22

We’ve Got This

We cycled faster than we’d ever cycled, taking it in turns to be the one in front, each time trying to go a little faster.

We reached the Bog Road at 1.55 p.m. I was worried that we might have missed the van or that Derm and Ronan would be difficult to find, but three sheep were munching their way through the emergency sandwiches in the middle of the road.

‘Kitty!’ Ronan’s face, with the addition of a very badly drawn-on moustache, popped up from the ditch on one side. He looked like an old-fashioned inventor or a footballer from the 1980s.

‘Rex!’ Derm popped up just across the road. His even more ridiculous drawn-on beard made him look like he’d been living alone on a desert island for ten years. Even though we were the only non-sheep for miles, they still both spoke in loud whispers.

‘You’re not supposed to be here!’ said Ronan. ‘But did you bring the carrots?’

‘You have to get out of here!’ said Derm. ‘Just after you’ve helped us.’

‘Stay where you are!’ Kitty called back. ‘We’ve got this.’

We were still both panting from the bike ride, but this was one of those times when you don’t notice how tired you are because you have such an important job to do. I hid the bikes behind a bush that was far enough away while Kitty tipped the big bag of carrots out into the middle of the road. Then we began breaking them up and spreading the bits across the width of the road.

Realizing something more delicious was on offer, the three sheep abandoned the sandwiches. They must have signalled to their friends because suddenly at least twenty more came from nowhere, bumping me and Kitty on our knees as we prepared the rest of their feast.

In the back of my mind was the fear that this could all be a mistake. What if Friday had been a one-off and the bank van didn’t usually come this way? Then our whole operation would have been a huge waste of effort and carrots.

This thought was interrupted by Ronan, this time whisper-screaming, ‘IT’S COMING!’

Kitty and I looked up over the backs of the sheep. It reminded me of when you go above the clouds in an aeroplane. Well, it was like that, but with a blue bank van in the distance, zooming towards us.

It was happening. And Kitty and I were definitely not supposed to be here.

‘What do we do?’ I whispered in her ear.

‘I don’t know!’ she said, shaking her head vigorously.

If we stood up now, we’d stick out against the backdrop of white woolly coats.

‘We have to stay put,’ she said.

‘OK,’ I agreed. It was our only option. As more sheep arrived and swarmed round us, we lay flat on the road beside each other and held hands.

Ronan and Derm might have been shouting at us, but we couldn’t hear over the sound of carrots being crunched and our hearts beating in our ears. After what seemed like an hour but was probably a minute, we heard the first beep of the van, then a burst of three, followed by one long, sustained BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

Just as a level of utter panic I’d never known before rose inside me, Kitty leaned into my ear and said calmly, ‘Don’t worry. I’m sure nothing bad will happen. Nothing baaaaaaaaad.’

Then, taking Kitty’s lead, all the sheep around us started baaing as loudly as they could. I joined in too. A week before, I’d been terrified of them. Now I was part of a flock.