Dilly the Lost Duckling Page 3

  “No, they don’t know any better. But a busy road is a pretty dangerous place to go walkabout,” her dad pointed out. “Let’s hope they don’t try it again.”

  Eva frowned but stayed silent as Karl jumped back in the van and her dad drove the last few metres home. Her head was buzzing – not about maths or walking the dogs, it was about Dilly and what else she, Eva, could do to make sure Dilly and her family were safer on the road.

  Chapter Six

  Thursday, 17th. Major traffic panic. Dilly and her family tried to cross the main road and we nearly ran them over! ***They’re not by the river bank any more, they’re living on the big pond behind Swallow Court.***

  This is how I found out – Dad picked us up from school and as we drove along, they were crossing the road with Dilly lagging behind as usual. Dad braked and we missed them.

  The minute we got home, I went back to look for them. I asked Miss Eliot if she’d seen the ducklings on the road because she was sitting in her garden with Tigger when it happened. She said yes, she watched it all. Then she saw the adult ducks lead the ducklings on down the crescent. They actually crossed her garden and went into the field at the back!

  So I climbed over Miss Eliot’s fence and followed the ducks to the pond. It belongs to Mr and Mrs Truelove. They own a big house with a tennis court and a pond and everything – Swallow Hall.

  So Dilly’s got a new home, not by the river any more. And Mrs Truelove says I can visit the pond any time I like to keep an eye on her. Phew! But in any case, Karl and I decided to make a sign for the road just in case the ducks go back that way again. ‘SLOW DOWN – DUCKS CROSSING!’ in giant red letters.

  We stuck the cardboard sign on a wooden stake and hammered it into the grass verge. Hope it works.

  Didn’t have time to do English homework. Hope Mum will write a note for Miss Jennings to let me off. Fingers crossed.

  ***Dilly’s safe and she’s not lost. How cool is that!***

  “So, Rosie, I got into big trouble with Miss Jennings today,” Eva told the Shetland pony. It was Friday evening, and Mickey the donkey was noisily chewing hay in the stable next door. “Mum wouldn’t write me a note. She said making the DUCKS CROSSING! sign wasn’t a good enough excuse for me not doing my homework. Is that mean or what!”

  Rosie nuzzled Eva’s hand, looking for a treat. Her long, shaggy forelock completely covered her eyes.

  “How do you see through all that hair?” Eva wondered, gently pushing the mane to one side. “So anyway, I tried to explain, but Miss Jennings gave me a big speech about how schoolwork should always come first, no matter what. In front of the whole class! In the end she gave me extra work, which I now have to hand in, plus the homework on Monday morning!”

  Life was tough, Eva decided, though Rosie didn’t seem to care. Instead, she wandered over to her hay-net and began to munch.

  “Ah, here you are!” Miss Eliot interrupted as Eva leaned against Rosie’s stable door, chin resting on the top. “Your mother said I might find you here.”

  Eva swung round to face the old lady. “Why, has something happened?” she asked anxiously. “Is Dilly OK?”

  “Yes, yes,” Miss Eliot smiled. “That’s what I came to tell you – I was looking out of my bedroom window earlier this afternoon, and I saw the whole family swimming on the Trueloves’ pond. They look as if they’ve settled nicely.”

  “That’s brilliant!” Eva heaved a sigh of relief. She was grateful to Miss Eliot for coming specially to tell her. “I’d like to come down and see Dilly, if that’s OK with you.”

  Another smile and a nod. “Of course, my dear. That’s what Heidi guessed you’d say, so I told her I’d keep a careful eye on you while you take a look down by the pond.”

  “OK.” Feeling like a little toddler in need of a child minder, Eva went with Miss Eliot across the yard and out on to Main Street. Still, she knew the old lady meant well.

  “Your sign seems to be working,” Miss Eliot pointed out as two cars slowed down almost to a halt. “Drivers certainly seem to be reading it.”

  “Cool,” Eva noted. “It was my idea – just in case the ducks try to get back to the river.”

  “Very thoughtful,” Miss Eliot agreed.

