Back at number 7, Middleton Crescent, Fuzzy was looking at his website on the computer.
‘Coco, this is great! We’ve got three hundred and fifty-seven ticks!’ he said proudly.
‘What does that mean?’ Coco positioned the squashy cushion below the table so Fuzzy could jump down.
‘It means loads of people are coming to help fix the cages and clean up the rescue centre. The Easter Fair can go ahead. And some of them want to know more about Binny. I’m going to post another message.’
‘There. That should do it.’
PLUMP!
Fuzzy landed on the squashy cushion and rolled off.
‘Oh, Fuzzy, you are clever at computers!’ Coco gave him a hug.
‘Thanks,’ Fuzzy said, blushing.
‘We need to find Binny and tell her!’ Coco exclaimed.
Just then they heard noises in the garden.
‘Quick, Coco, it’s Ben and Henrietta!’ said Fuzzy.
The two guinea pigs scampered back to the hutch.
‘Hide the keys! I’ll do the door,’ said Fuzzy.
CLANG!
Fuzzy pulled the door shut while Coco wriggled under the straw as far as she could with the satchel.
‘Here comes Ben,’ Fuzzy said with relief. ‘He’s got the pet carrier.’
‘He must have caught Binny,’ Coco said. ‘Thank goodness.’
The two guinea pigs peeped out of the hutch. Ben was closing the back door carefully behind him with one hand. In the other hand dangled the pet carrier.
‘But where’s Henrietta?’ Coco asked.
Fuzzy shrugged. ‘Maybe she went to give Alan the cat a stroke. It doesn’t really matter as long as Binny’s all right.’ He breathed a sigh of relief. ‘It would have been awful if she missed the Easter Fair when so many people are expecting her. I can’t wait to tell her about the website.’
Just then they heard a sound that made their blood freeze.
‘Help me, amigos!’
It was coming from the pet carrier.
Coco shot a horrified look at Fuzzy. ‘Oh no!’ she cried. ‘It’s not Binny. Ben’s captured Eduardo instead!’
Ben placed the pet carrier down on the floor beside the guinea pigs’ hutch. ‘I’ll go and get my car keys,’ he said, to nobody in particular.
‘Car keys?’ Coco repeated faintly. ‘Where’s he going?’
Eduardo sat down heavily beside the door of the pet carrier and poked his nose through the bars. ‘He is taking me to prison,’ he sighed sadly.
‘Prison?’ Fuzzy repeated. ‘What prison?’
‘PetsGo2 Prison,’ Eduardo said. He slumped down on his back and stared at the ceiling of the carrier in despair.
‘Oh no,’ Fuzzy gasped. ‘What on earth are we going to do now?’ He scratched the crest on his head.
Coco thought hard. Even though Fuzzy was brilliant on the computer, he wasn’t always very good at working things out. And Eduardo was too busy feeling sorry for himself to come up with anything sensible. She would have to do the thinking, as usual.
‘I know!’ she said. ‘You can escape. With your skeleton keys.’
‘My skeleton keys!’ Eduardo repeated. ‘That’s it, señorita! Quick, amigos. Give me my satchel.’
‘I’ll get it.’ Fuzzy scampered to the pile of hay in the corner of the hutch and burrowed into it.
‘Where on earth are those darned car keys?’ Ben was still searching and was talking to no one in particular. He started opening and closing drawers.
It was a race between Fuzzy and Ben. Who would find their set of keys first? Coco held her breath. She told herself to keep calm. Ben was always losing his car keys. It usually took him ages to find them. Eduardo had plenty of time to escape.
‘Hurry, Fuzzy, my friend!’ Eduardo urged.
‘I can’t find the satchel,’ Fuzzy complained, flicking bits of their bed into the air with his paws. The hay was dense and tangled. Each stalk seemed to have been twisted in a knot around the next one. ‘Coco’s hidden it.’
‘You told me to!’ Coco protested.
