by Tina Nolan
“And like you said, he’s in lovely condition,” Eva added.
In the background, Gordon let out a bray to tell them that he knew they were talking about him.
Eric nodded and strode back to his Land Rover. “Let me think about it and have a word with my son, Josh,” he told them as he sat behind the wheel.
“I’ll be in touch,” he said, starting the engine and pulling out of the yard.
“Will he or won’t he?” Eva asked. She’d done her best to convince Eric to give Gordon what sounded like a fab new home.
Karl shrugged. “Fingers crossed,” he muttered.
“They’re already crossed,” Eva replied, holding up both hands. “For Rusty and now for Gordon. Let’s hope that everything works out OK!”
That evening, Eva and Heidi went alone to the place on the river bank where Eva had found Rusty exactly a week earlier.
Eva carried him across the field in a lightweight pet carrier, following the beam of her mum’s torch. “Mum, did you bring the radio receiver?” she double-checked.
“In my jacket pocket,” Heidi replied, as they reached the fence. “Here, let me hold Rusty while you climb over.”
“Did you test the battery?” Eva asked.
“Yes.”
“What about the transmitter? Are you sure it’s working?”
Following Eva over the fence, Heidi landed on the sloping river bank. The torchlight wobbled and wavered across the dark, rapid water. “No more questions, Eva. Everything’s in order. Let’s just do it!”
Eva took a deep breath and placed the carrier carefully on the ground. She crouched beside it and opened the door. Inside, Rusty sat with his pointed ears pricked, his fiery eyes glinting in the torch beam.
“Come out, Rusty, it’s time to go,” she whispered.
But the fox cub seemed to be in no hurry. He lifted one paw and licked it, then the other.
“He doesn’t want to leave. Shall I lift him out?” Eva asked.
“No. Let him find his own way. Wait a sec while I kill the light and turn on the receiver.”
At the press of a button on the small handset, a clear beeping sound broke the night’s silence.
Inside the carrier, Rusty pricked his ears then crept forward until he teetered at the edge. As he picked up scents in the grass, he ducked his head and sniffed hard.
“Good boy!” Heidi encouraged.
“Look, the little tag does glow in the dark!” Eva breathed, watching the small green light attached to Rusty’s ear.
Growing braver, the cub ventured out into the long grass. He seemed alert, listening to every swish and crackle of his surroundings.
Beep-beep went the signal as Rusty took his first steps back into nature.
“So far, so good,” Heidi murmured.
Eva crouched quietly, watching Rusty dig at the soft earth with one of his front paws. He sniffed again, then trotted on a few steps.
Come back! her heart said. But her head knew he must go.
Beep-beep. The signal sounded loud and clear.
Rusty trotted on along the river bank, half hidden by the thorn bushes. Then he stopped and turned to look straight at Eva. He paused and tilted his head to one side.
It’s like he’s asking me a question, Eva thought, her heart beating fast. Is it OK if I go now?
“He’s saying thank you and goodbye,” Heidi whispered.
“Goodbye, Rusty!” Eva murmured, her heart racing. He looked calm and happy out here, ready to carry on with his old life in the wild.
The fox cub swished his tail. His eyes glinted. Then he turned and disappeared down the slope.
Eva slept badly that night, tossing and turning and rerunning in her mind the moment when Rusty had turned his head to say goodbye. A magical, sad moment in the moonlight.
She got up early to turn on the radio receiver and listen.
Beep-beep-beep. Rusty’s signal came through loud and clear.
Sighing, Eva went into the cattery. Animal Magic seemed empty without Rusty, but Dusty the allotment cat was miaowing loudly, so Eva gave her a saucer of fresh milk.
“Eva, are you there?” Annie’s faint voice floated through from Reception.
“Coming!” she replied, going to greet her friend.
“How did it go last night?” Annie asked.
“Good. Rusty trotted off along the river bank, no problem.”
“Did he look scared?”
“No. Pretty confident, actually.”
“And are you getting a signal?” Annie pestered. She wanted to hear every detail about the fox cub’s release.
Eva took out the receiver and turned it on. “Listen!”
Beep-beep-beep.
Annie grinned. “How cool is that! But sad as well.”
Eva nodded. “I miss him,” she confessed.
“I know. But Eva, guess what. Mum called Mr Winters at the Council again, saying she definitely wanted to withdraw the petition against Animal Magic!”