  She and Eva passed the sign and turned into Swallow Crescent and the neat row of bungalows with their small front gardens. They found Tigger sitting patiently on the front doorstep, waiting for his owner to return.

  As Miss Eliot invited Eva into her garden, she gave a small click of her tongue, as if hesitating over what she was about to say. “Tell me, dear, is your mother well?”

  The question surprised Eva. “She’s fine, thanks,” she said.

  “Only, she looked a little pale. And she didn’t seem her usual cheerful self,” the old lady went on.

  “She’s been pretty busy,” Eva admitted, trying to scan the field at the back of Miss Eliot’s house to catch sight of Dilly and her family on the pond. “And she didn’t get much sleep. Last night someone rang her at midnight to say they’d got back home from their holiday and heard an animal whining and growling from inside their garage. The woman was too scared to open the door, so Mum had to go and find out what was trapped inside.

  “It turned out it was a stray dog – a cross-breed that got in and couldn’t get out again. It had nearly starved to death while the woman was away. Mum brought the dog straight back to Animal Magic.”

  “I certainly do admire your mother,” Miss Eliot told Eva. “But are you sure that nothing is worrying her?”

  Eva shrugged. “Only the usual stuff about trying to pay bills and not having enough money,” she admitted. “But that’s nothing new for us at Animal Magic.”

  “Your mother does amazingly good work.” Miss Eliot nodded her head and took a deep breath, as if she’d just come to a big decision. “Now, I expect you’re wanting to go down to the pond for a closer look at your ducklings,” she said to Eva.

  “Yes, please.”

  “Well, wait here a second while I fetch you my binoculars. You’ll get a much better, close-up view if you use them.”

  So Eva took the field glasses then climbed the fence and trod carefully through the long grass, trying out the heavy binoculars as she went.

  “Everything’s blurred!” she murmured, putting them to her eyes. Then she twisted a metal disc and altered the lenses so that the scene grew clear.

  Zoom! The binoculars gave her a close-up of the pond with its long, straight reeds at the edge and small, rocky island in the centre. “Wow!” Eva was impressed.

  From the middle of the field she could easily pick out three Canada geese standing on the island and a small, dark moorhen paddling close by. She walked steadily on, aiming the glasses at other wildlife – a rabbit scuttling off across the field, and up in the blue sky, a grey pigeon and two black rooks soaring on an air current.

  Hey, this is what it must be like to make films about wildlife! Eva thought. She swung back to the pond and saw three more moorhens in the shallow water, swimming amongst the reeds. This is exciting!

  Two geese swam into view from round the back of the island. That made five altogether. Eva crept closer, then settled by the edge of the pond. From this distance she could make out the long black necks and brown speckled wings of the geese. Just think, if this was Africa, I’d be looking at pink flamingos! Or I could go to India and film tigers! She zoomed in on the moorhens.

  That’s it, I’m going to be a wildlife filmmaker when I grow up!

  Eva’s imagination took off and soared as high as the rooks overhead. It was only when she spotted her first duck that she came back to earth.

  It was the drake with his bright blue-green neck feathers and white collar, his plumage shining in the sunlight.

  Perfect! Eva thought, holding her breath.

  Then came the female – dowdier, plump and proud, with her head up, swimming out from behind the island after the drake.

  OK, where are the ducklings? Eva kept her binoculars fixed
on the spot. One duckling swam into view, bright yellow and perky. Then the second, bold and happy. The third took his time, but finally swam out cheekily from behind the rock. Mum, Dad, ducklings 1, 2 and 3.

  “Come on, Dilly!” Eva murmured. With binoculars steady in her hands, she waited a long time for her fluffy favourite to appear. And waited. And waited.

  Chapter Seven

  Friday, 18th. ***Dilly’s got lost. She’s gone missing.*** I borrowed Miss Eliot’s binoculars and waited by the pond for ages. There was no sign of her.

  Eva sat with the rescue centre’s laptop on her knees. She’d written the truth and now it hit her really hard.

  Her mum came into the bedroom to ask her to turn off her light. “Everything OK?” she asked.

  With tears in her eyes, Eva shook her head. She sniffed and pointed to the words she’d written.

