‘Dad, I decided to come here before they all left because I was worried about you and Salmon. And, well, Pickles followed me. It wasn’t my fault.’
‘How did he get out?’ I snapped. I was pretty annoyed. Salmon and I had it all figured out and now George – and, more to the point, Pickles – threatened to ruin everything.
‘The cat, or dog flap,’ George said, innocently.
‘But how did he get out of the garden?’ They always made sure our gates were closed since Pickles had a habit of following us, something which had led to all sorts of trouble in the past. Actually, now was a case in point.
‘Ah, a courier came earlier with a package and no one thought to check the back gate like they normally do,’ George admitted.
‘Guys, this explanation is all well and good but now they’re here, what are we going to do?’ Salmon asked.
‘We’ll have to leave; our plan is ruined.’ I stamped my paw. I was incredibly frustrated. They would notice Pickles missing before they even thought we might be as well, and all sorts of chaos would ensue if we didn’t get him home.
‘Now you know what it was like when I was visiting Harold at the hospital,’ George said defiantly. I had to admit that I had no answer to that, because I had followed George to the hospital and Pickles had followed me … It hadn’t ended well, but that was not the point.
‘Are you going to go on about that forever?’ I snapped.
‘Woof.’ Pickles said.
‘Quiet,’ I hissed.
‘Now you know how it feels,’ George said again.
‘This arguing is all well and good, but don’t you think we should decide what to do?’ Salmon said reasonably.
‘Let’s catch the baddie,’ Pickles said. ‘And I can lick and lick them until they surrender.’
‘George, what on earth have you been telling him?’
George started to examine his paw, trying and failing to look innocent.
‘What the hell is all that noise,’ a voice – Barbara’s voice – boomed. We all tried to shrink into the wall as she moved the backdrop and we found ourselves staring at her. ‘What are you all doing here?’ she snapped. Her eyes did not look kind. Her voice didn’t sound kind either.
‘Yowl,’ George said, aggressively.
‘Woof,’ Pickles added. Salmon and I exchanged glances.
‘Right, you come with me,’ she said as she picked George and Pickles up. I tried to scratch her but she shook me off. ‘Get off me you horrible cats. And dog.’ As Salmon and I watched helplessly, she took Pickles and George into the dark props room and then she came back, scooped both Salmonand I up and did the same. ‘You have no right to be here,’ she said. ‘No right at all.’
‘Meow,’ I said loudly and tried to scratch her again. I am not a fan of violence – I don’t condone it – but this woman was hurting those I loved. She sidestepped me and kicked out with her foot; I managed to dodge her and decided it was safer to keep my distance. We were supposed to find out who was sabotaging the show, which we had, but now, now what on earth was going to happen?
‘I am going to lock you in, it serves you right for whatever it is you think you’re doing.’ I barely had time to turn around before the door slammed close.
The four of us stared at each other for a few moments, blinking to adjust to the pitch black room.
‘How are we going to get out?’ George asked. I looked around. Only one door and no windows.
‘I have no idea.’ The door handle was high up and there was no way we could reach it. And it wasn’t the sort of door you can push open. The prop cupboard was dark, dusty, and cold – not somewhere I fancied spending the night.
‘At least she won’t be able to damage anything,’ Salmon said, sitting down.
‘But we could be here all night, locked in this room and imagine how much they’ll panic when they find Pickles missing.’ I was so angry, our carefully thought out plan had gone completely wrong.
‘I’m hungry,’ George complained.
‘Is there anything to eat?’ Pickles asked as he tried to lick a cobweb.
I had a feeling it was going to be a very long night.
‘Right,’ Salmon said after a while. ‘I’ve been thinking. This isn’t a total disaster.’
‘Salmon, with all due respect, we’re locked in a cupboard. How is it not a total disaster?’ I asked.
‘We have caught Barbara being here when she shouldn’t be. So, she might not have done any damage tonight but I am pretty sure she was planning it. My thought is that she might have made it so she could come back on a night when she wasn’t the one locking up.’
‘Yes, that makes sense,’ I said.
‘Woof, I can see myself,’ Pickles said, looking in a mirror. I shook my tail.
‘Carry on, Salmon,’ George said. He was still unwilling to admit he had ruined our plan because he was stubborn, but at least now he was trying to be helpful.
‘And I know she only found us because you two snuck in here, but in a way at least, because of Pickles, we have a better chance of being found because everyone will be looking for him.’
‘True, but why would they look here?’
‘When they realise the three of you are missing, I am guessing they’ll try the hall as you’ve all been here so much.’
‘Humans aren’t always that bright,’ I said. ‘But, being optimistic, it’s possible.’
‘Right, and even if they take longer, someone will find us, as they are here all the time. When we hear footsteps we just make a lot of noise.’
‘Right Salmon, that makes sense,’ I said.
‘And we can do as many stake outs as necessary to foil her,’ Salmon said.
‘But shouldn’t we be worried about what she might do to us?’
‘No. She swings at us, and locked us in here, but she’s not going to hurt us, I could tell. I think she’s all bluster and meanness but not violent,’ he said, as if he was totally confident in that conclusion.
I looked at Salmon, and I never thought I would say this, but I was so glad he was here and so sensible. Because he was right. One night locked in a dusty props cupboard would not put us off.
‘Right, so we just make sure we’re here every night until we can get the humans to catch her,’ I suggested.
‘Yes, and also, if we’re here, we can probably try to stop her ruining things, somehow,’ George said.
‘But she’s not nice, I mean, she didn’t hurt us but she shut us in here so we have to be careful,’ I said. My mind was ticking over. ‘Salmon, you are so right. We ensure she knows we are on to her and as soon as we can we get the humans to find out too.’ I had no idea exactly how we were going to do that, but somehow we would figure it out.
‘And me too. I can be here all the time,’ Pickles said. I glared at George.
‘Hospital,’ he said, and stalked off to a corner to resume sulking.
I really was getting very hungry, and so was Pickles, who was trying and failing to find anything to eat. He wasn’t so keen on cobwebs it seemed, but he gave them a good go. George had even tired of sulking and was trying to show Salmon his sheep acting, in order to keep us from thinking too much about how long we were actually going to be here. I lay down, but it was cold and dark, and it smelt funny. Pickles started whining.
‘I need to eat,’ he said.
‘Pickles, just hold on, someone will come and get us shortly.’ I looked at Salmon. Would they? It felt as if we were going to be here all night. We might even freeze to death.
‘Right, let’s try to make a comfortable area, so we can try to get some rest,’ I suggested.
There was a blanket, which had paint on it, but would at least provide some warmth.
‘We should all huddle together to keep our body heat up as much as possible,’ Salmon suggested.
‘How do you know that’ll work?’ I asked.
‘Because my humans are survival experts,’ he replied. That did not surprise me, although why they needed to be when Vic and Heather rarely seemed to go beyond Edgar Road, I had no idea.