by Bentley, Sue
Flame scampered after her as Rosie bent down to stroke the orange cat. “Hello there. I wonder what you’re called. We’re going to be neighbors,” she said in a friendly voice.
Suddenly the front door opened and a lady with curly dark hair and flashing dark eyes stood there looking down at her.
“Hey, you!” Mrs. Galloni shouted. “Why are you back here? You are a naughty girl. You should be ashamed for throwing apple cores at Tinker. Go now, before I call the police!”
“But, but I didn’t . . . ,” Rosie stammered, rising slowly to her feet.
“Go on, shoo! Shoo! Go find your nasty friends!” Mrs. Galloni bent down to sweep Tinker into her arms and slammed her door.
“Oh great. Our new neighbor thinks I’m some kind of pet tormentor!” Rosie fumed as she marched across the lawn and closed the front gate behind her. “Do you think I should go back and try to explain?”
Flame shook his head. “I think that lady is too angry to listen.”
Rosie decided he was probably right. “Come on. Let’s go and get in the car.”
Once inside, Rosie felt too fed up to read. She sat there with Flame on her lap until her parents and the real estate agent came out of the house.
“Well, that’s all taken care of,” Mr. Swales said brightly as he settled in the driver’s seat. He glanced at Rosie in the rearview mirror. “We’ll be moving in about a month. Isn’t that exciting?”
Rosie didn’t answer. That meant she had four weeks to find homes for her pets.
Later that evening, Rosie opened the door to find Jade standing there. “Oh, uh . . . ,” she murmured in surprise.
Jade smiled uncomfortably. “I bet I’m the last person you expected to see.”
“Kind of.” Rosie nodded. She smiled back. “I’m glad you’re here, though. Do you want to come in?”
Jade looked relieved. “You bet!” She stepped inside. “I came over to see if you’re okay. My mom’s been talking to your mom, who told her that she’d called the Pet Care Center. And I . . . um . . . I mean we . . . thought maybe we could give Midge and Podge a home.”
“Really? But you don’t even like animals!” Rosie said, amazed.
Jade shrugged. “That’s because I’ve never been allowed to have pets. I’m sure I would like them if I gave myself the chance. How about if I look after Midge and Podge for a few days and see how it goes?”
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Rosie said, grinning. “I can tell you all about rat behavior and how to care for them. And I’ve got a rat book you can borrow. Rats are great pets, and they’re really clean. Come up and see them!”
Jade followed her up to her bedroom.
Flame was lying snuggled up against Daisy, who was stretched out full-length on the rug, but of course Jade couldn’t see him. The sight of the enormous rabbit and tiny kitten made Rosie smile. Maybe being friends with Daisy made Flame feel less homesick for creatures from his own world.
“Wow! Look what Midge and Podge have done to their activity center!” Jade peered into the rats’ cage at the cardboard castle, which now had frilly edges around the doors and windows. “Those rascals!”
Rosie grinned. “Behavior lesson number one. Rats nibble everything!”
She spent the next half hour telling Jade all about looking after Midge and Podge. “. . . I’ve got tons of food and bedding and stuff. You shouldn’t need to buy anything for them for ages,” she said finally.
“It’s an awful lot to remember,” Jade said, looking a bit worried.
“You’ll get it soon. And I’ll come over if you get stuck,” Rosie said breezily. “So? When do you want me to bring them over?”
For a moment, Rosie thought she saw a nervous look pass briefly over Jade’s face, but then it was gone. “Now’s good,” her friend replied. “I’ll take the food and bedding if you carry the cage.”
Delighted that Midge and Podge were going to have a new home soon, and even better, she’d still be able to see them, Rosie pushed all doubts out of her mind.
She quickly got organized and then trooped downstairs with Jade and went next door. “I really should go and say thanks to your parents. It’s so nice of them to let you have Midge and Podge,” Rosie said as she carried the cage into Jade’s kitchen.
