The Injured Fox Cub

by Tina Nolan

  “Hmm,” he murmured as he read the thermometer.

  “What?” Eva and Annie asked.

  “Temperature’s a little high. It may be nothing to worry about though.”

  Just then, Karl hurried into the cattery. “Who says people don’t like goats?” he cried, spying Joel, Eva and Annie gathered by Rusty’s unit. “Hey – cute fox cub,” he said casually.

  “Ssshhh!” Eva said. “Don’t frighten him.”

  Karl ignored her. “Anyway, I just got an email from a couple who want to take a look at Gordon! It’s amazing – he’s only been on the website for less than twenty-four hours!”

  “Ssshhh!” Eva said again, dragging her brother down the row of cat bays then out into Reception. Annie sneaked one last look at Rusty then followed.

  “Mr and Mrs Wesley want to give Gordon a home!” Karl insisted. “Mum was wrong – people are interested in goats. The Wesleys say Gordon would live in a field with their pony, who’s a Welsh cob called Henry. How cool is that?”

  “Very cool,” Eva agreed. “When are they coming to see him?”

  “It’s Saturday, so they can come today,” Karl crowed. “It’s a record – we found a home for a goat in less than a day!”

  Annie watched Karl and Eva do a high five by the Reception desk. “Aren’t you counting your chickens before they’re hatched?” she asked cautiously.

  Eva frowned. Karl shook his head. “No way!” they both said.

  “Watch it, Annie, you’re starting to sound like your mum,” Karl added, dashing off to find his dad and tell him the good news.

  “Yes, I’m afraid Rusty has developed a fever,” Heidi told Eva and Annie later that morning. The latest temperature check had confirmed Joel’s earlier suspicions.

  “That’s not good, is it?” Annie asked.

  Eva crouched down to take a closer look at the cub.

  “No, but it often happens when there’s an open wound where the dirt can get in. However much we wash and clean it, there’s still a risk.”

  “Will you give him antibiotics?” Eva asked anxiously. Rusty was lying on his side, his legs outstretched, his body limp.

  Her mum nodded. “And plenty of fluid. He’s just had a drink of water, so what we need to do now is leave him in peace.”

  “You hear that, Rusty? You have to stay here and rest,” Eva whispered. Her heart sank at the latest news. Would this lonely, small creature find the strength to stay alive? “We’ll look after you as best we can,” she promised, leaving him to sleep.

  “OK, Gordon, it’s time for your beauty treatment,” Eva said, peering into the goat’s stable. The girls were armed with sprays, brushes and combs, and were doing their best to stay busy and not worry about Rusty.

  Gordon glanced out over his stable door. He snickered when he spotted the brushes.

  “We have to make you look good for your visitors,” Eva explained. “You’re a handsome boy and you need to impress Mr and Mrs Wesley by looking your best.”

  “He’s a goat,” Annie pointed out. “He doesn’t understand.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Dad thought, but he managed to hurt Gordon’s feelings all the same. Gordon’s dead clever, aren’t you, boy?” Eva opened the stable door and went in. Annie followed close behind.

  The goat stepped back to take a good look at the girls. He rolled his yellow eyes at the white plastic bottle which Eva held in her hand.

  “It’s de-tangler and conditioner,” she explained. “I spray it on your coat, like so.”

  Squirt-squirt! A fine mist landed on Gordon’s back. He threw back his head and brayed.

  “He doesn’t like it!” Annie gasped, dropping her brush in surprise. As she knelt to pick it up, Gordon did one of his neat little butts. Annie sprawled forward into the straw.

  “Oops!” Eva giggled. “Are you OK?”

  Frowning, Annie stood up. “Are you sure this goat’s safe?” she asked.

  “Yeah, look.” Confidently Eva stepped up to Gordon and began to brush his long, smooth coat.

  Gordon flinched and lowered his head.

  “Watch out!” Annie warned.

  The goat had his eye on the stable door. He stamped his feet and snorted. Then, with one sudden, mad dash he charged.

  “The door – I didn’t bolt it!” Annie cried.

  Eva threw herself headlong at the door, but it was too late. Gordon reached it first, barged through and fled from the stables.

  “Oh no!” Eva gasped. Picking herself up, she ran after him.

