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
The Home-alone Kitten – Sneak Peek!
Other books in this series
Copyright
“Come here, Nipper! Titch, lie down!” Eva Harrison yelled at the two Jack Russell pups who were scampering along the river bank.
The puppies ignored her and ran on through the long grass, wagging their pointed tails. “Yip-yap! Yap-yap-yap!”
Eva groaned and dashed after them. She grabbed Nipper before he could stick his head down a rabbit hole, and then dragged Titch out of the shallow water.
“Bad dogs!” she scolded.
Her brother, Karl, stood on the bridge and grinned. “Bad dogs!” he mimicked. “Face it, Eva, you’re lousy at this dog-training stuff!”
The Jack Russells wriggled and squirmed in her arms as she joined Karl. She frowned. “Yeah, well, we’re a rescue centre, not a dog-training school. And anyway, if you’re so cool at it, where’s Jess right this second?”
Jess was the Border collie he was supposed to be retraining. The dog washyper – always jumping up and running away. Her owner had dumped her at Animal Magic and it had been Karl’s idea to teach her good manners.
“Erm...” Karl looked along the river bank. “I saw her a second ago. She was down there, playing with a stick.”
“Oh! Isn’t that her on the golf course?” Eva asked sweetly, pointing at a black and white collie charging across the smooth greens, jumping up at golfers, and then racing on towards the rescue centre.
“Uh-oh!” Karl set off after the runaway while Eva giggled. She put her two pups on leads and followed more slowly, knowing that it was suppertime and Jess would be heading for home.
But not before the young dog had bounded off the golf course on to the main street, raided a litter-bin by the bus stop, and then rampaged through the Brookses’ garden, next door to Animal Magic.
“Uh-oh!” Karl said again, as he spotted Jess digging up their neighbour’s lawn.
Eva held Titch and Nipper on tight leads and ducked behind a hedge.
“Shoo!” a high voice shouted. “Get away, you bad dog!”
“Oh no, that’s Annie’s mum,” Eva murmured to Nipper and Titch, who strained at their leads, desperate to chase after Jess. “Mrs Brooks is going to be in a major bad mood over this!”
Karl dashed through the gate to catch Jess. “Heel, Jess!” he shouted, but to no effect. The collie stopped digging and ran off. She trampled through Mrs Brooks’s bed of bright red tulips.
“Uh-oh!” Eva reported the latest. “Now Jess has wrecked her flowers!”
Fed up with waiting, Titch and Nipper began to yap.
“Sshh!” Eva warned, while Karl dived after Jess and chased her through Mrs Brooks’s roses.
Just then, as Eva waited with the terriers on the pavement outside the Brookses’ garden, her dad drove up on his way home from work in his van. He leaned out of the window. “Trouble?” he asked.
Eva nodded, pushing her heavy fringe back from her hot face. “Jess ran away!” she explained, struggling to hold the Jack Russells back.
“Come on, follow the van,” Mark Harrison said quickly. “I’ll park up then come back here to sort things out.”
Quick as a flash, Eva did as she was told. “See!” she said to Nipper and Titch, as her dad eased the van in through the gates of the rescue centre. “That’s what happens when you dig holes in lawns!”
Titch wagged his tail. Nipper wriggled between her legs.
“People don’t like it!” Eva explained. “They so-o-o-o don’t like it, do they, Dad?”
“So?” Heidi Harrison asked Karl as they all sat down to supper. “How did Linda react when you called to say sorry?”
“She went on about her flowers,” Karl mumbled with his mouth full. “She said I’ll have to pay for new ones.”
“Hmm.” Heidi was used to complaints from next door. Ever since she and Mark had set up Animal Magic, Linda and Jason Brooks hadn’t had a good word to say about it and were always moaning that it brought down the tone of the neighbourhood. “Anyone would think Jess had committed a major crime, the way Linda’s behaving!” she sighed.
“Yeah, Jess only dug a hole in her stupid lawn!” Karl sulked.