“No, don’t!” Jade said hastily. “They’re . . . er . . . playing cards with my aunt and uncle. They get really annoyed if I disturb them.” She headed for the stairs. “Let’s go straight up to my bedroom.”
Rosie followed on tiptoe. Opening her bedroom door, Jade dumped the bags of bedding and food on the carpet and then helped Rosie set everything up.
Rosie finally bent down to look in at Midge and Podge. “This is your new home, but I’ll still see you lots and lots.”
Midge and Podge looked out of their cage, their whiskers twitching excitedly as if they knew what she was saying. Rosie took a few sunflower seeds out of her jeans pocket and gave them some. “Be good little ratties for Jade, okay?” She turned to Jade. “Thanks a million for this.”
“No problem,” Jade said, grinning widely. “I’m just glad we’re friends again.”
“Me too. I’ll leave you guys alone for now, and then call in the morning to see how you’re doing. Bye for now,” Rosie said.
As she went back into her house, she tried not to feel sad about Midge and Podge. It wasn’t as if they’d be far away, and she was sure Jade was going to do her very best to be a good owner.
Chapter
* SIX *
Despite her good intentions, Rosie didn’t sleep very well, worrying about how Midge and Podge were doing. It was hardly light when she woke the following morning. Across the room, Daisy was just a shadowy mound in her pen.
Rosie turned on her bedside light and then lay stroking Flame, who was curled up against her pillow. “I’m so glad you’ll be coming with me and Daisy to the new house,” she said to him.
Flame purred and rolled over so she could tickle his tummy. “I hope I can do that, but if my uncle’s spies find me, I will have to leave suddenly.”
“Maybe they’ll never find you, and then you can live with me always,”
Rosie said, determined to look on the bright side.
Flame’s tiny face looked serious. “That is not possible, Rosie. One day I have to return and claim my throne.”
Rosie nodded. She knew this was something she had to accept, but she didn’t want to think about that just yet.
Suddenly a loud shriek rang out.
“What was that?” Rosie sat bolt upright, her heart racing.
Flame pricked up his ears. “I think it came from the house next door.” He sprang onto the floor as Rosie threw back the quilt and flew over to the window.
Opening the window, Rosie leaned out. She could see that Jade’s kitchen light was on.
There was another earsplitting shriek. “Eee-eek!” cried a woman’s voice.
“It’s Jade’s mom! Come on, Flame!” Rosie rushed out of the bedroom without a second thought.
She hurtled downstairs in her bare feet, and went across the lawn and through the gate into the alleyway. As she ran into Jade’s backyard, Flame tore after her, his silky black tail streaming behind him.
“Oh!” Rosie almost jumped out of her skin as a loud bark rang out. She heard strong claws scrabbling at the fence. She’d forgotten that a border collie lived next door to Jade.
Rosie quickly ran past the old garden shed outside Jade’s kitchen. Suddenly the kitchen door burst open.
“Rosie! What are you doing here?” Jade stood there in her pajamas.
“I heard screams. What’s going on?” Rosie said, peering around Jade.
Mrs. Ronson was perched on a stool in the middle of the kitchen. “Help! Call the exterminator!” she screamed.
“It’s okay, Rosie. I’ll handle it.” Jade turned bac
k into the kitchen. “Mom, calm down!” she pleaded.
Suddenly two small brown-and-white shapes cannoned past Rosie and dashed into the garden. It was Midge and Podge.
“Hey, you two, come back!” Rosie called.
But the terrified rats weren’t listening. To Rosie’s horror, they ran toward the fence and wriggled under a small gap at the base of it.
“Oh no!” Rosie gasped. “That dog will get them!”
“Do not worry. I will save them!” Silver sparks flared in Flame’s long black fur. He leaped onto Jade’s fence, trailing a comet’s tail of sparks behind him.
Rosie felt the warm magical tingling down her spine and heard a crackle of electricity. She clambered up onto the old garden shed to get a better look into Jade’s neighbor’s garden.
Midge and Podge were streaking across the lawn with the black-and-white collie snapping at their heels! Any second now, it was going to catch them!