Eva sat down on a stool with a loud gasp.
“I know. I couldn’t believe it either.”
“How come she’s done it again?” Eva asked.
“It’s Guinevere and Merlin,” Annie explained. “Ever since we adopted them, she’s been feeling worse and worse about wanting to have you closed down. She kept talking to Dad about it and in the end she rang again.”
“So did they say we can stay open?”
“Ah!” Annie cleared her throat. “Not exactly. It turns out that Mr Winters reminded Mum it wasn’t as simple as that.”
“Ah,” Eva echoed, but more quietly.
“He said a lot of other people had signed the petition. And anyway, it wasn’t up to him.”
“So who is it up to?”
“The whole Council. And they’ve already decided,” Annie told her.
“So?” As quickly as Eva’s hopes rose, they fell again.
“Mr Winters wouldn’t tell Mum over the phone. But he said the letter to your mum and dad was definitely in the post.”
“Well, it didn’t come this morning,” Eva muttered. “And it’s Sunday tomorrow.”
“So it’ll arrive on Monday.” Annie held up her hand with her fingers crossed. “Here’s hoping that it’s a yes for Animal Magic.”
“I don’t have enough fingers,” Eva sighed. “Come on, let’s go and walk Jasper.”
Walk the dogs, feed the cats, muck out Gordon’s stall. The list of Saturday jobs went on and on.
“Take a break, Eva,” her mum called. It was early evening and Eva was flopped on a chair in Reception. “Go over to the house and grab a sandwich.”
“Can I take the receiver with me?” All day Eva had kept it by her side, reassured by the faint beep-beep of Rusty’s signal.
Heidi nodded and smiled. “Rusty’s doing OK, believe me!”
“I still want to listen,” Eva insisted. She trudged across the yard, kicked off her boots in the kitchen doorway and went inside.
“You didn’t go near Gordon, did you?” Karl demanded. He too was re-fuelling with a giant cheese sandwich.
“I had to muck him out,” Eva retorted as she washed her hands.
“Did you bolt his door properly?”
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, did Eric call back?”
“Not yet.” Casually Karl picked up the radio transmitter. As he fiddled with the volume, the beeping sound gradually faded then died.
“Hey, what happened?” Eva took the receiver from him. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. It just stopped. Give it back. Let me try again.”
“We lost the signal!” Eva wailed. She felt panic rise inside her.
Karl tapped buttons without success. “Yeah, we lost it,” he agreed at last.
“Karl, you don’t think…?” Eva couldn’t put into words a dreadful idea that had come into her head.
“What? That something bad has happened to Rusty?” Karl frowned. He remembered the wild swans flying over the mountains. One of them had stopped
transmitting, and then they’d found him … out of range, and dead!
Eva could hardly breathe. “We’ve got to do something! Try again, Karl. The transmitter can’t fall off, can it?”
“No way. Look, I think we should go and look for Rusty.”
“Yes!” Eva agreed. “Come on. Bring the receiver!” Slipping her boots back on, she ran outside and headed for the river.
Rusty could have drowned! He could have been run over, chased, even killed!
Eva’s imagination ran riot as she and Karl sprinted across Guinevere’s field.
“Still no signal,” Karl reported as they reached the spot on the river bank where Eva and Heidi had released the cub into the wild.
Eva knelt down in the long grass. She felt like crying, but she forced herself to carry on searching.
“Which way did he go?” Karl asked.
“Towards the bridge.” Eva pointed out the direction. “We’re never going to find his tracks, though. He’s too small and light.”
“Let’s try,” Karl insisted. He stepped carefully along the bank, looking out for tiny footprints in the soft mud.
“It’s hopeless,” Eva sighed as they reached the bridge. Still the receiver was silent. There was no sign of life from Rusty.
“We keep on trying,” Karl insisted. “Maybe Rusty went out of range – y’know, too far away for the receiver to pick up his signal.”
“He can’t have. He’s too little to travel five kilometres in one day.”
“You’re probably right. And the signal did get cut off suddenly. It didn’t fade and then stop.”
“So which way now?” Eva asked miserably.
“Over the bridge,” Karl decided.
With fading hope, Eva and Karl crossed the old stone bridge.
“Left or right?” Karl asked.
Eva looked to the right, at the golf course with its smooth, open greens. To the left was the small wood. If Rusty had any sense, he would seek shelter there. “Left,” she decided.
