14 Remembering

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Remembering Ted had built a small fire, and the three of them sat around it– Ted and Nancy on one side, and Rufus on the other. Once he'd taken off all the grubby blankets and rags, Ted and Nancy could see very clearly that Rufus was just a fox. In the firelight, Ted examined him. He had scraggly ears, matted fur and wonky whiskers. He stank of old tyres and stale swamp and goodness knows what else. But his tired eyes sparkled and shone. Nancy glared at Rufus suspiciously. 'I know I stink,' said Rufus sheepishly. 'I've been sleeping in these woods for days. When I first got here, I fell into that horrible swamp and couldn't get the stinky mud off. The smell just gets worse and worse, you know? I tried to have a wash in that little pond, but I got scared off by all them quacky ducks. Angry lot, aren't they?' Nancy stared into the fire and wouldn't look up. 'Go on, then,' she grunted. 'Why should we believe you're our brother?'

Rufus cleared his throat and shuffled a little closer to the fire. 'Seems fair,' he said. 'Get cosy. Cos it's quite the story.' Do you have a blankie? I think we should all have a blankie. RUFUS'S STORY 'We left Grimwood when you, Nancy, were just a little cub. Yes, that's right– Mum and Dad were from Grimwood! I was tickled pink when I saw Ted's postcards. You found your way back home without even knowing it was home. Clever clogs, the pair of you.

Anyway. You were a tiny cub. But I was a fair bit older and had already been out exploring on my own. Back then, there were loads more humans riding horses around here. They'd gallop around the place with their angry dogs, trying to catch us foxes. Nasty business. One day I almost got caught. See this ear? The missing chunk? That was down to them. Anyway, that really freaked Mum and Dad out. They felt Grimwood was getting too dangerous. Someone told 'em that quite a lot of foxes were having more luck in the Big City. Well, Dad wasn't keen, but Mum was always a bit of a traveller, you know? That's where I got it from, I suppose. Wanderlust, do you know that word? It's for people who don't like staying in one place for too long. So off we went, the four of us– Mum, Dad, and me and you, Nancy. And almost as soon as we arrived, you were born, Ted. Mum and Dad were pretty busy with you two. But it was OK. I loved roaming around the Big City. I spent most of my time out and about. Maybe that's why you don't remember me so well, Nance. I was young, and just wanted to hang out with my friends. I made a bunch of pals, actually. We'd raid bins and get into scrapes. My best mate Marco was in a band. He gave me a tin whistle. Sometimes we'd play music all night long. The

neighbourhood cats and dogs would join in with a bit of yowling. It was great fun. Anyway, one night we were chewin' on some chicken bones and Marco says, "Oi, Roofy. Do you wanna travel the world?" And I say, "You what, pal?" And he says, "There's a boat leaving the dock first thing tomorrow. It's going to be full of musicians and artists and circus folk and all sorts. We could travel the world with our band!" Well, it sounded like the most exciting thing ever. Mum used to tell me about her days travelling around, playing in a band when she was younger. Yeah, she really did, Ted! But then she met Dad and that all stopped. I told Marco I'd think about it. He said I needed to be at the dock by sunrise. So I walked back to our den. All four of you were snuggled up together. You looked so warm and cosy. I sat and watched you sleep for the rest of the night. Then I wrote a note explaining everything to Mum and Dad. Said I'd be back soon, but that I wanted a little adventure.

The next morning, I get to the dock. I see Marco and his pals heading onto this massive orange boat. I'll never forget, there was this seagull watching us all. It was wearing a captain's hat and swigging from a bright red bottle of fizzy pop. "Fools!" it kept shouting. "Fools, the lot of you!" Well, that made me a bit nervous. Maybe I was being foolish? Maybe I was too young for all this adventure? Then something totally bananas happened. The seagull in the hat swooped down and landed on my head. It started pecking at my ears and saying, "Mmm, cheesy earwax!" I got freaked out. I could hear people laughing at me cos I was spinning around trying to shake it off my head. Eventually I got it off, which was lucky cos by then the engine was roaring and the boat was slowly moving away from the dock. I jumped on deck as we sailed away. Phew! I was mega relieved and excited about the trip. I started to look for Marco and his mates, but I couldn't see them anywhere. In fact, after a while I realized I couldn't see anyone anywhere. The boat was deserted. There were just loads of crates stacked all over the place.

I felt a little flutter of worry in my tummy. Something wasn't right. After sniffing around for a bit, I found a crate filled with hay and a load of bananas. By that time, I was hungry and tired, so I crawled in for a snack and a snooze. And when I woke up, I was looking at a penguin. "Argh!" I said. "Hi!" said the penguin, with a wave. "Who are you?" I asked. The penguin looked at one of its flippers, which had a tiny orange tag attached to it. "I'm 354," it said. "You're much smaller and hairier than the other scientists, if you don't mind me saying so."