Rabbit Racer
Page 4
I didn’t have time to wonder what had happened, though. The next obstacle, the weaving poles, was hurtling towards me. Taz and I bobbed from side to side almost in unison, the red-and-white sticks wobbling as we rounded them. Then we were through and coming up to a jump. The criss-crossed bars looked very high. I snatched a deep breath and somersaulted over them.
A quick glance to my right told me Taz had cleared the jump too. Next up was a cloth tunnel, followed by another jump. We were neck and neck coming up to the wall of the ring, where our paths split. As I peeled off to the left and Taz sped away to the right, I looked ahead. We had one more jump and the balance bar left to cover. If things carried on as they were, it looked like Taz was going to win.
But I wasn’t ready to give up just yet and, gathering up all my strength, I pounded down the back straight and soared over the last jump. Over on the other side of the ring, I could see Taz swarming up the wooden plank which led to the red plastic balance beam. A second behind him, I zipped up my own plank. But once again, my feet refused to grip the plastic. As Taz picked his way over and began his descent at the other end, I found myself sliding along the beam, gathering speed like a surfer on a wave.
I couldn’t stop. Instead of going down the plank at the end as Taz had done, I flew off the plastic beam and overtook the cat in mid-air. In a flurry of sawdust, I landed ahead of him. Eyes fixed on the finish line, I scampered for it as fast as I could. Everything seemed to slow down. Taz was panting next to me. With one last surge of my back feet, I pushed forwards – and my nose nudged across the line just before his.
The crowd went wild. Susie was hugging me, Taz was licking me and Gloria was smiling from ear to ear.
‘We have a winner!’ she cried, beaming into the camera. ‘An unusual finish from Harriet, but it won her the race. Three cheers for Harriet Houdini – Rabbit Racer!’
The show cut to an advert break straight after the race. All the other pets and their owners crowded around us, offering congratulations and clapping.
‘Well done, Harriet!’ Susie said, lifting me up and twirling around. ‘You’re the most amazing bunny I’ve ever seen.’
EE agreed. ‘It was a brilliant race. But what on earth was all the sliding about? I’m sure we didn’t practise that at home.’
I looked at my paws. They looked the same as always, except for a thin layer of shiny cream. Susie’s hands flew to her mouth. ‘I think it’s my fault. Miranda gave me something to put on Harriet’s feet. She said it would stop them from hurting.’
Everyone looked at Miranda, who went red. ‘It’s an old family recipe,’ she declared. ‘I had no idea it would make Harriet’s paws slippery.’
EE took the tube of cream Susie was holding up. Carefully, he peeled back the plain white label and peered at what was underneath. ‘Beeswax furniture polish,’ he read. ‘To make your surfaces super shiny.’
Gloria frowned at Miranda. ‘I find it hard to believe that you didn’t realise this would affect Harriet’s race,’ she said in a stern voice. ‘In fact, I think you knew exactly what would happen.’
Miranda didn’t say anything. She stood there with Doodle at her feet, glowering at everyone.
The cameraman waved a panicky hand at Gloria. ‘Back on in ten seconds.’
‘Places, everyone,’ Gloria commanded. ‘We’ll sort this out later.’
The other pets and their owners scattered to various positions on the stage, leaving Gloria centre-stage.
‘Welcome back.’ Gloria smiled into the camera, as though nothing was wrong. ‘Wow, what an opening to the show that was! But the surprises don’t stop there. Here on Superpets, we like to shake things up. Each of our talented animals has been working on a secret new trick for this Summer Special, hoping to amaze you. Let’s start by meeting the Tap Hogs!’
The camera cut to Spike-tacular, who launched straight into a noisy tap-dancing number. Once they’d finished, Cherry bamboozled everyone with her new card trick, the terrapins wowed the crowd with their high-dive act and Lulu the chimpanzee made them gasp with her flaming hula hoop routine. I was impressed – everyone had been working really hard! After each pet’s performance, Doodle and Miranda grew paler and paler and when the camera swung round to them, I saw Doodle gulp. This was going to be interesting.
Gloria clapped her hands. ‘Now it’s time for our final act. Doodle the opera-singing Poodle will attempt to shatter glass using her voice alone!’
The stage lights dimmed and a spotlight glared down on Doodle and a single crystal goblet on a table next to her. The audience was hushed. Looking nervous, the poodle opened her mouth and began to howl. As her voice got higher and higher, I saw people in the crowd jamming their fingers in their ears. Spike-tacular rolled themselves into spiny balls, Gloria looked strained and I wrapped my ears around my head. After two minutes of woeful warbling, the glass showed no sign of shattering and Doodle had gone a funny pink colour. Then Miranda stepped forwards and stood beside the table.
‘Goodness me, what’s that?’ she called, pointing high above the audience. Everyone looked up and even the cameramen spun their cameras around, but there was nothing to see. Seconds later, we heard a loud crash on stage, followed by the tinkling of broken glass. When we all turned back to look at Doodle, the table was empty and Miranda was looking smug.
‘Oh dear, you missed Doodle’s amazing trick,’ she said, in a sickly sweet voice. ‘Never mind!’
Gloria looked disappointed and disapproving at the same time. ‘That’s a shame,’ she said. ‘But – er – sadly we don’t have time for a repeat performance because now it’s crunch-time for one of these pets. The animal whose new trick failed to wow the crowd will be leaving Superpets for good!’
There was a gasp as Gloria’s words sank in. Then the stage lights dimmed and a spotlight began to bounce around the pets, settling on each one for a few seconds before landing on another. Dramatic music began to play in the background. Sam and Spike-tacular looked nervous and I thought Trevor might faint, squashing his terrapins in the process. Cherry was busily counting, as usual, and Lulu was whirling her hula hoop in a worried way. Miranda didn’t look anxious at all, though; both her and Doodle had their snooty noses high in the air.
The spotlight moved faster as the music grew louder. Then, with a final crash of drums, it settled on the big, curly hair-dos of Doodle and Miranda. Gloria turned to the spectators smoothly. ‘Let’s have a big round of applause for Doodle the opera-singing Poodle and her owner, Miranda!’ She fired a brisk smile towards the spotlit pair. ‘I’m sure we’ve all enjoyed having them on the show, but all good things must come to an end.’
Miranda and Doodle scowled furiously in her direction and I thought Miranda would argue. Then she seemed to remember that the cameras were rolling and nodded at Doodle. Teeth fixed in a forced grin, the pair waved to the cheering crowd.
As Gloria signed off, Miranda leaned down to me. ‘You haven’t seen the last of us, Harriet Houdini,’ she hissed through her smile. ‘We’ll be back, and when we are, you’d better watch out.’
Doodle lunged for me, jaws snapping, but Taz leaped in between us. Spitting, he lashed out a paw and hit Doodle square on the nose. Doodle yelped and backed off, her own paw holding her face.
Tim saw and patted his cat on the head. ‘It looks like you two are firm friends,’ he said, winking at me. ‘I think Taz is going to enjoy being a Superpet!’
I looked at Taz and waggled my paws at him in thanks. Now that Miranda and Doodle were going, Superpets was going to be one hundred percent fun. But I decided I’d leave the racing to Taz in future. Being a Stunt Bunny was more than enough excitement for me!
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