Just then Henrietta came in. ‘It’s no good,’ the guinea pigs heard her say. ‘I can’t find Binny.’
Coco felt her heart beat faster. How were they going to tell Binny about the website if they couldn’t find her? And that wasn’t the only thing worrying her. Henrietta was much more sensible than Ben: she would almost certainly know where to find the car keys. Fuzzy would have to hurry.
Ben burst into tears. ‘I hate to think of Binny out there all alone,’ he wept. ‘That poor defenceless little bunny.’
‘Pah!’ Eduardo spat. ‘Poor defenceless little binny? Are you kidding me? You should see what she did to that fox!’
‘Yes, but Ben doesn’t know that,’ Coco pointed out. ‘Hurry up with those keys, Fuzzy.’
‘I’m trying!’ Fuzzy panted from under the straw. He could see the satchel but he couldn’t quite reach it. He was fatter than Coco and she could get into parts of the straw he couldn’t.
Henrietta handed Ben a tissue. She was not prone to bursting into tears herself but she always kept the tissues handy in case Ben did. ‘I think I saw her tail disappearing under the old oak tree. I had a poke about with a stick. There seems to be some sort of burrow down there.’
‘Bunny’s in my burrow!’ Eduardo howled in anguish. ‘I have to get back there before she does any damage.’
‘Quick!’ Coco ordered. She was beginning to feel really anxious about Eduardo. If Henrietta thought that Binny was safe, it wouldn’t be long before the subject got back to taking Eduardo to the pet shop.
‘Got it!’ Fuzzy’s front paw made contact with the strap of the satchel. He gripped it firmly and began to pull. ‘Darn it, now I’m stuck!’
Ben blew his nose loudly. ‘Do you think Binny might have found some other bunny friends?’ he sniffed.
‘Yes, I do.’ Henrietta said firmly. ‘So stop feeling bad about her and get this little chap off to the pet shop instead. Peggy will look after him. That will make you feel better.’
Coco saw Henrietta’s sensible shoes coming towards the hutch. She saw Henrietta’s knees bend and her hand reach towards the pet carrier.
‘Fuzzy!’ she chattered. ‘Now!’
‘Coming!’ he panted.
‘But I can’t find the car keys,’ Ben complained.
Henrietta’s hand hovered over the handle. ‘Have you tried your pocket?’ she suggested, turning to look at Ben.
‘Here!’ Fuzzy reached the door of the hutch. He passed the satchel to Coco.
Coco opened it and took out the skeleton keys. She got ready to throw them to Eduardo.
Eduardo held his paw out between the bars of the pet carrier door.
‘Here they are!’ Ben took out the car keys from his pocket. ‘They must have been there all the time. Silly me.’
Henrietta looked down again. Her hand closed on the handle of the pet carrier.
‘Throw them, señorita!’ Eduardo cried.
Coco thought fast. It was too late to throw the skeleton keys. If Henrietta saw her she would think it was very odd for one guinea pig to be throwing a set of miniature keys to another guinea pig. Worse still, she might take the keys away. If Henrietta did that, then Eduardo would still end up in the pet shop and she and Fuzzy wouldn’t be able to get out of their hutch to rescue him!
‘No.’ She sat on the keys instead so that Henrietta couldn’t see them.
‘Then I am doomed!’ The pet carrier rose into the air. ‘Goodbye, amigos. It’s been nice knowing you.’
Henrietta’s sensible shoes followed Ben’s trainers into the hallway and up the stairs.
There was silence in the kitchen.
‘Uh-oh,’ Fuzzy whispered finally. ‘Now what?’
Coco put the satchel around her neck.
‘We’ll fix that lock so we can open it without a key like we did before,’ she said. ‘Then first thing tomorrow we’ll go to Eduardo’s burrow and get Binny.’ She took a deep breath. ‘And then we’ll go to the pet shop and rescue Eduardo!’