  Gordon was fast. He raced across the yard, up on to the dung heap and over the fence into Guinevere and Merlin’s field.

  “Oh – oh!” a desperate Annie cried, chasing after Eva. “Mum will kill us if he scares the horses!”

  By this time, Karl had come running and Linda Brooks had flung open her back door. Hearing the commotion, a puzzled Heidi and Mark emerged from the house.

  “Gordon escaped!” Annie shouted. “Eva’s gone after him!”

  “Oh, great!” Karl muttered. “The Wesleys are on their way to see him right this minute.”

  “Eva, wait! Take a head collar!” Mark yelled.

  But Eva was already vaulting over the fence in hot pursuit of the goat. Gordon was charging across the lush green field, kicking up his heels and making a terrible racket.

  “Get that horrid thing out of my field!” Linda wailed as she stood by her fence.

  “Uh-oh!” Heidi sighed. Just when they’d got Linda Brooks on their side at last, something like this had to happen. “Now Linda will be up in arms against Animal Magic all over again.”

  “Never mind, I expect the council have already decided whether or not to keep us open,” Mark assured her. “We’re waiting for a letter in the post any day, remember.”

  “Yes, but…” Heidi muttered, shaking her head.

  Meanwhile, Eva chased Gordon up and down the field. “Come back!” she called, waving her arms and skirting round the back of Guinevere and Merlin.

  Guinevere whisked her long, white tail and laid back her ears. Little Merlin stuck close to his mother’s side.

  Gordon cantered on, kicking up his heels and enjoying his freedom. He felt the breeze on his face and the sunshine on his back – no way was he planning to surrender.

  “Come here!” Eva yelled again as Gordon doubled back and galloped up the hill.

  Karl stood astride the fence watching. “She’s never going to catch him,” he told his dad.

  “Annie, how did that creature get into my field?” Linda Brooks demanded as soon as she spotted her daughter in the yard next door.

  “It was my fault,” Annie confessed. “I didn’t bolt his door.”

  Karl shrugged, turning just in time to see a red car enter the yard. He groaned as he saw two strangers climb out.

  “Stop him!” Linda cried as Gordon sprinted straight towards her fence. She cowered against an apple tree and closed her eyes in fright.

  “…Mr and Mrs Wesley!” Karl said, faking a smile at the strangers.

  A small, middle-aged man in a grey jacket and jeans and a woman wearing jodhpurs and stable boots stared at the chaos.

  “We came to see the goat,” Mr Wesley began, “but perhaps it isn’t a good time?”

  Just at that moment, galloping Gordon made a great leap over Linda Brooks’s fence into her garden. He’d spotted marigolds and mallows, and better still – lettuces and peas growing in neat rows. Fabulous fodder!

  “Help!” Linda cried from under the apple tree. “Shoo, you horrible thing! Leave my lettuces alone!”

  “Gordon, come back!” Eva cried, staggering breathlessly up the hill.

  The goat munched and trampled, munched again.

  “Is that him?” Mrs Wesley stepped up to the fence and peered with horror into Linda’s wrecked garden.

  Gordon glanced up. He had a mouthful of crunchy young lettuce and a wicked look in his eye.

  “That’s him,” Karl groaned, as Mr and Mrs Wesley shook their heads.r />
  “Oh dear!” Mr Wesley turned to his wife. “Gordon seems to be more of a handful than we’ve been led to expect.”

  “Yes,” Mrs Wesley agreed. “We’d better go home and have a good talk about it.”

  “Terrific!” Karl groaned, as he watched Gordon’s potential owners walk swiftly away.

  “You win some, you lose some,” Mark told Karl as the Wesleys’ red car drove slowly out of the yard. “There’s never any guarantee that things will work out as planned.”

  But Karl was furious. “How come you’re not telling Eva off?” he wanted to know. “If she and Annie hadn’t been messing about in Gordon’s stable, this would never have happened.”

  Annie cringed, then crept quietly away.

  “We weren’t ‘messing about’. We were grooming him!” Eva yelled from next-door’s garden. Red faced and breathless, she was still trying to corner the runaway.

  “Try this.” Heidi passed Gordon’s bucket of cabbage leaves over the fence, together with a head collar and lead rope from the stables.

