a footpath beside one of the fields belonging to Tom Ingleby. The footpath brought them back on to Main Street, where Eva put Dougal on the lead and walked him home. “Good boy!” she said with a grin, thinking that he looked like a pirate, with the big, black patch over one eye.