  Heidi read the blog. “Ah,” she said softly, and sat on the bed. “Would you like to talk about it?”

  “Dilly’s got herself lost,” Eva sniffed. “She was always struggling to keep up with the others and now they’ve gone off and left her!”

  Her mum nodded. “That often happens with the smallest of the brood,” she reminded Eva. “It’s a question of strength and agility.”

  “But how could they leave her behind?” Eva pictured the dithery duckling’s attempts to climb the slope on to the golf course – how she flapped her tiny, flightless wings and struggled through the long grass while the others marched ahead.

  Heidi waited a while before she answered. “It’s how animals survive in the wild,” she explained. “If they come up against a danger, their instinct is to get out as fast as they can. Only the fittest survive.”

  “So something bad happened – a fox, like you said before, or cars on Main Street – and the mum and dad just gave up on Dilly!”

  Heidi nodded. “It sounds harsh, but that’s what happens, I’m afraid. And we have to accept these things.”

  Eva was still stuck with the picture of Dilly hopping and bobbing, paddling and swimming in the river – a helpless, yellow ball of fluff. “Well, I haven’t given up!” she said stubbornly.

  Her mum put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug. “So what next?” she asked.

  Now suddenly Eva knew exactly what she was going to do. She closed the laptop and snuggled under her duvet. “It’s Saturday tomorrow,” she murmured. “I’m going to go out first thing in the morning to look for Dilly!”

  Eva got up early as promised. She dressed and put on her trainers ready to go out and start her search.

  There’s no point going back to the pond at Swallow Court, she thought, skipping breakfast and setting off on foot in the direction of the river. I spent ages there yesterday with the binoculars, and there was definitely no sign of her.

  So Eva decided to search the riverbank, close to where she’d first seen Dilly.

  She crunched across pebbles and poked amongst tall reeds without finding anything. Then she crossed the stone bridge and started to look among the bushes at the edge of the golf course.

  “Hey, you there, what do you think you’re doing?” a voice called.

  Eva glanced up to see an angry golfer walking towards her.

  “Don’t you know you’re trespassing?” the man shouted.

  Reluctantly Eva broke off her search. “I’m trying to find a lost duckling,” she explained. “Her name’s Dilly. She got separated from her family.”

  “That doesn’t alter the fact that you’re on private property,” he argued. “What’s more, you just put me off my game!”

  Sighing, Eva retreated back over the bridge. She wandered further along the bank. “Where are you, Dilly?” she murmured, crouching to peer under the low branches of a willow tree. “Please don’t hide. It’s me – Eva. I’m your friend!”

  But there were no answering cheeps, and no sign of the little lost duckling.

  So Eva trudged back home, her head hanging, her spirits low. It was almost ten o’clock when she reached the house and the phone was ringing. Eva ran to answer it.

  It was Miss Eliot. “Is that Eva?” she asked hurriedly. “I’m glad I’ve caught you.”

  “What’s wrong?” Eva could tell from the old lady’s voice that something bad had happened. Maybe Tigger was ill. “Is everything OK?” she asked.

  “No, dear, I’m afraid, it’s not!” Miss Eliot answered. “It’s Tigger…”

  Just as Eva had thought! “Is he hurt? Shall I get Mum?” she cut in.

  “No, wait a moment. I’m looking out of my window to make sure. Yes, I was right. Tigger is chasing a yellow bird in my garden and I’m too slow to stop him!”

  “Is it a duckling?” Eva asked, her heart thumping, dreading the answer.

  “I’m not absolutely sure,” Miss Eliot reported breathlessly. “I can’t see it clearly. I just caught a glimpse. Wait – Tigger is prowling across the lawn as we speak. He’s definitely stalking…”

  “Is it Dilly?” Eva asked faintly.

  “Come here, Tigger, you naughty boy!” Miss Eliot’s voice grew fainter, then she came back to the phone. “Yes, it is definitely a duckling,” she admitted. “You’d better come quickly, Eva, if you want to save your little friend!”

  Chapter Eight

  Miss Eliot greeted Eva at her garden gate. “I’m so sorry!” she gasped.