His dad shook his head. “Listen, this is one more thing for Linda to add to her list of complaints. You know what she thinks of Animal Magic – she’d love to have this place closed down!”
The rescue centre had only been open a year. Heidi was a vet and it had been her idea to rescue stray dogs and take in cats and other pets which had been neglected. She and Mark had found an old farm on the outskirts of Okeham and they’d transformed it into a refuge for animals.
It had been a lot of work, but now they had a cattery and kennels, plus a third outbuilding to house other small animals like hamsters and rabbits. The old dairy had been turned into Heidi’s clinic where she microchipped, neutered and vaccinated all new arrivals.
“They can’t do that – can they?” Eva stared at her dad open mouthed. “I mean, they can’t close us down. What would happen to all the animals?”
“Don’t worry, Eva,” said Mum. “Linda Brooks is pretty much a lone voice. Most people in Okeham like what we’re doing. You can tell that by our visitor numbers and the hits we get on the website.”
“That’s right,” Karl said, pushing away his plate. “I’m off upstairs.” He was still ina mood over having to say sorry to Linda.
“‘Thanks for a lovely meal, Mum!’” his dad reminded Karl with a grin. “Are you working on the website?”
Karl nodded and shuffled towards the stairs. “I’m setting up an Animal Magic Facebook page, so people can message us and we can tell them about forthcoming events.”
“Can I help?” Eva jumped up to follow.
“Nope,” he muttered, disappearing up to his room.
Eva shrugged and went to feed the animals instead, running across the yard to the cowshed that had been converted into kennels. She was greeted by a chorus of woofs and yaps.
“Hi, Titch! Down, Nipper!” she grinned, giving them their dishes of food and watching them gobble hungrily.
Each dog had a special diet for its size and age, worked out by Eva’s mum. Eva went along the row, opening each kennel door and saying hello to runaway Jess, then to Molly, a three-year-old Labrador whose owners had left her home alone and never come back. Next was Ollie, the little black cross-breed who had been abandoned in a car park and left to starve. For each dog there was a sad story to tell.
“But with a happy ending!” Eva sighed, watching them feed. “You’re here now!”
Molly came up, asking to be stroked. Ollie joined her. Soon Eva was surrounded by happy, snuffling, tail-wagging dogs.
“We’ll look after you,” she promised, giving them each a hug. “We’ll find new owners and you’ll live happily ever after!”
“Can I see the kittens?” Annie Brooks asked.
It was early Saturday morning and Eva had answered the door before anyone else was up. She dragged Annie into the house.
“Have you any idea what time it is?” Eva demanded. Even though her best friend Annie only lived next door, she hadn’t expected to see her this early.
Annie smiled guiltily. “I crept out before Mum and Dad were up.”
“Is your mum still mad at us?”
Annie nodded. “I had to sneak out. I’m dying to see those kitten
s your dad found.”
Eva smiled at her friend. She’d told Annie about her dad’s latest rescue the day before, during school playtime. Her dad had found the kittens on Thursday night, in the car park behind the supermarket. “Come and help me give them some milk.”
Quickly, the girls scooted across the yard, ignoring the yelps and barks from the kennels and heading for the adjoining cattery instead. They went in and closed the door. “Is anyone around?” Eva called.
A tall, sleepy-looking figure emerged from the small office.
“Hi, Joel.” Eva smiled. “Have you been here all night?”
Joel Allerton nodded. He was the main Animal Magic assistant, and that meant sometimes working nights. “I’ve got the weekend off, so I’ve been trying to get upto date with some paperwork before I leave. It’s been quiet all night, thank heavens.”
“Where are the new kittens?” Annie asked excitedly.
Joel took Eva and Annie to a quiet corner where the kittens were being kept in a basket under a special heat lamp. Then he went off to prepare some warm milk.
Annie peered into the basket, which was lined with a red blanket and contained five adorable kittens – two black and white, one tabby, and two brown. They stared back with big, bright eyes, licking their lips with tiny, pink tongues and meowing hungrily.