On they went in the failing light, into the shadow of the tall trees. Step by step Eva grew more certain that something terrible had happened to Rusty.
“This is all my fault,” she moaned. “If I hadn’t petted him and made him tame, he would have stood a better chance.”
“Shut up, Eva!” Karl said gruffly. Then he spoke more kindly. “Forget what I said earlier. This isn’t down to you. Out here in the wild, it’s just luck whether or not a fox cub makes it.”
Eva sniffed, then listened to the sounds all around, peering between the wide trunks of two horse chestnuts. “What was that? I thought I saw something move.”
“It’s nothing,” Karl decided, staring at the handset and turning the volume to maximum. “But hang on a minute, I think we’re picking up a signal again!”
Beep-beep, beep-beep.
“Yes!” Eva gasped. “It’s faint, but it’s there!”
“This way!” Karl said, setting off in the direction where the signal grew louder.
Not dead. Not attacked and killed. Still alive… Please!
Now each step took them closer to Rusty. The signal strengthened as they sprinted between trees, over logs and through thick bushes.
“Shh!” Karl warned. In the gloom of the woods, they’d picked up the loudest signal yet. “Let’s stop and keep watch!”
Eva and Karl crouched down behind the mossy trunk of a fallen tree.
Beep-beep-beep. The signal didn’t weaken, but grew stronger.
Shadows seemed to move as their eyes played tricks. “Look!” Eva leaped up, convinced that she’d seen a small animal hiding behind a tree trunk.
“Squirrel!” Karl whispered, pulling her back down.
Beep-beep. The signal of hope.
Then at last it happened. A shape appeared out of a hole in the earth. Amber eyes glinted.
“Oh!” Eva sighed. This time she stayed hidden behind the tree trunk.
A grown fox came into view. They could just make her out – her pointed ears, sleek body and magnificent, furry tail. She looked this way and that, sniffed the air and waited.
Then a baby fox tumbled out of the half-hidden hole, and another. Two cubs following their mother.
“Which one is Rusty?” Karl whispered.
“Neither,” Eva answered. She was waiting for a cub with a pierced ear and a glowing transmitter.
And here it was! A third baby emerged from the hole, skipping quickly after the other two, shaking himself and yawning.
Beep-beep-beep. The signal sounded louder than ever.
“Rusty found his family!” Eva sighed.
“Or they found him,” Karl added.
“Whichever.” Eva didn’t care. All that mattered was that Rusty was alive and well … and back where he belonged!
“The mystery is solved!” Heidi smiled broadly as the family sat down to a meal late that night. “You lost the signal because Rusty was in his den!”
“And the transmitter doesn’t work underground,” Mark explained to Karl and Eva. “We’ll have to remember that.”
“But we saw him!” Eva cried. “He’s got brothers and sisters. He’s got a mum again!”
“Brilliant,” her dad said.
“And it was like nothing bad had ever happened.” Eva bubbled with excitement, ignoring her food. “His mum watched over him and kept him in line.”
“As mums do,” Mark grinned, when Heidi told Eva to finish her supper.
“We watched them for about ten minutes,” Karl reported. “Then they trotted off between the trees. You could still see them in the moonlight.”
“So gorgeous!” Eva sighed.
“So sometimes what we do here at Animal Magic is not about rehoming,” Heidi pointed out.
“Sometimes it’s about freedom.” Mark finished her thought. “Talking of rehoming, Eric Greene called when you were out. He’s talked things over with his son and they’ll be glad to take Gordon off our hands. They can pick him up tomorrow.”
Eva and Karl jumped up from the table and gave a high five.
“Cool!” Karl said.
“A new home!” Eva cried.
“Where are you going?” her mum protested as Eva headed for the door.
“To talk to Gordon, of course!”
Laughing, Mark and Heidi followed their excited son and daughter across the yard.
“Gordon, you’re going to live on a farm!” Eva announced, flinging open the stable door.
The goat looked up in surprise from his supper of oats and barley.
Karl, Heidi and Mark linked arms and watched quietly.
But Eva jumped up and down with excitement. “Rusty has found his family and Gordon’s got a new home,” she said. “Wow, is this a great day or what!”
There's always something
going on at Animal Magic.
Read on for a sneak peek!
“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 h
im 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.”