  Eva held out the tempting food. “Lovely, yummy cabbage!” she cooed.

  Gordon raised his head and flared his nostrils. He edged close to the bucket, his top lip quivering. As he stretched his neck to grab a bite, Eva swiftly slung the rope around his neck.

  “Good job,” Heidi said, as Gordon let out a loud, surprised bray.

  “Get him out of here!” Linda screeched. “Just look at the mess. He’s ruined my lettuce patch!”

  Tugging with all her strength, Eva managed to lead Gordon up Linda’s drive.

  “Gosh, you’re stubborn,” she muttered, steering him next door.

  Gordon’s hooves clattered across the yard towards his stable.

  “Watch out, don’t get behind him,” Mark said. “He’ll kick you given half a chance.”

  Huffing and puffing, Eva finally got the Houdini goat back into his stall.

  “What now?” Karl demanded. “The Wesleys will never adopt Gordon after what they’ve just seen.”

  “Sorry!” Eva gasped. “That wasn’t meant to happen.”

  “OK, let’s all calm down,” Heidi said. “I’m sure there’ll be other possible owners. If you ask me, our main problem right now is not finding a home for Gordon, it’s Linda and her lettuces.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll go and smooth things over,” Mark volunteered.

  “And I’ll get back on the website and start all over again,” Karl muttered, going off with a deep frown.

  In the quiet aftermath Heidi looked at Eva. “Are you OK?”

  Eva sniffed and nodded.

  “Fed up?”

  She nodded again.

  Heidi smiled and gave Eva’s hand a squeeze. “Come on, let’s go and check on Rusty. It’s time to give him another feed.”

  “His temperature’s still high but his pulse is regular,” Joel reported as Eva sat down with the fox cub on her lap.

  Heidi handed her the syringe. “Don’t worry, the effect of the antibiotics will soon kick in,” she promised. “Try and get as much of this milk down him as you can. It’ll keep his strength up.”

  Eva nodded, then gently opened the cub’s mouth. He stared up at her with his golden brown eyes as she slid the tip of the syringe into his mouth. “There!” she murmured. “It tastes good, doesn’t it?”

  Rusty gulped then swallowed.

  “Good boy. Are you nice and warm?” Eva talked softly as Rusty fed, taking care not to touch his injured foot. “He’s drinking well,” she told her mum.

  “It looks as if he could be on the mend.” Heidi gave a satisfied nod then went to take a look at the five kittens in the nearby bay. “Have you given these kittens names yet?” she asked Eva.

  “Rosa, Tulip, Stella, Timmy and Ringo.” Eva ran through the names. “Karl’s already put them on the website.” She gave Rusty the last drops of milk, then cuddled him close.

  Her mum glanced at her over her shoulder. She turned with a small frown. “Try not to cuddle and pet Rusty too much, Eva.”

  Eva frowned back. “Why not? He loves it – see!”

  As if to prove her point, the tiny cub licked Eva’s cheek.

  “Exactly,” Heidi said in a professional tone. “But it’s important not to handle him too much. He’s not the same as a kitten or a puppy.”

  “Yes he is. You’re just as fluffy and cute, aren’t you, Rusty?” Smiling, Eva tickled the cub on the white flash under his chin.

  “Eva, you’re not listening. What I’m saying is, he’s not a pet.” Heidi came over and took the cub from her.

  Rusty let out a tiny, sharp bark.

  “Watch out for his poorly leg!” Eva cried.

  “I am watching out.” Heidi put Rusty back in his unit. “We have to handle him as little as possible. If he gets too used to us, he won’t want to go back into the wild.”

  “Go back?” Eva echoed, surprised.

  “Yes,” her mum replied. “When – if – he gets better. We’ll put him back where you found him and hope that he finds his family again.”

  “Oh!” Eva hadn’t thought that far ahead. Put him back by the dark, dangerous river, in the long grass amongst those shadowy thorn bushes?

  “Yes. Rusty’s a wild animal. He belongs in the woods and along the river bank. I thought you realized that?”

  Eva nodded quickly. “Course I did,” she insisted, trying to sound sensible. “I knew all along we’d have to put him back.”

  “So don’t make a pet of him. And don’t get too attached,” Heidi warned as she left the cattery.

