Zebra Rampage Read online

  ‘We were only trying to help,’ Harry Fox said. ‘We gave Little Z the kiss of life when it nearly died, but Mrs Z didn’t understand.

  ‘Mother animals are very dangerous,’ Harry explained. ‘Jordan knew that, but it didn’t stop him from doing what he had to do.’

  According to their parents, Harry and Jordan were part of an animal rescue service called Mission Fox.

  ‘But we didn’t realise the risks they were taking,’ said Mr Fox. ‘Or we wouldn’t have allowed it,’ said Mrs Fox.

  A zoo spokesman said they had never heard of a zebra killing anyone before. ‘I guess that makes my brother famous!’ Harry said.

  It was good that he was going to be famous, but it was sad he was going to die.

  But Jordan wasn’t dead yet.

  When she reached him, Mrs Z didn’t trample him, or kick him, or even bite him. She skidded to a standstill and started licking Little Z all over. She took no notice of Jordan. He scrambled to his feet.

  Harry stopped a short distance away. ‘Come on,’ he whispered, beckoning to his brother. ‘Get away from her before she kicks your head in.’ He was still thinking about the imaginary newspaper article.

  ‘She won’t hurt me,’ Jordan said. ‘She just wants to feed her baby.’

  Little Z was awake. His mother nuzzled him, trying to make him stand up. He needed to get milk, but he was too weak.

  Jordan turned to Harry. ‘Come and give me a hand, Agent H. We’ll lift him up so he can reach.’

  Harry shuffled his feet. ‘Is it safe?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Jordan.

  ‘She might remember how I put my T-shirt on her head,’ Harry said.

  ‘You’re not scared, are you?’

  ‘No way!’ Harry thrust his chest out like Captain Amazing. But it was hard to be a superhero when you were a nine-year-old boy wearing a T-shirt that looked like a dress. ‘Well, just a little bit scared,’ he admitted.

  ‘I’ll tell her what we’re going to do,’ said Jordan.

  He closed his eyes and his lips moved silently.

  ‘Does pet whispering really work?’ Harry asked, when Jordan opened his eyes again.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Jordan said, bending down to lift Little Z off the ground. ‘Let’s hope it does.’

  Harry hoped so, too, as he bent down on the other side.

  Together, they lifted the baby zebra to its feet. Mrs Z turned around and the two MF agents pointed Little Z’s head in the right direction. As soon as Little Z saw the teat, he latched on and started drinking.

  Yaaay!

  With their two free hands, Jordan and Harry gave each other the secret MF high-ten (a high-five when you count all the fingers).

  Another successful Mission Fox animal rescue was over.

  ‘What on earth do you think you’re doing?’ said an angry voice.

  The twins looked round, startled. They had been so busy helping the zebras that they hadn’t heard a car coming. It was a four-wheel drive with ‘Nullambine Zoo’ painted on the door. Two zookeepers got out. One was a man, the other was a woman. It was the man who had the angry voice.

  ‘Hey! Get away from those animals!’ he ordered, striding angrily towards them.

  Jordan and Harry usually did what adults told them (especially adults in uniform), but not this time.

  ‘The baby’s too weak to stand up on his own,’ Jordan explained.

  ‘If we let go he’ll fall over,’ said Harry.

  ‘Nonsense!’ growled the zookeeper.

  He reached out to grab Jordan’s shoulder.

  Quick as a striking cobra, Mrs Z swung her head around.

  SNAP!

  The zookeeper jumped back in fright. She had nearly bitten his hand!

  Harry grinned at him. ‘Mrs Z doesn’t like strangers.’

  The other keeper crept forward slowly. She didn’t come too close.

  ‘Are you the two boys who won the newspaper competition?’ she asked.

  Jordan and Harry nodded.

  ‘Your sky-chair came back empty except for your cameras and backpacks,’ she said. ‘How did you get down here?’

  The twins tried to explain what had happened. They left out some bits – the pet whispering, how Harry had put his T-shirt on Mrs Z’s head, and most of the stuff about the hippos – but it was still a long story. By the time they had finished, Little Z had stopped feeding. Now he was strong enough to stand up on his own. The two MF agents gave him a goodbye pat, then turned to walk away.

  The angry zookeeper was waiting. As soon as they were out of range of Mrs Z’s teeth, he grabbed both twins by the arm.

  ‘You kids are in SO MUCH TROUBLE!’ he growled.

  ‘We told you what happened!’ said Harry.

  ‘We saved the baby’s life!’ said Jordan.