Flame pointed a tiny black paw, and a fountain of colored sparks whooshed toward the dog. There was a blue flash. Where the collie had been, there was now a big, soft, fluffy ball, with two ears, four stubby legs, and a surprised-looking doggy face. As the dog ball rolled harmlessly across the lawn, Rosie gave a huge sigh of relief.
She looped one leg over Jade’s fence and quickly dropped down the other side. Dashing over to Midge and Podge, she scooped them up and then ran out the back gate into the alleyway and came back through Jade’s front gate.
She was only just in time. Lights were going on in some of the houses, and doors were opening. Rosie heard the collie barking and scrabbling at the fence again and knew that Flame’s magic had worn off.
“Thanks so much for saving Midge and Podge,” Rosie said to him.
“You are welcome,” Flame purred, jumping down from the fence in a final burst of sparks.
Jade came out of the kitchen holding the rats’ cage. “I went to get this. I thought you’d need it,” she said in a subdued voice.
Rosie put the rats safely back into their cage, before looking at Jade. “Where’s your mom?”
“Making some tea. She’s okay now that the rats are out of the house,” Jade told her.
“You didn’t ask your parents if you could have Midge and Podge, did you?” Rosie guessed.
Jade shook her head, looking downcast. “I knew they’d say no, but I thought they’d get used to the idea when they saw how well I looked after them. But I must have not closed the cage door properly, and Midge and Podge got out. How was I supposed to know Mom’s terrified of rats and mice? Yikes. I thought she was going to scream the house down!”
“It’s lucky Midge and Podge weren’t hurt. If Fla—I mean, if I hadn’t jumped over the fence and rescued them, they’d be dog food by now!” Rosie said, annoyed.
“I know. I’m really, really sorry,” Jade said in a small voice. “I . . . I wanted to show you that I actually liked animals, so you’d still want to be best friends with me and not with Uchena.”
Rosie saw tears glinting in Jade’s eyes. She hesitated for only a moment before giving her a hug. “You’ll always be my best friend, silly!” she said, starting to smile. “Your mom did look pretty funny standing on that chair!”
Jade gave a relieved laugh. “Yeah, she did!”
“I’d better take Midge and Podge back and then get dressed. Why don’t you come by and get me before school?” Rosie said.
“See you soon then!” Jade beamed at Rosie and then waved at her as she went home.
Rosie didn’t feel annoyed anymore as she put the rats’ cage back onto its shelf, but she still felt sad. It was going to be up to the Pet Care Center to find Midge and Podge a new home. The rats’ new owner could live anywhere and that meant she might never see them again.
Chapter
* SEVEN *
The following evening, Rosie and her parents had just finished dinner when the phone rang in the hall. Mr. Swales got up to answer it.
“Good news,” he told Rosie, coming back into the kitchen. “That was the lady from the Pet Care Center. She might have someone willing to take your fish and stick bugs. She’s also got someone who’s interested in the gerbils, but so far no one’s come forward for the rats or parakeets.”
“Oh,” Rosie said glumly, thinking that this was anything but good news. “It looks like my pets are all going to have to go to different homes.”
“Well, it must be hard to find someone who wants to take care of many pets as you,” her mom said reasonably.
“Exactly! That’s why I should keep them!” Rosie said.
Her dad gave her a stern look. “Now, Rosie—you know very well that we’ve been through all this. And we are letting you keep Daisy.”
Big deal, Rosie thought, but she was too sensible to say so. She jumped up from the table. “I’m going upstairs to read!”
When her parents weren’t looking, she rubbed the tips of her fingers together to call Flame out from under the table. He trotted upstairs after her.
“Grrrr! I’m so fed up!” Rosie said, clenching her fists, when she and Flame were alone. “If we didn’t have to move to a super tiny dollhouse, I could keep all my pets—” She stopped as an idea jumped into her head.
Flame twitched his ears and looked up at her. “What is it, Rosie?”
