‘These crazy people think I am a bebé!’
‘It’s not fair to treat an animal like a human baby,’ Henrietta said briskly to the little girl. ‘They don’t like being dressed up. Please give him back to me.’
‘Can I have a different one?’ the little girl asked.
Henrietta undid the buggy strap, picked up Eduardo and took off his bonnet and nappy. She put him down into the straw of the guinea-pig pen.
‘Quick, Fuzzy, now’s our chance,’ Coco whispered.
While Henrietta patiently explained the rules of pet care to the little girl, who was called Ruby, Fuzzy dashed over to the enclosure and unlocked it with one of Eduardo’s skeleton keys. Eduardo scuttled out.
‘FREEDOM!’ he called. ‘Who’s coming with me?’
He turned to the other guinea pigs in the pen.
‘Who’s with me? Who, who, who?’
‘No one,’ Coco said, shutting the door to the enclosure. ‘Now go and wait in the truck.’
‘But I am needed here!’ Eduardo replied. ‘Look!’
Coco turned to see what he was pointing at. Binny had hopped over to the buggy and climbed into it.
Eduardo started towards it. ‘I am coming to save you, Bunny the binny.’
‘I don’t want saving,’ Binny shouted. ‘I am a baby bunny and I need looking after.’
‘Leave her, Eduardo,’ Fuzzy said. ‘Wait and see what happens. Let’s see what Ben and Henrietta think.’
Ruby couldn’t believe her eyes. ‘Look! Look everyone! It’s Binny the Easter Bunny! She’s in my buggy!’
She stroked Binny’s ears gently.
‘Can I keep her, Mum?’ Ruby asked.
‘It’s up to the rescue centre,’ her mum replied.
‘Can I?’ Ruby asked Ben. ‘Please?’
‘Do you promise you’ll look after her like Henrietta has taught you?’ he asked seriously.
‘Yes,’ Ruby said solemnly.
‘And if you have any problems, you promise you will come and see me straight away.’
‘I will,’ Ruby said. ‘I’ll take care of her forever, honest, I will.’
‘Then you can have her,’ said Ben to Ruby, smiling kindly.
Everyone cheered.
The guinea pigs looked at Binny. She wriggled her nose happily and gave them a wave with her paw.
‘But …’ Eduardo began, then he sighed. ‘OK,’ he said, as Fuzzy put a paw around his shoulder, ‘I get it. Not all animals want to be free.’
10
Website Wonder
The next day was Easter Sunday and as usual Ben and Henrietta had their annual Easter egg hunt in the garden. Ben hid eggs for Henrietta, Henrietta hid eggs for Ben and they both hid eggs for Coco and Fuzzy, only the guinea-pig eggs weren’t made of chocolate. They were egg-shaped, but they were made of chickweed and dandelion, which Coco and Fuzzy loved.
Later, when Peggy came round for tea and Easter cake, Coco and Fuzzy went down to the bottom of the garden to share their eggs with Eduardo. He was waiting for them by the gate.
‘Here we are, Eduardo,’ said Coco. ‘Try these Easter eggs – they’re delicious.’
‘I told you before, señorita, guinea pigs don’t eat chocolate.’
‘It’s not chocolate, Eduardo. It’s dandelion and chickweed,’ said Fuzzy.
‘OK, I’ll try one.’
Coco gave him an egg. He ate it in one go.
‘Not bad, not bad,’ he said. ‘I need to try twenty more just to be sure I like them.’
When Coco and Fuzzy got back to the top of the garden, the humans were talking about the rescue centre.
‘We couldn’t have done it without you, Peggy,’ said Ben. ‘Thanks so much for looking after all the animals for us.’
‘It was no problem, duck.’ Peggy called everyone duck, except for her pet duck, whom she called Peter. ‘The Easter Fair brought lots of customers into the shop to buy food and toys for the pets they adopted, so you helped me out too, duck.’
‘It’s good the rescue centre and Pets2Go are next door to each other, with my veterinary surgery just down the road,’ said Henrietta.
‘It certainly is,’ said Peggy. ‘Ben finds them, I feed them and you keep them happy and healthy.’
‘Talking of keeping them happy,’ said Ben, ‘I’d love to know if little Binny is OK in her new home.’
‘Yes! She turned out to be such a sweet bunny,’ Peggy said, ‘and so clever of her to find her way from the copse to the rescue centre.’
‘Well, look at this comment,’ said Henrietta, pointing at the laptop.
From Binny@strawberrypark. Happy Easter to all my friends from a very well-behaved Binny who is very happy in her new home.
‘Ah, Ruby must have written that!’ said Ben. ‘How lovely!’
‘I’m still wondering though,’ said Henrietta as she picked up Coco for a cuddle, ‘who set up that website about fixing the cages and the Easter Fair?’
‘I know, it’s very strange,’ said Ben, picking up Fuzzy for a cuddle.
They smiled at each other. This was because Henrietta thought Ben had done it and Ben thought Henrietta had done it.
‘We may never know, ducks,’ said Peggy, who wasn’t sure what a website was.
‘Let’s hope they never find out,’ whispered Fuzzy to Coco.
‘I won’t tell if you won’t,’ said Coco to Fuzzy, although all the humans heard was a soft, contented ‘purr-purr’.
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