Medal Mayhem (8 page)

The crowd cheered and got to their feet. I stared at the scoreboard anxiously. Would the judges award Polly the highest marks or would Trevor’s tumbling terrapins bring home the first gold medal for Great Britain?

For a few long seconds, the scoreboard didn’t change. When it did, I could hardly bear to look but I needn’t have worried – the terrapins had done it! Susie swept me up in her arms, laughing and cheering, and both Taz and Smudge purred louder than I’d ever heard before. Even EE seemed pleased and I couldn’t blame him –
Team Superpets
were off the mark and in the medals!

It seemed as though the terrapins’ success had inspired the rest of the Great Britain team. Lulu spun and twirled her way to a silver medal, narrowly losing out on the gold to a flamingo from Brazil. Hamish the otter from the highlands of Scotland, won us a bronze in the swimming. The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric and I didn’t even mind when Coco the koala snatched gold in the pole vault for Australia. By the end of the first day, Great Britain was second on the medals board and Gloria was delighted.

“A brilliant performance by the British team so far,” she exclaimed, gathering us all around at the end of the day. “It’s very close. Australia is in the lead at the moment and the USA isn’t far behind us. But if Great Britain gets more medals in the track and field events tomorrow than both of them, we can top the medals board!”

I glanced over at Taz and he blinked at me. With his speed and my talent for jumping, we couldn’t fail to win. Let Krusher and Ruby just try to stop us!

After the events had ended, Susie, EE and I said goodbye to Mrs Wilson, Lily and Smudge and made our way back to the Animalympic village with the other competing Superpets.

“I’ll certainly sleep well tonight,” Tim said, as we reached our apartments. “All that excitement has tired me out.”

“I don’t think Harriet and Taz will,” Susie said, reaching down to give my cheek a gentle stroke. “They’ll both be too nervous about their events tomorrow for that.”

Taz threw me a worried look.

“Nonsense,” Tim replied, ruffling Taz’s fur. “Animals don’t get anxious.”

EE wasn’t listening – he was staring at a parcel sitting on the mat by our front door. “What’s that?”

He reached down and picked the package up.

“To a brave little bunny,”
he read from the label.
“Good luck
–
you’ll need it!”

Ripping open the paper wrapper, he peered at the contents. “Belgian truffles? Who on Earth sends a rabbit chocolates?”

There was no point in asking me – I’d have preferred a nice crunchy carrot! And I didn’t have the faintest idea who had sent them, maybe one of my fans had discovered where I was staying. I glanced around for clues. The door at the end of the corridor closed suddenly, leaving me with the vague idea that two sets of eyes had been peering out of the crack.

Tim checked his doormat. “No one’s left any chocolates for us,” he said, staring at the box in EE’s hands and sounding disappointed.

EE clutched the truffles tightly to his chest and licked his lips. “I suppose I’d better look after these. We don’t want Harriet getting fat before her big day!”

Tim’s face grew hopeful. “I don’t suppose you want to share with m—”, he began, but EE didn’t seem to hear. Instead, he opened the front door and pushed Susie and me inside.

“See you tomorrow,” he called cheerily, and closed the door in Tim’s hungry-looking face.

“You’re not going to eat all those chocolates yourself, are you, Dad?” Susie asked in a suspicious voice. “You know Mum’s always saying you’ve got to lose some weight.”

There was a rustling of cellophane and it was a moment before EE turned round to look at Susie.
“Hmph?”
he mumbled, swallowing hard. “Of course I’m not. Now, isn’t it time you two were in bed? Busy day tomorrow.”

Huh. Somehow I didn’t think there’d be many Belgian truffles left by the morning. And from the look on Susie’s face as she locked me into my travel basket, I could see she thought the same. I knew something was wrong as soon as I woke up. Susie usually brings me a fresh carrot for breakfast and there was no sign of her. EE wasn’t up either. I felt the first flutter of panic. If they’d overslept, we were in big trouble. I didn’t want to miss Taz’s big moment but, more importantly, I didn’t want to miss mine. If they didn’t wake up soon, Krusher wouldn’t need any dirty tricks to beat me to the gold medal!

Peering through the bars of my basket, I searched for something I could use to make a noise. Getting out was a no-no – after one or two of my previous adventures, EE had bought one that was practically escape-proof. It was time to think outside of the basket. My eyes came to rest on an empty can on the coffee table, next to the chocolate box. It would make just the clatter I needed – all I had to do was find a way to knock it over.

Rummaging around, I discovered a carrot top I’d saved to wedge in my ear and block out EE’s snoring. If I could fire it with enough speed, it would tip the can over and wake everyone up. Carefully, I lined the left-over carrot up with the edge of the bars and turned around. With a powerful kick of my back legs, the carrot shot out of the basket and pinged off the tin can. Yes! Exactly as I’d hoped, the can clattered onto the table and fell to the floor with a loud clang.

There was a rustling from Susie’s room and she yanked her door open, a look of horror on her face.

“Oh no!” she cried. “We’ve slept in. Hang on, Harriet, I’ll go and wake Dad up.”

Moments later, she was back, dragging a very sleepy EE behind her.

“Wassamatter?” he mumbled, one eye closed and the other gazing blearily around.

Susie hurried over to my basket. “We’re going to be late, you have to get ready!”

EE staggered over to the sofa. “Inna minute. Jus’ need to rest ma eyes . . .”

Seconds later, his eyes were shut and he was snoring gently.

“Dad!” Susie said in dismay, tugging his hand. “Wake up!”

With a snort, EE stopped snoring and opened his eyes. “Nyurgh.”

Susie’s eyes filled with tears. “Please wake up! Harriet is going to miss her competition.”

When it looked like EE was going to doze off again, Susie grabbed a glass of water from the table and threw it into his face. I held my breath, expecting him to be cross but, instead, he yawned.

“Sorry, Susie, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he said, water dripping onto his stripy pyjamas. “I ate one or two of those chocolates last night and must have fallen asleep straight afterwards.”

I peered hard at the empty truffle box. Call me suspicious, but I was starting to wonder who had sent them. Was it an accident, or someone trying to make me late for the competition?

Susie looked at the clock and bit her lip. “Can we still make it in time?”

EE gave himself a brisk shake. “Of course we can! You get Harriet ready, I’ll get dressed.” He wiped the last of the water off his face. “Stunt Bunny isn’t down and out yet!”