“Aah!” Annie cried, carried away with delight. “They’re gorgeous!”
Eva reached in and gently lifted the nearest kitten out of the basket. The helpless tabby nestled in her hand, licking her thumb with its rough tongue.
“Ohhh!” Annie cried, reaching out to take it. “So-o-o cute!”
Joel came back and showed her how to offer milk to the kitten from a small plastic dropper while Eva got on with feeding the rest.
“Here, little kitty!” Eva murmured, smiling as each hungry kitten opened its mouth and drank. “How could anyone put you in a box and dump you?” she wondered.
“Yes, how could they?” Annie echoed, thrilled by the whole thing.
Eva fed four kittens and smiled as she watched them snuggle up in the basket to sleep. She grinned at Annie, who was still feeding the little tabby. “I can see I’ll have to drag you away!” she said, lifting the sleepy kitten from her lap and placing it next to the rest.
“See you on Monday!” she called to Joel, whose eyelids were seriously drooping as Heidi came in to take over.
“There you are, Eva. And Annie, too. Eva, your dad wants you to walk the Jack Russells,” her mum told her. “But have breakfast first.”
“I’d better go, before Mum misses me,” Annie decided.
She and Eva said goodbye in the yard and then Eva hurried towards the house, eager to snatch a quick breakfast then walk the dogs. But she happened to glance towards the lane and spotted, out of the corner of her eye, a battered cardboard box placed carefully by the side gate. The box was taped shut. It had air holes punchedin the lid and one word scrawled inblack felt-tip.
Eva’s heart missed a beat. She crouched down and read the name: “Honey”.
Each time it happened, Eva felt sick. How could you? So cruel! So unfair! These were the thoughts that hammered at her head every single time someone dumped their pet at Animal Magic.
But then she clicked into action, pulling back the tape and opening the lid a fraction. She peered inside.
A pair of dark brown eyes stared backat her.
“Don’t be scared,” Eva said softly. She could hear a tiny whimper and made out a small, cream shape. She pulled back the cardboard flaps and reached inside, lifting out a shivering, frightened puppy.
Eva’s heart melted. “Ah!” she exclaimed, nestling the puppy against her. “You’re beautiful! Ssh, don’t be scared!”
“What have you got there?” Karl appeared. He’d been watching from his bedroom window and come to investigate.
Eva showed him the pup. “Golden retriever,” Karl noted, reaching out to stroke the puppy’s head. “Probably about twelve weeks old.” He didn’t let on to his kid sister that he too wanted to cuddle and comfort the puppy.
He picked up the box and examined it for clues. “Have you looked to see if there’s a collar?”
Eva checked around Honey’s neck. “Nope. Is there an address on the box?”
“No, but I know where it came from.” Karl frowned as he read the print on the sides of the box.
Too busy with the latest arrival to take much notice, Eva carried the puppy towards the surgery. Her mum came out to meet her, taking Honey inside and straight away putting her through the usual checks and tests.
“She’s not microchipped,” Heidi muttered, examining Honey under the bright lights of the surgery. “And I guess she’s not vaccinated, either. She’s slightly dehydrated, but other than that she seems OK. Eva, could you mix up a drop of glucose solution in this dish? That’s great, thanks. Look at her gulp that down!”
Eva nodded. She’d begun to relax. I wonder where she came from? she thought. At least the owner cared enough to dump her somewhere where they knew she’d be looked after. “I bet she’s hungry,” she said to her mum.
“Yes, you fetch her some puppy-mix while I give her a jab,” Heidi agreed. While Eva hurried off, she prepared a needle for the injection. “This might hurt a tiny bit,” she told Honey, as if the puppy understood every word. “But it will stop you from getting any nasty bugs and it’ll soon be over.”
Eva heard a high-pitched yelp. Aah! she thought, fetching the food quickly.
Before long, the creamy bundle of fur had her nose deep in the dish and was happily chomping her breakfast.
“Good!” Heidi gave a satisfied nod.