  The zookeeper scoffed. ‘Do you really expect us to believe such a ridiculous story? Giving the kiss of life to a zebra! Next you’ll be telling us you can talk to animals!’

  ‘Well, actually …’ Harry began.

  ‘Shhhh!’ said Jordan.

  ‘Some of it might be true, Mark,’ the woman zookeeper said to the man holding the twins. ‘The zebras did seem to trust them.’

  ‘Well, let’s see what the police have to say about it,’ said Mark, pushing Harry and Jordan towards the four-wheel drive.

  Not the police! Jordan thought. The police would tell their parents. If Mr and Mrs Fox found out about even half of the stuff that had happened today, the twins would never be allowed to go on another MF rescue mission in their lives!

  Jordan had an idea. ‘Excuse me,’ he said to the woman zookeeper, who seemed more friendly than Mark. ’Do cotton top tamarins live in Africa?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘They come from South America.’

  ‘Then why does Nullambine Zoo have one in the African enclosure?’

  The woman looked puzzled. ‘There isn’t one here.’

  ‘There is,’ said Jordan. ‘I can show you.’

  ‘Let them go, Mark,’ the woman said.

  Mark did as he was told. She must have been his boss.

  ‘What are your names?’ she asked the twins.

  ‘I’m Jordan.’

  ‘I’m Harry.’

  ‘Hi Jordan and Harry,’ she said, giving them both a big friendly smile. ‘I’m Cathy. Can you guys show me where you saw the cotton top tamarin?’

  Cathy was the Head Keeper at Nullambine Zoo. Her favourite animals were the rare monkeys.

  ‘Three months ago, Pablo the cotton top tamarin disappeared from his cage in the South American enclosure,’ she told the twins. ‘We thought he’d been stolen.’

  Now, thanks to Mission Fox, Pablo had been found. He was still at the zoo! Nobody had thought to look for him in a big flowering gumtree in the middle of the African Plains enclosure.

  ‘He must have lived off the nectar and eaten the insects that came to feed on the flowers,’ Cathy said. ‘He looks nice and fat.’

  She and the twins watched Mark catch Pablo in a long-handled net.

  ‘What are you going to do with your five-hundred dollars?’ Cathy asked Jordan and Harry.

  ‘What five-hundred dollars?’ they said.

  ‘The zoo offered a five-hundred dollar reward for finding Pablo,’ she said. ‘You guys have earned it!’

  Harry started jumping around, punching the air. ‘Five-hundred dollars! Awesome!’

  Jordan stayed calm. He had an idea. Harry wasn’t going to be pleased, but the future of Mission Fox depended on it.

  ‘It must cost a lot to look after all these animals,’ he said, pointing at the zebras, then at Pablo. ‘Can we donate the money to the zoo?’

  Even Mark smiled when he heard that. (Harry didn’t.)

  ‘Of course you can!’ Cathy said – her smile was the biggest of all. She shook Jordan’s and Harry’s hands as if they were adults. ‘You guys are pretty special, you know that?’

  They did know that. Mrs Z and Little Z knew it, too.
/>   But best of all, nobody said anything more about calling the police.

  The twins were in the Nullambine News the next day. But there was nothing in the article about what really happened.

  How Jordan had given the kiss of life to Little Z. How Harry (or Captain Amazing) had tried out stuff from Saturday Cartoons on Mrs Z. How he had swum with hippos. And how Jordan (or the Pet Whisperer) had called Mrs Z back to feed her baby.

  All that was secret stuff. The kind of stuff adults didn’t need to know.

  RIDE OF A LIFETIME

  Twin brothers Harry and Jordan Fox (9), yesterday took a trip through Africa on a brand new sky-chair ride at Nullambine Zoo.

  The twins won the ride by correctly answering all 25 questions in the Know Your African Wildlife competition, run by this newspaper.

  First prize was two seats on the ‘Flight Over Africa Sky Safari’, which carries visitors through the treetops above wild African animals.

  Asked about their experience, the twins said it was exciting to see animals out of their cages.

  ‘The best bit was a mother zebra with her brand-new baby,’ Jordan said.

  The lucky boys also saw wildebeests, antelopes and hippos. ‘But the hippos just stayed in their pool,’ Harry said.

  Asked to rate the new ride out of ten, Jordan gave it ten. Harry only gave it eight. ‘It would have been more exciting if there were lions,’ he said.

  VISIT JUSTIN D’ATH’S WEBSITE AT WWW.JUSTINDATH.COM

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  First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2012

  Text copyright © Justin D’Ath, 2012

  Illustrations copyright © Heath McKenzie, 2012

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  ISBN: 978-1-74253-489-3