by Justin D'Ath
‘RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT TURN!’ yelled Jordan, swinging on the handlebars.
Myrtle didn’t know right from left, but she did understand turn. She turned left. But the FoxMobile was going too fast and the handlebars were turned the wrong way. It started to tip.
‘Shishkebab!’ cried the twins.
CRASH! WALLOP! THUMP!
Everything went pitch dark.
Am I dead? Jordan wondered.
He opened his eyes. He wasn’t dead, he just felt a bit dizzy. Harry lay on the grass next to him. He was okay, too. The FoxMobile lay several metres away. It was upside-down. Myrtle sat next to it, panting and looking happy, like she always did after a good run.
People came charging at them from all directions.
The twins’ parents got there first.
‘Jordan! Harry! Are you all right?’ they cried.
Harry sat up and grinned. ‘Isn’t it lucky we remembered our helmets?’ he said.
Mrs Walsh was next to arrive. She looked cross. ‘Which one is Jordan?’ she asked.
Jordan raised a shaky hand.
‘What on earth did you think you were doing?’ she demanded. ‘You could have killed someone!’
Jordan didn’t know what to say. How could he tell the principal it was actually her fault?
‘It was your fault, Mrs Walsh,’ Harry said. (That’s how you did it.) ‘You told Myrtle to mush.’
But Harry said it too loudly. Myrtle was just behind him. As soon as she heard the M word, she gave another joyful Woof! and took off.
Or tried to.
This time the FoxMobile was upside-down. Even Myrtle-power wasn’t enough to pull it very fast. It wobbled slowly across the damp grass behind her.
And the cage door popped open.
The goanna didn’t know what was going on. It was dizzy and scared, and still a bit cross about being locked in a little wire cage that was much too small for it.
When the door popped open, there was only one thought in the goanna’s not-very-big reptile brain: Go goanna!
It shot out of the cage, swerved away from some hands (Harry’s) that were trying to catch it, went zipping past the huge hairy animal (Myrtle) pulling the cage, and took off across the oval, faster than it had ever run before.
Loud voices were yelling and screaming. Even worse, the goanna heard the huge hairy animal start barking behind it – that made it run even faster.
Ahead of the goanna were things that looked a bit like trees. They weren’t very big, but the terrified lizard knew it had to get off the ground before the huge, hairy, barking animal caught up.
But as the goanna got closer to the little trees, they started running away from it. Weird!
Loud screams started coming from the running trees.
Birds, thought the goanna.
It spotted one of the birds. A white cockatoo was perched near the top of one of the little trees.
It was the loudest bird of all.
‘WHO’S A PRETTY BOY?’ it screeched.
The cockatoo looked safe up there, so the goanna decided to join it.
But when it reached the top, the big, scared lizard discovered there was an even louder bird hiding in a hole next to the cockatoo.
‘EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!’
Zoe Hall was LOUD! She was so loud that the goanna leapt off her head, went zipping away through everyone’s legs and disappeared under the gym.
Zoe’s scream even scared Charlie the cockatoo. Flying off her shoulder, Charlie went flapping away over everyone’s heads towards a line of real trees at the end of the oval. But he wasn’t very good at flying. He got lower and lower. Halfway to the trees, he crashed into the little kindergarten boy with the kitten. The kitten got such a fright, it jumped out of the boy’s arms.
Uh oh, thought Jordan.
He was running alongside Harry. They were both chasing Myrtle. She and the upside-down FoxMobile had reached the middle of the oval. She could no longer see the goanna, but she’d spotted the kitten.
‘MYRTLE, NO!’ yelled Harry and Jordan.
Four years of training disappeared in the blink of an eye.
‘WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!’ roared Myrtle, and took off after the kitten.
The upside-down FoxMobile took off after Myrtle.
And the twins took off after both of them.
Even though the tipped-up FoxMobile was slowing her down, Myrtle had a head start on the twins.
Luckily, the kitten had a head start on Myrtle. It reached the nearest tree and scampered up the trunk.
Myrtle was under the tree, barking her head off, by the time the twins arrived.
‘Shush!’ said Jordan, wrapping his arms around her muzzle to make her stop.
Harry wrapped his arms around her from the other side.
