by Andrew Cope
23. Ploughing On
Sophie put a bowl of water next to her dying dog. Salty tears stained her T-shirt.
Lara opened an eye. No thanks, she sighed. Too tired.
Sophie put her fingers in the water and wiggled them around. ‘Come on, Lara,’ she coaxed. ‘You have to drink. You have to stay strong.’ She put her wet fingers near Lara’s mouth and a pink tongue slurped.
Do you know what, thought Lara, fighting the urge to sleep. I’ve had such a brilliant time. We’ve enjoyed some adventures. Thanks for sharing family life with me. I couldn’t have chosen better. Lara’s mind was slow but her thoughts were clear. Please take good care of my puppies.
Then her eyes shut and she was back to sleep. Sophie patted her pet. There was almost no breathing now. ‘Lara, I love you,’ she sobbed. ‘I hope the puppies are on their way.’
The professor hadn’t known what to do. Mrs Cook was arriving at any moment and he was an intelligent man – he knew the difference between a spot of bother and deep trouble. He returned to his van and sat nervously. How on earth was he going to explain that Ben and the pups had taken off and were probably well on their way to Brazil with the most evil man on the planet? He wondered what came after ‘deep trouble’ on the scale of seriousness. Even deeper? Deep doo-doos? Can you have infinity trouble?
He flicked on his in-car computer. All the new GPS watches were working, so at least he could report on exactly how far they’d flown.
It felt like seconds before the Cooks’ people carrier screeched to a halt and Ben’s parents jumped out. They tapped on the van and the window slid down.
‘Where are they, Professor?’ demanded Mr Cook.
The scientist had a puzzled look on his face. He stared at the computer screen, than back at the Cooks. ‘Honestly?’ he said. ‘Things aren’t as bad as I thought. See these dots?’ he asked, pointing to the screen. ‘They’ve landed and are on the move.’
‘Landed?’ said Mrs Cook, her face turning pink with anger. ‘If my Ben is in any danger –’
But Professor Cortex was too excited to worry about getting told off now. ‘I promise I’ll explain all of this,’ he said quickly. ‘But right now you both need to jump in. Let’s go and get them!’
Ben was doing well. He’d navigated a field of cows and cleared two ditches. The tractor was muddied and battered but still going strong.
Star used her doggie watch to point out the directions. ‘Five miles to go,’ she yapped. ‘That-a-way!’
The huge tyres meant that fields were no trouble at all, even muddy ones. Hedges could easily be breached and streams crossed. The trio had found their way on to a country lane and were bouncing along as fast as the tractor would take them. Ben hit the brakes hard and the tractor stalled at a crossroads. He recognized the name of one of the towns. ‘Not too far now!’ he yelled, as he turned the key and the engine roared into life again.
The road widened as they approached the town. As they stopped at some traffic lights, they pulled up alongside Ben’s head teacher, Mr Bell. There weren’t many tractors in town. The man glanced up and the puppies waved.
‘Hi there,’ beamed Spud.
‘We’re just on a bit of an adventure,’ waved his sister. ‘We’re spy pups, see. And this is a mission.’
Mr Bell looked at the puppies flapping their paws and then at the young driver. ‘Benjamin Cook?’ His brow furrowed and he removed his spectacles and gave them a clean. By the time he’d put them back on, the lights had changed and the tractor was gone. Mr Bell shook his head and decided he may need to go home and lie down.
Ben swung the tractor in the direction of Star’s pointing paw. ‘This way,’ she yapped, jutting her leg to the right, ‘across this car park.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Ben. ‘This is a supermarket.’
‘Satnav says this is the quickest way,’ woofed Star, nodding her head as Ben lurched the tractor through a hedge and down a bank into the huge car park. The mud-splattered tractor crunched through some empty trolleys. Shoppers leapt out of the way as Ben fought the steering wheel. Spud hid his eyes as Ben brushed a parked car and smashed into another before hitting the brakes.
‘Whoops!’
Ben crunched the tractor into reverse and lurched backwards into a line of trolleys. ‘Ouch!’ Then forward into the car again. ‘Sorry!’
Star helped him steer around the car park before they finally came to rest in a mother-and-toddler parking bay. The engine fell silent.
A crowd gathered as Ben gingerly stepped from the cab. The trolley attendant took centre stage. This was the most exciting thing that had happened in his twenty-five years as a supermarket employee. He took his notebook out and approached Ben.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘but you can’t park your tractor there. That is a family parking space.’
24. Supermarket Sweep
The professor’s dashboard was beeping loudly as the van screeched into the supermarket car park and headed for the crowd. Mrs Cook held her hand to her mouth as she watched Ben get down from the tractor.
The trolley attendant was taking Ben’s details as the professor leapt out of the van and interrupted. ‘Aha,’ he said, ‘got you!’ He grabbed Ben firmly by the arm. ‘Please don’t go near this boy. He’s escaped from a… erm… secure institution. He’s only twelve but is very dangerous. Look,’ he added, pointing to Mr and Mrs Cook’s stunned faces in the car. ‘I’ve just captured the inmates who helped him to escape!’
‘Yeah,’ growled Ben, playing the professor’s game. ‘I’m Tractor Boy. Me and my dogs. We’re going to plough up the world. Starting with this car park.’
The puppies bared their teeth and the crowd stepped back. Spud snarled at a lady and she dropped her shopping. Mmm, crisps, he thought, snuffling through the carrier bag. It’s been so long since I had a full tum.
