Billie Jean looked into the pouch but the BFB wasn’t in there.
‘Did you post Emily, Etna?’ she asked.
‘Did she have a stamp on her?’ Etna asked.
‘No, she didn’t,’ said Billie Jean.
‘Well, then I didn’t,’ said Etna.
She pulled the front wheel out of the wet cement. It had been a long day. Etna just wanted to go home.
Rover barked.
Meanwhile, the owner of the handbag was getting on to the number 39A bus.
This time nobody had seen the BFB flying through the air. Not Rover, not Billie Jean, not Mister Mack, not the owner of the handbag.
And definitely not Messi.
He was still charging down the street like a mad thing.
Rover barked again.
Messi kept going.
This time, Rover had to shout.
‘Messi!’
Messi heard him.
But no one else did.
Well, they did. But they were too busy and much too worried to notice. They were looking for the BFB.
Messi stopped and turned and saw his Uncle Rover. And he ran straight across the street, right in front of a white van.
The white van screeched to a stop.
The driver’s window was open.
‘Watch where you’re going, pup!’ the driver shouted.
Then he started the white van again and continued on his journey to the airport.
Messi kept running, until he got back to Rover.
Rover hid behind a bin, so the humans wouldn’t hear him giving out to Messi.
‘You nearly got smacked by that white van there, Messi.’
‘I’d have smacked it back, Uncle Rover,’ said Messi.
He was a tough little dog.
‘Listen, Messi,’ said Rover. ‘If that van had hit you there’d be blood and guts everywhere. Think of the mess.’
‘Sorry, Uncle Rover,’ said Messi.
Meanwhile, Billie Jean and Mister Mack were still standing at the wet speed bump.
‘What will we do?’ asked Mister Mack.
Robbie Mack arrived. He jumped out of his car.
‘Where is she?’ he asked.
‘She’s around here somewhere,’ said Billie Jean.
‘We’ll have to search everywhere between here and the house,’ said Robbie.
Rover put his mouth to Messi’s ear.
‘I know where she is,’ he whispered.
Messi fell over.
‘Where?’ he asked when he stood up.
‘The white van,’ said Rover. ‘The windows were all open. She must have gone in through the window.’
He barked.
But the humans didn’t notice. They were looking in the shop windows. This wasn’t the first time that the BFB had gone on an adventure. They had once found her in the wine-shop window, sitting in among the bottles of wine.
Rover barked again.
But the humans still didn’t notice.
So Rover shouted. ‘The van!’
‘What van?’ Mister Mack asked.
He was looking in the bakery window.
‘The white van!’ Rover shouted.
‘I saw a white van when I was parking,’ said Robbie. ‘Quick!’
‘Where?’ said Mister Mack, and he ran to his bike.
‘Quick,’ said Robbie. ‘That was the word on the side of the white van.’
‘Only one word?’
‘Quick Couriers,’ said Robbie. ‘Anywhere In the World, We’ll Get It There Pronto.’
‘Oh, no!’ said Billie Jean. ‘That means the BFB could be going anywhere in the world.’
‘And pronto.’
‘Let’s go,’ said Robbie.
He ran to his car.
‘Oh, no!’
Robbie had parked his car on the wet speed bump. But it wasn’t wet any more. The cement was dry and the front wheels of the car were stuck in it.
Robbie grabbed his father’s bike.
‘Sorry, Dad,’ he said. ‘This is an emergency.’
‘We’ll stay here,’ said Billie Jean. ‘We’ll search all the gardens and shop windows.’
‘OK,’ said Robbie, and he took off on the bike.
The white van was a distant white dot.
Rover and Messi ran after Robbie.
‘What about the Gigglers, Uncle Rover?’ Messi asked.
‘What about them?’
‘They’re waiting for their poo,’ said Messi.
‘They’ll have to wait,’ said Rover. ‘We have to catch up with the BFB. And ASAP.’
What does ASAP mean?
Sorry, we’re in a hurry.