3 Heads & a Tail (37 page)

“
Eeetttsss
vooooooo
f!
”

“
What is it?
”
asks M
imi, looking up from the water.
I
'
m stuck. I can
'
t move. I
'
m staring at myself.

Mimi pads over
.
“
What
'
s wrong?
”

Her mouth falls open and her eyes widen. Staring out from the newspaper are our faces. I even recognise the photo. It
'
s one that Ben took of us in the park. We are on the front of the local village paper. Maybe I can break the case and get it out before anyone sees, but I know that
'
s going to be impossible. Mimi
is looking at
the next
one
.

“
Glen
, it
'
s not only that paper. We
'
re on the front of all of them!
”
she voofs, astonished.

She
'
s right. We
'
re national news. We
'
re famous. How did this happen? They
'
re going to be after us. Someone will recognise us and take us back.

“
It must be Ms Hill and Ben,
”
says
Mimi.
“
They
'
re just t
rying to find us, b
ut how did we become so famous? I
'
m surprised anyone would be interested.
”

“
Me too,
”
I say. I can
'
t believe it. We are the news. Our pictures are bigger than all of the other stories. We
'
re bigger than
the prime minister
!

And then I notice that the people in the shop are carrying things. One is carrying a camera. They h
eard us barking and they
'
re
looking at us
, wide eyed
. I back away slowly
, bumping
into Mimi. She sees it too.

Then someone
points
.
“
Look! It
'
s them!
”

Alarmed
, I race
down the path towards the road. Mimi
bounds
after me. I skid to a halt as a truck
drives past, my nose twitching – a n
arrow miss.
My heart is racing. I look left and I see a couple of vans I
'
ve never seen before with weird things on top. There are
so many people.
Someone spots us
, points
and
a group are
walking towards us. The road suddenly clears.

“
Com
e on!
”
I yap at Mimi,
and
we
cross
as fast as we can
.

The trees in front of us loom closer and closer, and then we
'
re sprinting
away from the road and
into their
lush
gre
enness
. The forest opens up. I sense that it is really
huge
. These are the tallest trees I
'
ve ever seen in my life and everything sme
lls green. I see
white
butterflies flu
ttering their white wings and the grass
feels
soft
.

“
It
'
s beautiful,
”
says Mimi, looking up. The tops of the trees are disappearing away into the
sky. Everything darkens in the places where the sun is shut out
.

“
It is, but let
'
s get going as far as we can,
”
I say, running ahead, small sticks snapping
beneath
my paws. The forest is truly beautiful
, b
ut wild. There is something
raw
about it, u
ntamed.
Mimi
follows behind me, running in my paw prints.
I feel free.

“
Where did they go?
”
asked one of the guys in the shop. He was holding a microphone and
a
taping device.

“
They went across the road into the woods,
”
sighed the girl with the camera.
“
How are we going to find them in there?
”

“
The woods are quite big,
”
said the storekeeper,
“
but not too big. They
'
re between our village and the next. There
'
s a ri
ver on one side. I don
'
t
think they
'
d
go that way. I can phone a couple of people who own shops in the next village
and
ask them to keep a look out.
”

“
That would be great, thanks,
”
said the girl.
“
Our boss will be here soon a
nd I think there are some more TV crews coming. I hope you
'
ve
put
the kettle on!
”

“
The wife has,
”
grinned the storekeeper.

He
'
d never had so much business in one day. Already, the villagers had been asking questions and
enquiring as to
what time
the
TV crew
s were
coming. They
'
d all be out in the streets soon. As it was, he could see his favourite two old ladies chatting on the street
corner. They
'
d spread
the news like wildfire.

Ms Hill
parked the car
down
a little way
the road
from the shop, away from
the TV vans and
crew
s
.

“
A lot of people,
”
remarked
Kay, looking out of the window.

“
T
hey
'
re all interested in Mimi and Gle
n?
”
asked Ms Hill.

“
Lots of people wrote letters to our magazine, asking about them,
”
said Josie.
“
Just
imagine the feedback the papers are getting. The bus driver who rang in felt really
awful
about not saying anything sooner.
”

“
Not his fault though,
”
said Ben, getting out of the
car.
“
It couldn
'
t be helped. Let
'
s go
find
our
dogs.
”

They
wandered up th
e road towards Jeremy
'
s Store
,
where everyone seemed to be grouping
. A couple of people were drinking mugs of something. Josie noticed her editor.

“
Hi
,
Muriel,
”
she said.
“
How long have you been here?
”

“
Maybe an hour,
”
she said,
“
I came straight away.
”

“
Muriel, this is Ms Hill, Kay and Ben.
”

“
Hello
.
”

“
I want to thank you for everything you
'
ve done,
”
said Ms Hill
, shaking
Muriel
'
s hand.
“
If it wasn
'
t for your magazine
,
we
...
”

Muriel smiled.
“
That
'
s
quite
alright.
I
'
m g
lad to
be able to
help.
That
'
s what our magazine is for – helping animals and their owners.
”

“
Has anyone seen them?
”
asked Ben.

“
Yes, ye
s,
”
said Muriel.
“
In fact, just before you arrived the two dogs went
to t
he shop. The
owner, Jeremy, leaves a bowl of water there. Anyway, they went
for a drink and then someone shouted. Everyone came running out to look. I think it spooked them because they
ran across t
he road into the forest.
”

“
Glen
'
s a clever dog,
”
said Ben.
“
He must have
suspected
danger. Let
'
s go talk to this Jeremy.
”
H
e walked
towards the shop and t
hey all followed.

The bowl of water was still there, to the right of the doorway. Then Ben noticed the row of newspapers. They all had Mimi and Ben
'
s faces on the front.
Shaking his head, he smiled to himself
.
He couldn
'
t help wondering if...

“
Do you think?
”
asked Josie, whispering.

“
I
'
m thinking!
”
nodded Ben.

“
What are you whispering about?
”
asked Kay.

“
Look,
”
said Ms Hill,
“
lots of pictures of my Mimi.
”

At that point, the owner of the shop stepped outside.
“
Are you with the press or the TV stations?
”
he asked.

“
Neither,
”
sa
id Ben.
“
I
'
m Glen
'
s owner. This is Ms Hill, Mimi
'
s owner.
”

“
Glad to meet you
,
”
replied Jeremy.
“
Your dogs are mighty famous! The village is hoping you find
them. Look,
the villagers are starting to come out now. The pavement will be full of people soon.
”

“
We heard that the dogs went into the forest?
”
asked Josie.

“
Yes. Something spooked them. Us, I guess, and they ran
. It wasn
'
t long ago.
”

“
W
e should follow,
”
said Ben
, impatiently
.

“
Wait,
”
said Jeremy.
“
I
'
ll get you a map. Two seconds.
”
He scurried back into his shop.

“
I hope they haven
'
t gone too far in there,
”
said Kay.

“
It won
'
t be dark
'
til 9
,
so we
'
ve got a lot of time,
”
said Ben.
“
I
'
m hopeful
,
but I have a strange feeling.
”