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But we just shrugged, there was no sign of her yet.
You could tell Jenny and Pepsi were pleased to see each other, their tails were wagging nineteen to the dozen. We would have liked to take them onto the field and let them off their leads but we wanted to keep them nice and clean, so we tried to get them to sit and be good. And they were, until Buster came. Then the trouble started.
Buster isn’t used to being on a lead; he was pulling so hard Lyndz couldn’t control him. He’s only a quarter of the size of Pepsi and Jenny but he’s so strong. The minute he saw them he made a bee-line for them. He wouldn’t stop fussing and jumping up at them.
“Leave them alone, Buster,” Lyndz kept saying. But he wouldn’t. He was a menace. Then he noticed Kenny’s box and started growling at it. We could hear Merlin scuffling about inside, as if he knew there was an enemy outside, which there was. The minute Lyndz pulled Buster away from Kenny, he started fussing Fliss and getting up on his back legs to reach her pocket.
“Get him off,” Fliss squealed.
“I’m trying,” said Lyndz, yanking on Buster’s lead.
Thank goodness it wasn’t long before Brown Owl arrived.
“You girls are very early,” she said. “Well, you’d better come inside, out of the rain, but you’ll have to wait in the foyer until we’re set up. Please keep your pets under control.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” said Lyndz, under her breath. But she wasn’t having much success.
A few other people were beginning to arrive, so we followed them into the building. But when we got into the foyer and saw who was sitting there, behind a table, ready to take everyone’s names, we nearly went home again. It was Snowy Owl, and, in case you’ve forgotten who Snowy Owl is, she’s only Fliss’s Auntie Jill. She knew Fliss didn’t have her own hamster. Why hadn’t we thought about her?
Fliss turned straight round and raced outside, and the rest of us followed her.
“What am I going to do now?” Fliss wailed.
“Look, what are you worried about?” I said. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Not yet,” said Fliss.
“Why not just keep him in your pocket?” said Lyndz. “No one need know.”
“Oh, that’s all right for you to say, but I was really looking forward to this. I want to be in the Pet Show.”
Poor old Fliss, we all wanted her to be in the Pet Show too, but we couldn’t think of a way to help. It was raining harder now and we were getting properly wet. But I remembered what my gran always says, where there’s a will, there must be a way. I concentrated really hard.
Rosie was standing by Fliss, patting her shoulder. “This is all my fault,” she said. “I shouldn’t have had that stupid idea in the first place.”
“It was a good idea,” said Lyndz. “You weren’t to know.”
“I’ve got it,” I said. “We’ll tell Snowy Owl he’s Rosie’s hamster. She can’t take him in because she’s got Jenny as well. So you’re going to enter him for her.”
“Yeah! One-nil!” said Kenny. “Mega-Brain Strikes Again.”
“Oh, Frankie, you’re so clever,” said Rosie.
Mmm, yes, I thought, I am pretty cool, actually.
“OK, let’s go,” I said. It was nearly two thirty and lots more people were arriving.
But when we went back into the foyer, we nearly had to come out again, because now there wasn’t just Snowy Owl at the desk, her boyfriend, Dishy Dave was there too. Dishy Dave’s the caretaker at school. He might recognise Gazza, because he’s always in and out of our classroom, checking up on things.
Fliss was about to disappear again, so I grabbed her.
“Just keep him in your pocket,” I whispered.
“And try to look natural,” whispered Kenny.
Fliss swallowed and gave a big sigh. “I wished I’d stayed at home,” she said. But she didn’t really, you could tell.
When we got to the front of the queue I went first and gave my name.
“And your dog’s?” said Snowy Owl, busy writing.
“Pepsi,” I said, smiling.
“What class?” she asked me.
“Class?” I didn’t know what she meant.
“Obedience? Appearance? Novelty?”
Well, I knew Pepsi wasn’t very obedient so I chose Appearance. Snowy Owl gave me a card with a large number nine on it. “Dogs are in the Main Hall,” she said. “Listen for your name to be called.”
Rosie chose Obedience as well as Appearance because Jenny’s very well-behaved and comes whenever you call her. She got a number ten to hold.
When it came to Lyndz she didn’t know which to choose for Buster. He’s quite a funny looking thing, not a bit pretty and he certainly doesn’t do as he’s told.
Snowy Owl told her she’d put him in Obedience because there weren’t many dogs in that class, and Novelty too. Buster was number eleven, which made me giggle.
“What’s so funny?” said Lyndz.
“You know,” I said. “In Bingo, when they call out ‘Legs Eleven’. It really suits him.” But Lyndz wasn’t amused.
Then it was Kenny’s turn. “Laura McKenzie and Merlin,” said Kenny.
“And what’s Merlin?” asked Snowy Owl, looking at the box.
“My white rat,” said Kenny, opening the lid to show her. Snowy Owl went white and leant back in her chair. You could see she wasn’t keen on rats. She looked as if she was having trouble swallowing.
“That’s alright. I don’t need to see him. Just keep him in the box until the judges are ready. Number twelve, room three: small animals.”
“Are there any other rats entered?” I asked.
“Not at the moment,” said Snowy. “Thank goodness,” she added, under her breath.
“So if nobody else comes,” said Dave, “you’ll win automatically.”
That made Kenny grin. Jammy or what!
Then it was Fliss’s turn. She was looking very pink. Snowy Owl smiled at her. “I think I know your name,” she said. Well, she ought to, she’s her auntie, after all. “Are you just here to keep your friends company?”
Fliss didn’t know what to say.
“No,” I said for her, “she’s entering Rosie’s hamster.”
Snowy Owl looked at Dave. “Well, I suppose that’s allowed.”
“Yeah,” said Dave. “Why not?” And he winked at us. “We won’t tell anyone.”
“So, where is he?”
“In her pocket,” said Rosie. Snowy Owl frowned.
“Oh, it’s OK, he likes it,” said Kenny.
“Well, what’s his name?”
Fliss looked at Rosie, who looked straight at me. Why do people always expect me to come up with ideas? My mind went to jelly for a second or two, then I suddenly said, “Hammy.”
“Hammy the Hamster?” said Dave, not very impressed. But Snowy Owl wrote it down. “Room three, with Kenny. Here’s your number.”
Fliss looked at the number she was holding out and almost burst into tears. “Sorry about that,” said her Auntie Jill. “Luck of the draw, I’m afraid.”
We moved away from the table, into the corridor.
“Number Thirteen. Just my luck,” said Fliss.
“Well, at least we’ve got the first bit over,” I said. It might have been the first, but it wasn’t the worst. That came later.
The door opened. Suddenly we could hear everyone oohing and aahing and making a fuss in the foyer. Who do you think had just walked in? Yes, you’ve guessed: the dreaded M&Ms. And when we saw Emma Hughes’s dog, we nearly all went home.
I’d never seen a dog so white. You almost needed sunglasses to look at her. Rosie, who knows about different kinds of dogs, said she was a husky. Her fur was long and soft and she looked as if she’d had a bath in milk. So this was the famous Duchess of Drumshaw The Third.
You could see straight away she was going to win. Everyone was saying, “Oh, what a beautiful dog! Oh, isn’t she absolutely gorgeous.” And other sickly things like that. I’m not saying she wasn’t a really cute dog, but so are Pepsi and Jenny and no one was making a fuss of them.
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