Professor Cortex held Ben’s arm behind his back like he’d seen police do in the movies. He manhandled him into the back of the van. ‘In you go, evil Tractor Boy,’ he shouted, overacting terribly. ‘Your ploughing days are over. And your Tractor Puppies,’ he added, before picking up the snarling dogs by their collars and throwing them in too. ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish,’ he said, rubbing his hands together. ‘Citizens of the supermarket, you are now free to go about your business.’
The crowd cheered and the professor jumped back into his van. Mr and Mrs Cook sat inside, completely stunned. The curious onlookers parted to allow the professor through. He drove slowly between the pedestrians before slamming his foot down and screeching out of the supermarket car park.
‘We’ve got it!’ sang Ben from the back of the van.
‘Got what?’ snorted Spud, his head stuck in a crisp packet.
Ben held up a small bottle of precious purple liquid. ‘This is the antidote that can save Lara.’
The professor switched on his siren. He’d never known such an emergency as this.
25. Mr Big’s Marvellous Medicine
It was three days later that Lara woke. The puppies had been on twenty-four-hour watches for signs that their mum would recover. They’d taken it in turns and it was Spud’s shift. Lara had taken the antidote but the professor wasn’t sure they’d got there in time.
‘An ordinary dog would have given up the fight for life by now,’ he’d told the children. ‘But GM451 is special. She’s strong. If anyone can survive, she can.’ But the professor had warned the family not to get their hopes up.
Spud’s ears pricked as his mum licked her lips. Her eyes were closed but this was the first movement for three days. ‘It’s a good sign,’ he wagged. An eye opened and Lara tried to smile a doggie smile.
‘Hello, son,’ she woofed.
Spud sped through the house barking at the top of his voice. ‘She’s awake! Mum’s awake!’ he woofed as the family came rushing from all directions.
Sophie was first there, already snuggled up with Lara by the time the other children arrived. Ollie gave her a tummy tickle and Ben str
oked her muzzle. Lara struggled to sit up and the puppies buried themselves in the warmth of their mum’s fur.
‘Lara, you’re back,’ cooed Sophie. ‘We’ve been so worried!’
I’ve been a little stressed out myself, thought Lara, attempting her first wag in days.
‘I bet you’re hungry,’ said Ben. ‘Do you fancy something to eat?’
I’m starving, thought Lara. But custard creams are off the menu.
Lara sat at the table and wolfed her breakfast. ‘So what’s been happening?’ she asked between slurps of her cornflakes. ‘How did you get hold of the antidote?’
‘We had to break Mr Big out of prison,’ barked Spud. ‘The professor came up with a plan and we got him out but he escaped.’
‘Ben got to fly a plane,’ woofed Star. ‘And we did a parachute jump!’
Lara choked on her cornflakes. ‘You did what?’ she spluttered. ‘Slow down and tell me in order.’
‘Well, two jumps actually. The prof got in some major trouble because he helped break out Mr Big. Which was bad. And then let him get away.’
‘Which was much worse,’ continued her brother. ‘But he didn’t give up on you, Ma. None of us did. Professor Cortex figured he would have one last chance at getting the antidote.’
‘And you and Ben ended up in a plane!’ added Lara. ‘I bet Mrs Cook wasn’t very pleased.’
Spud looked around, a little scared. ‘She blames the professor for everything,’ he said in a hushed woof. ‘The professor is in very hot water… scalding, in fact!’
Lara nodded. He’s been there several times before, she thought. ‘So what happened to the baddies?’
‘Well,’ began Spud, ‘we used Archie and Gus as decoys while the main man escaped. They were easily captured. They didn’t even get over the wall. We made sure of that,’ he said, puffing out his chest with pride.
‘And what happened to the main man?’ asked Lara, sucking her banana milkshake through a straw. ‘Mr Evil himself.’
‘We wrestled the antidote off him,’ wagged Star. ‘And he jumped out of the plane,’ she continued, her eyes huge with excitement. ‘Except he had Ben’s backpack on instead of a parachute.’
Lara spluttered bubbles into her milkshake. ‘No way! No parachute?’ she said, wincing at the thought. ‘So no more Mr Big.’ Lara breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t wish harm on anyone but this evil man was bent on the destruction of her and her family. It was better that he wasn’t around.
‘So, with him out of the way, we can get on with living happily ever after,’ wagged Spud.
‘Can we please avoid any more adventures?’ requested Lara. ‘It’s not good for my health!’
Star looked at Spud and winked. ‘Course we can, Mum,’ she yapped. At least for a while.
Postscript
Mr Big’s cheeks were flapping in the wind. He spread his arms and legs out like he’d seen parachutists do on the telly. ‘This is brilliant!’ he yelled to himself. ‘I’m rid of the evil dog once and for all. And her blasted offspring. A fresh start for me. As soon as I land I can start building my criminal empire back up.’
Mr Big reached for the ripcord. He pulled the strap of Ben’s backpack and a jumper floated by. Then some prawn-cocktail crisps made an appearance. Not good, he thought as he looked down. The ground was coming at him awfully fast. There was a lake down below and he twisted his body to aim for the water. As the ground hurtled towards him, Mr Big’s life flashed through his mind.
It’s been a good one, he decided. Lots of lovely crimes. Some murders. They were ace. I even enjoyed my time in prison.
Mr Big felt strangely calm as he headed for the water. He had time to calculate the odds. I wonder if anyone has ever survived jumping from an aircraft and landing in a lake?
There was a huge splash as Mr Big’s body smashed into the water. The lake rippled and small waves lapped the shore. All was quiet as Mr Big’s hairpiece floated to the surface.
