River Rescue

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“He’s so cute,” she whispered.

Rusty couldn’t finish the bottle. Sally looked worried as she put him back in his pen.

“I’ll try him again later,” she said, shutting the door.

Rusty settled down with his nose in his tail and closed his eyes.

“Maybe he’s tired,” said Antonia.

“Let’s hope so. He had quite a traumatic night. Claudia said he was terrified when he first arrived. Poor Claudia! She was up half the night dealing with Rusty, so she didn’t get much sleep before she had to get up and go to the airport.”

Sally poured Rusty’s milk down the sink and washed the bottle.

“What do you want me to do today?” asked Antonia.

“The razorbill and the herring gulls need cleaning out and feeding, but if that’s too much for you I could find something easier?”

“I’ll do the birds,” said Antonia, pleased to be busy. Sea Watch felt weird without Claudia and Cai. It was far too quiet and empty. Antonia hoped that some other volunteers would arrive soon. Putting on a disposable apron and a pair of gloves, she collected cleaning materials and went outside to the aviaries. The first one contained Billy the razorbill, who was recovering from getting oil on his feathers. He sat on a perch watching Antonia navigate the porch with its double-door system designed to stop birds escaping.

“Urr,” he said conversationally.

“Urr,” answered Antonia, mimicking his throaty growl.

She removed the soiled straw from his sleeping quarters and replaced it with a fresh batch. Then she cleaned out his water bowl and refilled it. After that, Antonia swept and mopped the concrete floor. Finally, she left Billy with a fish breakfast and went outside to sweep round the aviary, clearing away the bits of straw and bird seed.

“Hi, Antonia.”

Antonia was so engrossed in her job that she hadn’t heard Emily arrive.

“Do you need any help?”

“Yes, please,” said Antonia. “I’m just about to start on the gulls.”

It was fun working with Emily. She made Antonia laugh telling her stories about life in Year Seven at Sandy Bay High, the local comprehensive. They finished the gulls in half the time it had taken Antonia to do Billy and then went inside. To Antonia’s surprise it was mid-morning and time to stop for a break. She sat with Sally and the other volunteers and was drinking squash and eating a biscuit when Cai arrived back from the airport with his parents and Claudia.

“Everyone, this is my mum and dad,” announced Cai, pinching a biscuit from the plate.

Antonia had met Cai’s parents before, but hadn’t seen them for ages and was overcome with shyness. She quickly recovered when Mr and Mrs Pacific hugged her warmly.

“How was your flight?” she asked, hugging them back.

“Good,” said Mr Pacific, “until we stepped off the plane and remembered how cold it is here in April.” He shivered dramatically and chattered his teeth.

“This isn’t cold, it’s warm!” exclaimed Cai.

Mr and Mrs Pacific looked as sleepy as Rusty the fox cub after their long flight, but Cai was too excited to notice and insisted on showing them round with Antonia.

“Come and see outside,” he said, after they’d looked at everything indoors. “We’ve got new aviaries, a deepwater pool and our own beach.”

“Is it the same beach that was here the last time I visited Claudia?” Mr Pacific joked.

Cai laughed. “You haven’t seen the deepwater pool, though,” he said persuasively.

“We’ll see the outside later, honey,” said Mrs Pacific, smothering a yawn with her hand. “Right now I need to lie down before I fall down!”

Antonia didn’t go up to the house with Cai. Expecting him to stay with his parents, she went down to the beach with Emily to take some sea-water samples. But it wasn’t long before Cai joined them.

“That was quick,” said Antonia.

“There wasn’t much point in hanging around,” said Cai. “Mum and Dad are having a sleep in Claudia’s spare room.”

“Don’t you miss your parents?” asked Emily curiously. “I’d miss mine if they lived on the other side of the world.”

Cai sighed. “I do miss them loads, but when we all lived together I didn’t see them much because they were working such long hours. In a way, it’s better like this. Now when I see them they take time off work so we can do stuff together. Dad’s taking me windsurfing and he said you could come too, Antonia.”

“Really? I’ve always wanted to try that,” said Antonia enthusiastically. She was pleased Mr Pacific had invited her.