‘Shush, Myrtle!’
Finally, she stopped barking.
The twins’ dad arrived and helped them tip the FoxMobile upright. The handlebars were bent, but that was the only damage. Harry climbed onto the driver’s seat, and Jordan and Mr Fox dragged Myrtle away from the tree.
The oval looked like a total disaster area. Panicked pets were running off in all directions, chased by children and parents and teachers.
There were lots of jobs for Mission Fox, but the twins and their dad were busy keeping Myrtle under control. There were other cats and kittens among the runaway pets. Myrtle was quivering and whimpering in excitement.
So much for four years of dog training.
‘EVERYONE STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!’ Mrs Walsh’s voice boomed through the megaphone.
Everyone froze. Even some of the pets stopped to listen.
And that’s when Jordan sneezed. One of the cats had come too close. Myrtle soon fixed that – one growl, and it ran for its life.
‘THANK YOU,’ Mrs Walsh said, when all was quiet except for the sneezing. ‘NOW, I WANT EVERYONE TO CALMLY AND QUIETLY FIND YOUR PETS AND LINE UP IN FRONT OF ME.’
Nobody was taking any notice of the twins and the FoxMobile.
‘I think you’d better take Myrtle home,’ their dad said softly.
It was a good idea. Jordan sneezed one last time, then jumped onto the FoxMobile behind Harry.
Harry told Myrtle to walk – he didn’t say the ‘M’ word – and they zigzagged slowly through the crowd towards the exit gates.
But they didn’t get there.
‘JORDAN AND HARRY FOX!’ Mrs Walsh boomed. ‘COME HERE, PLEASE!’
Doh! thought Jordan. Sprung!
Harry turned the FoxMobile towards Mrs Walsh. She was right down the far end of the oval. Next to her was Zoe Hall and an old lady who looked like Mrs Seabert, the owner of Charlie the cockatoo. The twins’ mum was there, too.
Harry stopped the FoxMobile in front of them.
‘Hi, Mum!’ the twins said.
Their mum didn’t say anything, but Mrs Walsh did.
‘And just what have you got to say for yourselves, boys?’
The twins looked at the ground. Jordan hoped Harry wasn’t going to say what he’d said before – that it was Mrs Walsh’s fault.
‘Well?’ said their mum. She sounded just as cross as the school principal.
‘Sorry, Mrs Walsh,’ said Jordan.
‘Sorry, Mrs Walsh,’ said Harry.
‘I think you should say sorry to Zoe,’ Mrs Walsh said. ‘Your goanna gave her a nasty scare.’
Zoe was crying. Mrs Seabert had an arm around her and was wiping her tears with a tissue.
‘Sorry, Zoe,’ the twins said.
Mrs Seabert frowned. ‘Don’t I know you two?’
Harry nodded. ‘We rescued Bella.’
‘Who’s Bella?’ asked the twins’ mum.
Bella was a huge python that belonged to Mrs Seabert’s husband. The twins had caught her a few weeks ago when she’d escaped from her cage, but they hadn’t told their parents. (Mr and Mrs Fox didn’t know that some Mission Fox rescues were dangerous.)
‘Just a pet,’ said Jordan.
Luckily, their dad arrived before their mum could ask any more tricky questions. Charlie the cockatoo was perched on his arm.
‘Here’s your cocky,’ he said to Zoe.
‘WHO’S A PRETTY BOY?’ shrieked Charlie.
‘He belongs to me,’ said Mrs Seabert, stepping forward to take him. ‘I’m Zoe’s grandmother.’
‘I told you it was Charlie,’ Harry said to Jordan.
‘Shhhh!’ said Jordan.
Mrs Walsh was glaring at them. ‘Get off your billycart, boys. I have another job for you.’
The twins climbed slowly off the FoxMobile (even though it wasn’t a billycart). What did the principal want them to do?
‘Now turn around and face everyone,’ she said.
Jordan and Harry turned around.
Shishkebab!
Everyone in the whole school – as well as their pets, parents and some grandparents, too – was gathered in front of them like the audience at a Big Day Out rock concert.
Mrs Walsh raised the megaphone. ‘HARRY AND JORDAN HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY,’ she announced.
