9
Hot Pants!
Butch Grizzly knelt down, cleared away some snow with his hands and put the twigs he’d collected in a pile on the bare ground in front of him. He arranged them in a pyramid shape, reached into his pocket and took out a lighter. He flicked the switch and a flame appeared. He lowered the flame to the twigs and the small, dry ones took light. They burned orange.
Fuzzy, Coco, Terry, Olaf and Bernardo were all transfixed, It was as if they’d been hypnotized by the sight of the flame.
Coco was the first to snap out of it. ‘Quick, everyone!’ she said. ‘Think of what we can do to save Eduardo!’
The sight of the flame reminded Fuzzy of cooking. He thought of his favourite recipes and the fun he’d had making them. He thought of frying onions and stirring soup. He thought of whipping eggs and melting marshmallows. And then he thought of . . .
‘Hairdryers!’
He had once used a hairdryer to melt marshmallows and turn the edges brown.
‘What use are they?’ said Coco.
‘We can use them to burn Butch Grizzly’s trousers.’
Fuzzy, Bernardo, Olaf and Terry dashed to get the hairdryers which had been left on the ground after the foxes ran away. Fuzzy and Bernardo dragged one of them towards Butch Grizzly. Olaf and Terry dragged the other.
The fire was burning brightly now. It was nice and hot. Butch Grizzly grabbed his hat. He carefully undid the ties and reached into it to pull Eduardo out.
‘Mmm, delicious,’ he said to the camera.
The guinea pigs crept forward. They placed the hairdryers just behind Butch Grizzly. Fuzzy raised his paw. He remembered the battles he’d seen in the war films he watched with Ben on Sunday afternoons. He copied what the generals said when they were telling the troops to shoot the cannons.
‘Ready . . .?’
Bernardo, Olaf and Terry nodded that they were ready.
‘Aim . . .!’
The guinea pigs positioned the hairdryers so that they were pointing right at Butch Grizzly’s bottom.
‘Fire!’
The guinea pigs switched on the hairdryers.
‘Turn it to MAX,’ shouted Terry.
Intense heat burned into Butch Grizzly’s trousers.
‘OOOOOOOWWWWWWW!’
Butch Grizzly leaped in the air. He dropped the phone. He dropped Eduardo. He clutched his bottom with both hands.
Eduardo ran to his friends and all the guinea pigs scampered away as fast as they could. They didn’t want Butch Grizzly to see them, but they did want to see what happened to him.
Butch Grizzly clutched his trousers and rubbed his bottom. He hopped from one foot to another like a crazy kangaroo. The guinea pigs squeaked happily.
‘Are you OK?’ Bernardo whispered to Eduardo.
‘Yes, cousin. Thank you for saving me.’
‘It wasn’t me, it was all of us.’
The guinea pigs stopped squeaking when they saw two people walk up to Butch Grizzly.
‘Hand over the guinea pig!’ said a voice that Fuzzy recognized.
‘I haven’t got a guinea pig,’ Butch Grizzly replied.
‘You’ve eaten it!’ cried another voice that Fuzzy recognized.
It was Ben!
‘I haven’t! It ran away!’ replied Butch Grizzly.
‘Just a minute, I recognize you,’ interrupted Henrietta. ‘You’re Butch Grizzly, the TV adventurer. Isn’t he, Ben?’
‘Yes, yes, he is. But aren’t you meant to be in Norway? This is Strawberry Park. Norway is about a thousand kilometres away,’ said Ben.
‘Thanks,’ said Butch Grizzly. ‘I’ll be off then.’
‘No, you won’t,’ said Henrietta, ‘not before you’ve talked to the police.’
‘I don’t need to talk to the police. I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m just lost,’ said Butch Grizzly.
‘You’re not lost, you’re a thief,’ said Henrietta.
‘I haven’t stolen anything.’
‘Yes, you have. Put your hand in your pocket and show me what you have in there.’
‘With pleasure. It’s just a few broken biscuits.’
Butch Grizzly did as Henrietta had asked. He held out his hand.
Ben burst into tears. ‘Those are not just any old broken biscuits,’ he sobbed. ‘Those are my home-baked oat cookies that I made for the starving animals in this frozen copse. And you stole them.’
Fuzzy raised his paws to applaud Ben’s speech, but then he realized it would make too much noise and dropped them back to his sides. He didn’t want Ben and Henrietta to see him outside. They didn’t know that Fuzzy and Coco could let themselves in and out of their hutch. They probably thought their beloved pets were curled up in their soft bed of hay, sound asleep.
Just then a bright light shone in Butch Grizzly’s face. It came from a policeman’s torch.
‘You’re under arrest,’ the policeman said.
The policeman took Butch Grizzly away. Ben and Henrietta made their way back to the house.
Fuzzy looked around proudly at his guinea-pig friends. It was time to go home. Just then he realized someone was missing.
‘Where’s Coco?’ he said.