“Totally cool!” Eva agreed. She was already looking forward to taking Honey to meet the other rescue dogs – Jess, Molly, Nipper, Titch, Ollie and the rest. Soon she would have a nice warm bed and friends to play with. She and Karl would put Honey’s picture and details on to the Animal Magic website and they’d find a new owner for her. “You’re so cute you’ll be snapped up!” she murmured in the pup’s ear.
Honey gobbled greedily.
“Especially with those big brown eyes...”
Honey licked every last scrap from the dish.
“You’re cuddly and soft... In fact, you’re totally adorable!”
“Why do we have to go to see Grandad?” Eva complained.
She sat next to Karl in the cab of her dad’s yellow van as they drove along the country lanes. She’d rather have been back at Animal Magic, playing with the kittens, walking the dogs, or feeding the small rescue animals such as Snowy, the gorgeous white rabbit.
“Because!” Karl said.
“But why?” she insisted.
Karl sighed. “I showed you the box, didn’t I? The one Honey was dumped in. You read the name on the side.”
“So?” Eva didn’t see the point of following up any of the clues to Honey’s owners that Karl had found. “She’s been dumped, remember. That means her owner doesn’t want her.”
“It said, ‘Gro-well Garden Centre’,” Karl reminded her. “Grandad uses these boxes to pack the plants he sells.”
“Yeah, so?” Eva groaned. Karl thought he was Mr Super-Detective, but with him, two and two usually made five!
Only, when she thought about it, this time Karl was probably right. After all, the box was a possible clue and their grandad, Jimmy Harrison, did run Gro-well Garden Centre.
“Plus, there’s a date on the box, showing when it was delivered,” Karl insisted, pointing to the evidence which rested on his knees. “Grandad can check it.”
“So?”
“So maybe we can work out who dumped Honey! Like, stop being a total dummy, Eva!”
“I know that, dummy! But why do we need to know?” Finding Honey’s cruel owner was the last thing she wanted to do. “Why don’t we just advertise on our website and find her someone nice and kind – someone who deserves to have her?”
“Hey, you two, give it a rest!” Mark sighed as he drove in through the
gates of Gro-well Garden Centre. “Your mum and I have decided it’s worth trying to find out what happened, so that’s that.”
He parked the van and they went to find Jimmy inside the huge glasshouse full of plants and flowers. They saw him at the till – a small man with combed-back grey hair, wearing a green waistcoat over his neat checked shirt. Jimmy spotted them and waved.
Karl, Eva and Mark waited for a gap between customers, and then Karldashed up to the counter with the battered box. “Hi, Grandad!”
“Hey, Karl. What a nice surprise.” Jimmy winked at Eva. “And how’s my favourite granddaughter?”
“I’m your only granddaughter!” She grinned. Her grandad was always winking and joking and making her laugh.
Karl rushed on. “We need your help. Can you check the date on this box? It’s one of yours, isn’t it? Come on, Grandad, this is urgent!”
“Whoa!” Jimmy pleaded as Karl ducked under the counter. “Slow down. Do you want to knock me clean off my feet?”
“He’s playing detective,” Eva warned. She explained her brother’s idea about tracking down Honey’s owner. “Don’t ask me why!” she added with a shrug.
“Another case for Inspector Harrison!” Jimmy joked. But he was willing to help with any information he could, asking Mark to serve his customers while he and Karl checked the computer records.
Karl clicked the mouse, flashing through recent deliveries and sales. He soon found what he was looking for. “The date on this box is last Monday. And here’s a list of sales you made that day.”
“Totally amazing, Karl!” Eva muttered. “Grandad probably had hundreds of customers on Monday. It could be anyone.”
But Jimmy was examining the box more closely. “No, it’s bigger than the ones I generally use,” he said thoughtfully.“I would pack shrubs in this rather than flowers. And there was one customer here on Monday who bought a dozen laurel bushes for a hedge she’s planting at the front of her house. I made a note of her name and address, in case she wanted me to deliver any more.”