There was so much to do at Sea Watch that the day sped by. Claudia was concerned about Rusty, who still wasn’t feeding well, and she rang Mr Singh, the vet, for a chat. She looked a little happier afterwards.

“Mr Singh thinks our cub might be cold. He told me to put a heat lamp in his pen and see if that helps. He’s also suggested getting in touch with the Sandy Bay Badger Sanctuary. They take in injured or orphaned fox cubs as well as badgers, so I’m going to see if they have room for Rusty. Mr Singh thinks he’ll be much better off there because they have lots of experience dealing with young cubs. They’ll have other foxes for Rusty to socialise with.”

At the end of the day Antonia and Cai couldn’t resist going to visit the cub before they went home. Rusty looked so small and cute curled up in the pen on his own.

“I wish we could keep him here until he’s big enough to release back into the wild,” said Cai.

“Me too,” Antonia agreed. “But it wouldn’t be fair. He’ll be much happier at the badger sanctuary.”

“I wonder if he misses his parents,” said Cai with a soft sigh.

Antonia gave Cai a look as he headed for the door.

But Cai sounded his usual cheery self as he called back, “See you tomorrow, Antonia. And don’t forget to ask if you can go windsurfing while my parents are here.”

“I’ll ask as soon as I get in,” said Antonia, following him.

Chapter Three (#ulink_9cdfcf60-eb40-51af-8a27-3b75d965ae2e)

The moment Antonia arrived home her little sister Jessica swooped on her.

“Come and play with me,” she said. “I’ve built a den in my bedroom with blankets and pegs. It’s really cool.”

“In a minute, Jess,” said Antonia. She wanted to ask Mum about going windsurfing first.

“That was nice of Cai’s dad,” said Mum. “Of course you can go.”

“Good, now you can come and play with me,” said Jessica.

Laughing good-naturedly, Antonia let Jessica pull her upstairs.

“Close your eyes,” said Jessica bossily.

Antonia closed them and Jess flung open her bedroom door, declaring dramatically, “Open them again.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Antonia. “This is really cool, Jess.”

The den took up most of the bedroom and reminded Antonia of a Bedouin tent in the desert. It was built from blankets pegged to various objects in the room. There was a string of pink and blue flower-shaped lights hanging around the entrance. The bedroom curtains were drawn and the lights glowed prettily in the darkened room. Antonia crawled inside and found that the den was comfortably furnished with cushions and pillows. The bathroom radio was playing softly in the background and Jessica had put a framed photo of Mum, Dad and Antonia on a table made from an upside-down box.

“I love it,” said Antonia, settling on a cushion.

They only had a short time to play before tea, so after they’d eaten, Jessica asked Antonia if she’d come back to the den to play some more.

“Not tonight,” said Mum, stacking the dirty plates. “It’s time to take the den down and get in the bath.”

“Can I leave it up?” asked Jess. “I want to play in it again tomorrow. Antonia does too, don’t you?”

“I’d love to, but I’m going to Sea Watch,” said Antonia. “I’ll play with you when I get home, though.”

“Is that a good idea when you’re going windsurfing with Cai?” asked Mum. “I thought you might give Sea Watch a break for a day or two. Cai’s not seen his parents for ages and he might like some time alone with them.”

“Then Cai won’t come to Sea Watch, he’ll stay up at the house,” said Antonia reasonably.

Dad sighed wistfully. “Lucky you! Before I started my garage business I used to go windsurfing. Those were the days…when I had time for hobbies!”

Antonia groaned loudly. It was a family joke that Dad never had time for anything because he was always working.

“Just don’t overstay your welcome,” said Mum. “Cai’s a good friend. He might not tell you that he doesn’t want you around all the time in case he hurts your feelings.”

“Cai knows me better than that!” said Antonia indignantly. “We don’t have secrets from each other.”

“What about my den?” Jessica interrupted. “Can I keep it up or not?”

Mum hesitated. “All right, but no more playing in it tonight. Go and get in the bath.” Mum followed Jessica upstairs to get her a towel from the airing cupboard.