“I’m going to ask Gran if I can live with her! She’s got a big spare room in her apartment. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Come on, Flame. Let’s go over there and ask her about it, right now.”
“Perhaps you should tell your parents where you are going first?”
“No. They’ll only try to talk me out of it,” Rosie reasoned. “I want a chance to talk to Gran face-to-face. We can take the bus and be back before Mom and Dad even notice I’m gone. It’ll be a fun adventure for us!”
Flame nodded, his bushy black tail sticking up perkily.
Rosie went and gave Daisy a quick cuddle. “See you later. If this works, you won’t have to be parted from all your friends,” she told her as she stroked the rabbit’s long velvety ears.
She put her sneakers on, grabbed her fleece jacket, and then held her shoulder bag open so that Flame could jump inside.
Rosie crept downstairs and went out, closing the front door quietly behind her. Holding the bag carefully so Flame wouldn’t be jostled, she hurried to the bus stop at the end of the street.
But when she looked for her wallet to get the bus fare, it wasn’t in her shoulder bag. “Oh no. It must be in my schoolbag. I can’t risk going back to get it. We’ll just have to walk. I think I can remember the way.”
As she set off, Flame popped his head up out of the bag and sniffed the interesting smells.
Rosie walked quickly, passing the familiar houses and stores. After about fifteen minutes, she reached some streets she didn’t often walk down. “I think that’s where Mom goes to get her hair done,” she told Flame, pointing to a building.
After another twenty minutes, she came to a busy intersection. As she turned onto a long tree-lined street, she felt her heart sink. She didn’t remember ever coming here before, and she didn’t recognize any of the names of the side streets.
Rosie’s feet were starting to ache now, and she felt hot and sweaty. There was no one around to ask for directions.
Flame reached up out of the bag and patted her arm with a tiny front paw. He gave a mew of sympathy. “Are you all right, Rosie?”
“Not really. I’m tired and thirsty, and I think we’re completely lost,” she said, starting to feel tearful.
A large orange cat with a bright blue velvet collar and a gold bell came running out of a side street. Something about it seemed very familiar.
“Hey! That’s Tinker. What’s he doing way over here? He belongs to Mrs. Galloni, our new neighbor!” Rosie said.
Flame frowned. “Maybe it is you and I w
ho are close to Mrs. Galloni’s house?”
Rosie caught sight of the nearby street sign. It read “Milton Street.” Flame was right! Despite getting lost, they had somehow found their way across town and ended up almost at her new house!
“So we’re nowhere near Gran’s apartment. What a waste of time,” Rosie moaned.
She saw Tinker amble into the middle of the road and sit down to wash himself. “Look at that silly cat. He’ll get run over if he’s not careful. Tinker! Come here,” she called out.
Tinker yawned and blinked, but didn’t move.
Rosie watched as Flame leaped into the road, obviously intending to attract Tinker’s attention. But just as Flame trotted up to him, the orange cat got up and ambled to the other side of the road.
An enormous truck rounded the corner and began hurtling straight toward Flame. Rosie’s heart missed a beat. The driver hadn’t seen the tiny black kitten against the dark road! Flame started to run, but he wasn’t going to be able to get out of the way in time. Without a second thought, Rosie dashed into the road and grabbed Flame.
Holding him in her arms, she leaped for the sidewalk, but headlights blinded her, and there was a loud squeal of brakes as the truck skidded toward her.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
An explosion of bright sparks burst out all around Rosie, and she felt a familiar tingling down her spine. Her whole body seemed to ripple. There was a strange collapsing sensation, like the air going out of a balloon. Wind whistled past Rosie’s ears, and the road seemed to rush up to meet her.
Flame had shrunk them both to the size of mice!
Rosie crouched there as the mountainous truck roared overhead, with a thunderous noise that made the road shake. The second it had gone, Rosie hurtled to safety, her miniature legs feeling numb.
Moments later, Rosie came up against a curb as tall as a stone wall. She turned around to see that the truck driver was standing in the road, scratching his head. A few moments later, he climbed back into the truck and drove away.