She handed the megaphone to Jordan.
Gulp!
Jordan hated public speaking. Even speaking in front of his class – twenty-six kids – made him stutter and forget his words. Now he was standing in front of about 600 people! Half of them were adults, and all of them looked angry!
‘What do you want me to say?’ he whispered to Mrs Walsh.
‘Apologise for spoiling the Olympic Parade,’ she said.
Jordan lifted the megaphone and pressed the talk button. But he was so scared that his voice didn’t work. Instead of words, a funny sound came out of his mouth.
The megaphone made it very loud.
‘UHHH … UHHH!’
Some of the kindergarten kids and Grade Ones began to giggle.
‘Get on with it!’ growled Mrs Walsh.
Jordan’s face went red. Six hundred sets of eyes (900, if you counted the pets’ eyes) watched him. Eight hundred and ninety-eight sets of ears (there were two goldfish, and they didn’t have ears) listened to him. But all Jordan could do was say, ‘UHHH … UHHH!’
Harry grabbed the megaphone from Jordan’s hands. He wasn’t shy like his brother. But he didn’t know how to use a megaphone. You weren’t supposed to shout into it!
‘GET BACK DOWN!’
Harry was so loud that everyone in town (11,838 sets of ears) heard him.
Harry wasn’t looking at all the people and pets in the crowd. He was looking over their heads. At something behind them.
Everyone turned to look.
At the other end of the oval was a line of trees. At the top of the very tallest tree, crouched in a fork, was a tiny furry ball. It looked like a kitten.
But that wasn’t why Harry had shouted. Just below the kitten, something was making the branches shake. At first, nobody could see what it was – there were too many leaves. Then a little hand appeared above the leaves, followed by a little head.
It was the kindergarten boy who’d lost the kitten. One slip and he’d fall six metres to the ground. He’d break his neck!
‘Marcus Walsh, what on earth do you think you’re doing?’ shrieked Miss Barnes.
Marcus Walsh? thought Jordan. He has the same last name as …
The principal picked up the megaphone. It was lying on the ground where Harry had been standing two seconds earlier.
‘MARCUS, THIS IS YOUR MUM,’ she called. ‘I WANT YOU TO STOP CLIMBING AND STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE.’
‘But Tigger’s stuck!’ Marcus wailed.
‘TIGGER WILL BE ALL RIGHT,’ said Mrs Walsh. ‘PLEASE LISTEN TO MUMMY, MARCUS. STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE.’
Marcus looked down. His face turned lily-white when he saw how high he was. High enough to die if he fell!
Forgetting about Tigger and forgetting what his mother had just said, Marcus started climbing back down. But he didn’t get far. One of his feet missed its footing. The other one slipped, too.
The rest of him followed.
‘GASP!’ went 600 people.
Marcus grabbed a branch. It stopped his fall. Six hundred people held their breath as he dangled six metres above the ground, his feet kicking in mid-air.
How long could he hang on?
‘Jump on, Agent J,’ said a voice beside Jordan.
It was Harry on the FoxMobile.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jordan slid onto the back seat.
‘Mush!’ said Harry.
Myrtle gave a loud, happy bark – ‘WOOF!’ – and took off.
Everyone heard Harry say the ‘M’ word. Everyone heard Myrtle bark. And everyone knew what that meant.
They leapt out of the way, making a gap in the crowd just wide enough for the FoxMobile to go shooting through.
‘Get the FoxHook ready, Agent J!’ Harry cried over his shoulder.
‘We didn’t bring it!’ cried Jordan.
‘It’s under your seat,’ Harry said. ‘I put it there after our last rescue.’
Jordan felt under his seat. Sure enough, he found a coil of rope. The end was attached to a big three-pronged hook, like they used in movies to climb castle walls. Jordan started unwinding the rope as the FoxMobile hurtled towards the tree where Marcus was hanging on for his life.
It didn’t look like he could hang on for much longer.
Would Mission Fox get there in time?
Harry waited until the last moment, then he gave the order:
‘EMERGENCY STOP!’
Four school shoes hit the deck.
