Rabbit Racer (6 page)

Puffing and panting, I scowled up at him. It was all right for him! No one was expecting him to become the world’s first agility bunny. In fact, looking up at his tubby tummy, I
didn’t think anyone would be asking him to run around anything.

‘There’s no need to yell, Dad,’ Susie said, fanning my hot ears with her clipboard. ‘Harriet’s a Stunt Bunny, not a racer.’

‘Hmmmm,’ EE said, not looking convinced. ‘We can’t risk losing our place on
Superpets
. Harriet must win.’

Susie looked worried as EE stroked his chin thoughtfully. ‘What we need is a Bunny Boot Camp,’ he went on. ‘And I know just the man to help.’

Minutes later, he was on the phone and it didn’t take long for me to work out he was talking to our vet.

‘Strict diet of hay and water, you say?’ I heard him say and he poked his head around the kitchen door to study me. ‘No treats at all? Sounds good to me.’

Huh. It might sound good to EE, but he wasn’t the one eating it. Susie and I looked at each other and a nasty feeling crept over me. The vet and I didn’t really get along.
There’d been a silly misunderstanding once with a Labrador puppy in his surgery and the vet had never forgotten it. I was sure he’d be keen to get his own back if he could.

EE was nodding importantly into the phone. ‘Quite right,’ he said. ‘It does make sense for you to pop in here. We’ll see you in the morning for a full
check-up.’

I didn’t like the sound of that at all. Normally when I saw the vet, horrible things involving needles happened. I was getting a bad feeling about EE’s Bunny Boot Camp.

It didn’t start well. I’m not really a morning person and the vet arrived at the Wilson house before EE had even left for work. Under Susie’s watchful eye, he
took my temperature, shone his tiny torch into my eyes, weighed me and even checked my teeth. Finally he folded his arms in satisfaction.

‘This rabbit is in perfect health. There’s really no need to put her on a diet.’

Chewing on his fingernail, EE said, ‘That’s all very well, but is she fit enough to win the race?’

Our vet chuckled and shook his head. ‘Be sensible, Mr Wilson. Rabbits aren’t made for agility racing. It’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.’

EE frowned. ‘Ordinary bunnies maybe, but Harriet is rather unusual.’

With a shudder, the vet glared at me. ‘I know. It took us three days to clean up the surgery last time she came to see us.’

Was he still going on about that? Anyone would think it was my fault the computer blew up. Honestly, some people could really hold a grudge.

‘She didn’t mean to do it,’ Susie said, lifting me up and cuddling me. ‘And I think she can beat Taz. Harriet is a super-bunny.’

The vet laughed as though she’d told him a funny joke and picked up his bag to leave. ‘If that rabbit wins the race, I’ll eat my stethoscope.’

Now that was something I wouldn’t mind seeing and it looked as though EE felt the same way. Once he’d shown the vet out, he came back with a determined expression on his face.
‘Well, Harriet, ready for Bunny Boot Camp?’

I sat up on my back legs and waggled my paws. Whatever it took to beat Tornado Taz, I’d do it. Rabbit Racer was ready to run!

He might not be about to win any races himself, but, when it came to running a boot camp, EE was no slouch. Armed with a clipboard, I spent each sunrise sprinting laps around
the garden and doing bunny-kick press-ups. Lunch was a carrot and cabbage smoothie served by Susie’s mum and snacks were off the menu, in spite of Lily’s best efforts to feed me
Smudge’s biscuits. At sunset, I practised my rabbit punches on Susie’s gloved hands and panted up and down the garden steps while EE glared at the stopwatch, frowning. Smudge watched
lazily from his usual spot on top of the guinea pig hutch and pretended he wasn’t interested in whether I won or lost. I knew he was rooting for me really, even if he did sometimes wish he
could be more like Tornado Taz.

By the time the night before the race arrived, I was fighting fit. Even EE seemed satisfied.

‘Great work, Harriet!’ he cried as I finished my final run up the steps and tried to catch my breath. ‘All you need now is a good night’s sleep and you’ll be ready
for anything Taz can throw at you.’

Huh, I thought, there’s no chance of that happening, not with those giggling guinea pigs around. But even Salt and Pepper seemed to understand that something important was happening and
were quiet as we settled down for the night. I wasn’t taking any chances, though; I had my carrot-top ear plugs handy just in case the guinea pigs changed their minds.

I was woken up by a loud rustling noise outside my hutch. The garden was dark, clouds covering the moon. Salt and Pepper were silent. Hopping forwards, I peered out, wondering whether Smudge had
popped outside for a midnight snack. When the clouds parted, I was puzzled to see the moonlight flash on something shiny outside my door. Then a scarf-covered face loomed in front of me and I
became even more confused. It looked like Madame Belladonna, but what on earth was she doing out at this time of night? And why was she in our garden?

‘We meet again, ’Arriet ’Oudini,’ she whispered, holding up a pair of bolt cutters.

I shook my head to dislodge my ear plugs. Madame Belladonna’s voice sounded funny, deeper than usual and strangely familiar. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she almost sounded
like a man. She snapped off the padlocks on my door and reached inside.

‘We go on ze leetle journey,’ she murmured as she lifted me out of my hutch.

I wriggled and struggled, but Madame Belladonna was surprisingly strong. Before I knew it, she’d pushed me into the round birdcage we’d seen her carrying in on the day she’d
first arrived, through the open bottom. She clipped the bottom of the cage back on, trapping me inside. In a flash, I knew Lily had been wrong; it had never been ‘Pretty Polly’s’
house. It was mine!

There wasn’t much room inside. My tail was squashed against the wire bars at the back and my whiskers poked out of the sides. Over my head, a little swing banged against my ears and a tiny
bell tinkled when I moved. Madame Belladonna picked the cage up and held me level with her nose.

‘Say ze goodbyes to your old life, ’Arriet. You’re my bunny now!’

If I hadn’t understood what was happening before, I did now. Madame Belladonna was more than just the little old lady who lived next door – she was a rabbit-napper and I was the
target of her evil plans. I didn’t know where or why she was taking me, but I had no intention of going anywhere. It was time for a Stunt-Bunny style escape. But how? The cage was small and I
had no room to kick my legs.

Madame Belladonna turned round and headed towards the fence between our garden and hers. The cage swung round and I saw my comfy hutch disappearing behind me. My eyes strayed to the guinea
pigs’ run. If I could wake Salt and Pepper up, maybe they could raise the alarm. Furiously, I waggled my ears backwards and forwards. The bell on the swing jangled and chimed. In the guinea
pig hutch, a faint rustling began in the straw. Peering out of the cage, I saw the flash of black eyes at the bars and I wriggled even more.

Suddenly, the air was filled with high-pitched meeping as Salt and Pepper realised what was happening. They raced around their hutch, thudding into the walls and crashing into the door. Madame
Belladonna muttered under her breath and speeded up. The birdcage jerked around, making the bell tinkle even more. Crossing my paws, I hoped all the noise was enough to wake the Wilsons up.

Madame Belladonna was just about to swing me and the birdcage over the fence when EE flung the bedroom window open.

‘What is going on out there?’ he bellowed. ‘Some of us are trying to get some sleep!’

Madam Belladonna froze and the birdcage spun round, giving me a rollercoaster view of EE’s frowning face and the guinea pigs’ wriggling noses. For one horrible moment, I thought EE
wouldn’t spot me in the dark, but the bell above my head continued to ring, giving the game away.

‘Stop right there, whoever you are, or I’ll call the police!’ he yelled. ‘Hang on, Harriet, I’m coming down!’