  Tears welled up in Eva’s eyes as she gazed at the fox cub curled up on his blanket. He blinked and licked his lips to taste the last drops of milk.

  “Too late!” Eva murmured, brushing away a tear. “I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you!”

  “Why can’t you keep him?” Annie asked Eva.

  It was Sunday morning and the two girls had brought Guinevere and Merlin in from the field. Despite a fine drizzle, they had decided to ride.

  “Stand still while I tighten your girth,” Eva told Guinevere. She’d just told Annie what her mum had said about Rusty.

  “Why?” Annie asked again.

  “Because he’s a wild animal,” Eva muttered.

  “But lots of people keep wild animals as pets,” Annie pointed out, putting on her hard hat. “I read in the newspaper about a woman who adopted a lion cub and led him about on a dog lead!”

  “Hmm.” Eva frowned. “I don’t know…” She’d lain awake half the night, worrying about Rusty going back to the wild and imagining what it would be like to keep him. I could house-train him and take him for walks, she thought. He would come to me when I called his name!

  “It would be so cool to give Rusty a home!” Annie sighed. She stroked Guinevere’s nose then put her foot in the stirrup. “That’s what Animal Magic is all about, isn’t it?”

  Eva ignored the question and held the reins while Annie mounted. “About that lion cub on a lead… What happens when the cub gets too big to be taken for walks?”

  “Yeah, I know,” Annie agreed. “But that wouldn’t happen with Rusty, would it? He’ll never grow that big.”

  “Don’t go on about it,” Eva pleaded. “It’s bad enough already.”

  Glancing down at her friend, Annie saw how miserable she was. “I’m sure your mum knows what she’s talking about. There’s probably a law against it or something,” she sighed. “Only, y’know, people do feed foxes and they get quite tame. I read about it in—”

  “Annie!” Eva groaned.

  “OK, sorry.” Pressing her heels against Guinevere’s sides, Annie set off across the yard. She waited at the gates while Eva fetched her bike from the shed. “Anyway, how is Rusty this morning? Is he getting better?”

  Wobbling past Annie and Guinevere on her bike, Eva led the way along the quiet, damp village street. “Joel says he had a good night,” she reported. “When I saw him this morning, his eyes were bright. He
was more lively. In fact, yeah, I think he’s slowly getting better, fingers crossed!”

  “Did you see Linda this morning?” Mark asked Eva over Sunday dinner. He was tucking in to a mountain of roast potatoes.

  “No, why?” She and Annie had ridden for an hour, taking it in turns. They’d crossed the river on the road bridge and hacked out through the woods beyond the golf course.

  “I just wondered what sort of mood she’s in,” her dad mumbled. “Whoo, these potatoes are hot!”

  “She’s in a mega-foul mood,” Karl reported. “She nabbed me just as I was crossing the yard. She wanted to know when you’re going to plant some new lettuces.”

  “As soon as I’ve had the chance to ask Dad to drop some off from the garden centre,” Mark explained. “Until then, we’d better all wear hard hats when we go out, and beware sniper fire from next door!”

  “Uh!” Heidi grunted, shaking her head. “Such bad timing. Yesterday’s little episode with Gordon is the last thing we needed.”

  “It wasn’t Gordon’s fault,” Karl reminded them, as he glared across the table at Eva. “By the way, I got an email from the Wesleys this morning, confirming that they didn’t think he was the goat for them!”

  “Never mind.” As usual, Heidi refused to be downhearted. “I saw two couples this morning who want to adopt kittens. So Tulip and Ringo are all set up with nice new homes.”

  “And Rusty is getting stronger,” Mark added. “At this rate, we should be able to set him free by the end of next week.”

  Eva put down her knife and fork and pushed her plate away.

  “Not hungry?” her mum asked quietly.

  Eva shook her head. “Can I go and help Joel, please?”

  Heidi nodded. “Tell him to take his lunch break while you’re over there keeping an eye on things.”

  Eva slipped out of the house and made her way across the yard. She went into the kennels and then into the cattery, looking for Joel who was nowhere to be seen. Back on the porch outside Reception, the noise of a door being bolted inside the stable block told Eva that Joel was visiting Gordon.