Antonia went outside and stared at the bay. The blue sea shimmered invitingly and she longed to be swimming in it. She screwed up her eyes against the slanting evening sunshine, hoping she might see her dolphins. But the only things in the water were the bright-green canoes of the Sandy Bay rowing club. Disappointed, Antonia went indoors.

The next morning, Antonia was the first volunteer to arrive at Sea Watch. Claudia was pleased to see her and handed her a warm bottle of milk, saying, “Can you feed Rusty for me?”

“I’d love to,” said Antonia.

“Great,” said Claudia. “I need to put in an order for supplies and if I don’t do it now we’re going to run out of things. Please can you make a note of how much milk he drinks? He took a little more last night, but it’s still not as much as he should be having. His record sheet is by the pen.”

“I’ll do that. Where’s Cai?” asked Antonia as she pulled on a pair of disposable gloves.

“Cai’s having breakfast with his mum and dad. He’ll be down later.” There was a catch in Claudia’s voice, and Antonia looked at her in surprise.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes.” Claudia abruptly began rummaging in the cupboard, giving Antonia the strong impression she was hiding something. Remembering the conversation she had with her mum, Antonia suddenly felt uncomfortable. What if Mum was right? What if Cai didn’t want her around now that his parents were back?

“There you go.” Claudia backed out of the cupboard and handed a towel to Antonia.

“You know the drill,” she said, smiling warmly. “Sit Rusty on this when you feed him so you don’t spoil your clothes.”

Claudia sounded normal again so Antonia decided she must have been imagining things.

“Thanks.” Taking the towel in one hand and the milk in the other, Antonia went to the back room to feed Rusty.

The cub was a little livelier today, but he took a while to latch on to the bottle and he didn’t finish the milk. Antonia sat patiently, wiggling the bottle to encourage the cub to drink more. It was peaceful in the back room. Sun streamed through the window, warming Antonia’s face and making Rusty’s coat gleam like molten chocolate. Her thoughts wandered to Cai. She was surprised that he was still having breakfast. Cai was an early riser. He must have waited to eat with his mum and dad.

When it was obvious that Rusty wasn’t going to take any more milk, Antonia put him back in his pen. The cub clung to her, but Antonia was firm.

“I’m not allowed to cuddle you,” she said, pushing his paws away. “Sorry, but it’s for your own good.”

Antonia wrote down the amount of milk Rusty had drunk on his record sheet, then emptied the remainder down the sink. She washed the empty bottle and soaked it in sterilising solution. There was still no sign of Cai and none of the other volunteers had arrived either. As Antonia collected the things she needed to clean out Billy and the gull’s aviaries, she wondered whether she should have stayed away too.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” said Claudia, suddenly looking up from her computer. “I would never have managed on my own.”

Antonia smiled gratefully. She knew Claudia meant it. They were good at reading each other’s minds. Feeling much more cheerful, Antonia went outside to the birds. As she reached the aviary she heard footsteps behind her.

“Antonia!”

Antonia was pleased to see Cai and waited for him to catch her up.

“Hi, sorry I’m late. Mum and Dad took ages to get up this morning.” Cai’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes as he opened Billy’s aviary door for her. Arms full of mop, bucket and cleaning things, Antonia went inside. Cai squeezed in after her and when he’d shut the outer door, Antonia opened the inner one.

“I thought you might not come today,” she said.

“Why? Cos my parents are here? It’s brilliant having them around, but we don’t have to do everything together.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you did.”

“Well, I don’t,” said Cai forcefully.

Surprised at Cai’s snappy tone, Antonia started cleaning Billy’s cage. She and Cai worked in silence until the razorbill cocked his head and said cheekily, “Urrr!”

Antonia and Cai burst out laughing.

“You cheeky thing!” said Cai.

With the silence broken, Cai began telling Antonia a funny story about his dad falling asleep at dinner and getting strawberry cheesecake in his hair. Antonia giggled appreciatively. But deep down she was convinced that Cai wasn’t as cheerful as he sounded. There was a worry line on his forehead and his brown eyes had lost their usual sparkle. By the time they’d finished Billy’s cage and cleaned out the gulls, Antonia couldn’t bear it any longer.