  Eva’s heart missed a beat. She was too late. It was all over and Tigger had done his worst!

  “I can’t stop Tigger chasing birds. It’s a dreadful habit, I know!”

  “Where is he?” Eva asked, bracing herself for what she would find.

  “In the back garden, prowling amongst the rose bushes. I can’t see the duckling…”

  Eva nodded. There was still hope then. She sprinted round the side of the bungalow to find the tabby cat crouched low on the ground, staring intently into the thick hedge beyond the roses.

  “Shoo!” Eva cried, waving her arms and rushing at Tigger.

  The cat twitched his tail but didn’t take his eyes off the hedge.

  “Go away! Shoo!” Eva yelled.

  Tigger looked round. He glared angrily at Eva for disturbing him.

  Meanwhile, there was a tiny movement from underneath the hedge and Eva saw a speck of yellow between the green leaves.

  Tigger turned back towards the hedge and pounced.

  “Stop!” Eva cried. She realized there was nothing for it but to make a dive and grab the cat.

  So as Tigger vanished under the hedge, Eva also pounced. Rose thorns pricked her bare wrists as she threw herself forward. The landing was hard, but she hardly felt it. “Got you!” she muttered as she seized Tigger and drew him out from the bottom of the hedge.

  “Well done! Good girl!” Miss Eliot clapped her hands.

  Taking a deep breath, Eva quickly handed a squirming Tigger to the old lady. Then she went down on her hands and knees and crawled back under the hedge. “So this is where you got to, Dilly!” she murmured, parting the slim branches and catching sight of the tiny duckling cowering in the shadows.

  Cheep cheep cheep! Dilly scrambled amongst the tangled roots, out of Eva’s reach.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you,” she promised, stretching forward to cup the duckling between her hands.

  But Dilly didn’t understand. Scared out of her wits by the fierce cat, all she wanted to do was run and hide. She struggled deep into the hedge and disappeared again.

  “Come back,” Eva pleaded, hearing Miss Eliot take Tigger inside the house. “Don’t run away. You’re safe now. I’m here to take you back to your family!”

  Back to the pond at Swallow Court, to her brothers and sisters and the safety of her mum and dad.

  Gently, Eva parted more branches. Her wrists were specked with blood from the rose thorns and beginning to sting.

  “Eva, what on earth are you doing?”

  Annie’s voice interrupted Eva’s careful search. She sounded like her mother in a bad mood. Without answe
ring, Eva carried on looking for Dilly.

  “Eva, I can see your legs and feet, so I know you’re under there!” Annie insisted. “I saw you sprint off down Main Street. I followed to find out what you were up to.”

  “Be quiet, Annie!” Eva hissed. Every second that passed meant she had less chance of saving Dilly. By now she’d totally lost sight of the duckling and was starting to fear that she’d disappeared for good.

  “But you have to tell me what happened.” In her own way, Annie was as stubborn as Eva. “Come out. I want to know.”

  It was Miss Eliot who left the house to explain. “Tigger was stalking Eva’s missing duckling. We almost had a disaster on our hands.”

  “Sshh!” Eva pleaded. All this talking was bound to scare Dilly away.

  Miss Eliot lowered her voice to a whisper. “I brought out the binoculars in case they help,” she told Annie. “You wait here with them. I’ll go back inside and make sure Tigger doesn’t try to escape. He’s very cross at being locked in.”

  Annie nodded. “Can you see Dilly?” she asked Eva quietly.

  “No. She was here a few moments ago,” Eva sighed. Her arms were really hurting now and her hair was getting caught in twigs. “Ouch! Hang on, I’ll have to take a rest.”

  She emerged from the bushes, a bedraggled mess.

  Eva picked the leaves off her jumper, noting Annie’s smoothly brushed hair and whiter than white T-shirt. “She was here, but I think I lost her,” she admitted miserably.

  “Let me look,” Annie offered, handing Eva the binoculars and crawling through the rose bushes. She peered into the dark undergrowth. “Nothing,” she reported at last, emerging with tousled hair and grey dirt on her T-shirt.

  Eva raised her eyebrows. Now they both looked a mess.