The morning sun had risen a little bit higher. It had dried some of the dew off the grass. The Mission Fox agents dug their heels in as hard as they could. Dirt flew. Their shoes left furrows in the grass, like two motorbikes doing burn-outs.
The FoxMobile came to a stop right under the tree. The twins jumped off.
Marcus was hanging on, but only just.
‘What are you going to do?’ Jordan asked, as Harry snatched the FoxHook from his hands.
‘I’m going to throw it over the branch above him.’
Harry twirled the hook on the end of the rope – whoosh, whoosh, whoosh – then sent it flying up the tree.
Usually Harry didn’t miss. He’d spent hours and hours practising on the bent clothesline at home. But this time his throw went too high – the hook flew over the branch above Marcus, then fell back to the ground on the other side, trailing the long rope behind it.
‘Wouldn’t it be quicker just to climb the tree?’ Jordan asked in a panic.
Harry wasn’t listening. He was tying the end of the rope around his waist.
‘Hook the other end to the FoxMobile, Agent J!’ he said.
Suddenly Jordan understood Harry’s plan. He grabbed the dangling hook and jammed two prongs through the cage on the back of the FoxMobile. Then he jumped into the driver’s seat and got Myrtle to do a U-turn.
‘Ready, Agent H?’ he called.
His brother was attached to one end of the rope. The other end was attached to the FoxMobile. The middle bit was looped over the branch above Marcus.
‘Take me up, Agent J!’ said Agent H.
Agent J turned to Myrtle. ‘Walk!’ he said. (Not the ‘M’ word.)
Myrtle started walking, pulling the FoxMobile behind her. As the FoxMobile, with the hook attached, rolled away from the tree, the rope became tight and started lifting Harry slowly upwards.
Everyone on the oval was watching.
‘HANG ON JUST A LITTLE BIT LONGER, DARLING!’ Mrs Walsh called through the megaphone.
But Marcus had been hanging on for ages. He was running out of strength.
One by one, his little fingers started slipping off the branch, until he wasn’t holding on at all!
With a wail of sheer terror, Marcus started to fall.
A pair of arms grabbed him.
‘Gotcha!’ said Agent H, dangling six metres off the ground on the end of the FoxHook rope.
Six hundred
people cheered so loudly that 11,238 other people heard them.
The twins’ dad and Mr Stokes unhooked the rope from the FoxMobile and lowered Harry and Marcus safely to the ground.
Then the hugging began: Mrs Walsh hugged Marcus, Mrs Fox hugged Harry, Mr Fox hugged Jordan and Miss Barnes hugged Myrtle.
Then everyone switched around: Mrs Walsh hugged Harry, Miss Barnes hugged Marcus, Mrs Fox hugged Jordan and Mr Fox shook hands with Mr Stokes.
And then Mrs Walsh was heading in Jordan’s direction.
Uh oh! thought Jordan.
He started backing away, but the FoxMobile was behind him. There was no escape. Mrs Walsh’s arms went around him like the tentacles of an octopus.
And she kissed him!
In front of the entire school!
Jordan’s face turned bright red.
‘Thank you, Harry,’ said the principal of Nullambine Primary.
This time Jordan didn’t tell her she had the wrong twin. (Maybe the other kids would think she’d kissed Harry! he thought.)
‘I can’t tell you how grateful I am for what you and Jordan just did!’ Mrs Walsh said.
‘You’re welcome,’ said the twin with lipstick on his cheek.
The other twin came over (but not close enough to be kissed). ‘Mrs Walsh, do you still want us to come and see you for being late?’
The principal looked at one twin, then the other. She shook her head.
‘But if you’re late one more time …’ she said.
As soon as everyone had stopped hugging and shaking hands and telling Jordan and Harry they were heroes, the twins took off their helmets and gave each other a Mission Fox high ten.
‘Mission over, Agent H!’
‘There’s lipstick on your cheek, Agent J.’
Eeeew! Jordan quickly rubbed it off. ‘It was a good rescue,’ he said.
Harry nodded. ‘Do you reckon it was a Code Bright Red?’
‘There’s no code for people,’ Jordan said.
‘There should be,’ said Harry. ‘Code Purple, or something.’
Jordan shook his head. ‘Mission Fox isn’t supposed to rescue people.’