Medal Mayhem (6 page)

“Well, that answers that question,” Calvin said, after Billy had leaped two more equally big distances. “Goats can definitely jump.”

He’d get no argument from me – Billy the Kid was an amazing triple-jumper. The real question was, was he better than a Stunt Bunny? There was only one way to find out – Billy and I would have to go ear to ear!

My heart was thumping as we watched all the other competitors jump. One by one, they took their turn. A toad called Tiny did well and Fuzz the duck was disqualified for flapping his wings midair but, by the time it was my turn to jump, the goat was still the one to beat.

Calvin stared down at me, a serious look on his face. “You’re up next, Harriet,” he said, reaching down to unclip my harness. “Time to put all that training to good use.”

“Good luck,” Susie whispered, as she tugged sweatbands onto my paws and a headband under my ears. “I know you can do it.”

I wished I felt as sure as she sounded – Billy had jumped an awfully long way. But I hadn’t become Britain’s favourite bunny by giving up easily and I wasn’t about to start now. Taking a deep breath, I hopped to the beginning of the run-up and stared at the distant sandpit, imagining I was in our garden at home. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about damaging EE’s roses today!

My first jump was a complete disaster. Just as I was about to leap into the air, a fight broke out between Tiny and Fuzz and I missed the launch board. The machine next to the board let out a shrill beep, meaning the jump wouldn’t count. Calvin shot a furious glare at Tiny and Fuzz’s owners as they dragged their squabbling pets away.

My second attempt felt much better and there was no beep to tell me I’d overshot the launch board. Even so, it wasn’t quite good enough to beat Billy and his name stayed at the top of the scoreboard. Disappointed, I hopped back to the start. Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a triple-jumper after all.

“Harriet Houdini, final jump,” the official said, in a serious tone.

Suddenly I caught a glimpse of Susie’s face next to Calvin. Her blue eyes were filled with hope as she gave me a thumbs up. In a flash, I realised I couldn’t let her down and I steeled myself to give this jump everything I had.

With an encouraging nod from Calvin, I flattened my ears and started to run. Everything else disappeared as I focused on the rapidly approaching board. Narrowing my eyes in concentration, I hit it squarely in the middle and launched myself into a gigantic bunny hop. A second later, I hit the ground again and thrust upwards in a mighty skip. The next time my back paws made contact with the path, I used all my strength to soar high into the air. For a moment, I hung there, then dropped to the sand below and landed with a thud on my fluffy tail.

Time seemed frozen. I didn’t dare look at the distance, until I heard a whoop from Calvin and an excited squeal from Susie.

“You did it, Harriet!” she cried, running up to the edge of the sandpit and hopping from one foot to the other. “You’ve got the biggest jump of the day!”

Calvin was right behind her. “That was some seriously amazing triple jumping! You beat your personal best.”

Gloria hurried over to us, the film crew in tow. “Well done!” she exclaimed, beaming a big smile at me. “It looks like all the
Superpets
stars have earned their place in the Animalympics.”

Susie let out an excited scream and the film crew high-fived each other. Even EE looked pleased.

“I think it’s time for another nickname,” Gloria went on, looking thoughtful. “How does Harriet Houdini – Fluffy Jumper sound?”

I thought for a minute and then wiggled my cotton wool tail in approval. The Animalympics were calling me and I couldn’t wait for the real competition to start!

Now that we’d qualified for the Animalympics itself, it was time for
Team Superpets
to move into the athletes’ village. And with only two weeks until the opening ceremony kicked everything off, we all had some serious training to do. But if I was expecting the animals and owners competing in the Animalympics to be anything like the ones on
Superpets,
I was in for a shock.

At first, I didn’t notice any difference as EE took Susie and me to meet Calvin for our first training session – I saw a dog here, a cat there – but we soon started to spot the kinds of creatures we usually only ever saw on the TV. I mean, how many ostriches have you passed as you crossed the road? Exactly!

By the time we found Calvin, Susie’s eyes were as big as bicycle wheels. “We saw a koala climbing a tree, a gorilla practising the shot put and a panda – well, I’m not really sure what he was doing but it looked like judo!” she told him, after we’d said hello.

Calvin smiled. “The Animalympics is a worldwide competition. All sorts of creatures enter.”

“Including kangaroos?” EE asked, nodding across the park.

I peered up to see a tall kangaroo hopping towards us in great bounds. Next to him was an even taller lady, her hair styled into two short bunches which from a distance looked a bit like ears.

“That’s Krusher and his owner, Ruby,” Calvin said, lowering his voice. “He’s the Australian triple jump champion and I’ve heard he’s not very friendly.”

What Calvin said might be true but I was determined to give the kangaroo and his owner a chance. Krusher and I would be competing against each other in the Animalympics next week but that didn’t mean we had to be enemies, did it? So I waited until they were close and then hopped forward, a friendly look on my face.

EE must have felt the same way. As Krusher and Ruby drew level, I heard EE cough. “Good afternoon,” he said, stepping forward and thrusting out a hand. “I’m Edward Wilson, this is my daughter, Susie, and this is Harriet Houdini. Pleased to meet you.”

Ruby slowed down and looked at EE’s outstretched fingers. “Is that right?” she drawled, in a bored voice. “And what’s that got to do with us?”

Calvin’s eyes narrowed. “I believe Harriet and Krusher are facing each other in the triple jump.”

Ruby stared at me. “What, that little rabbit against my Krusher here? Is that some kind of joke?”

“It’s not a joke,” Susie said crossly. “Harriet is a great jumper.”

Krusher thumped the floor with his big back foot and his owner let out a tinkling laugh. “She’s no match for Krusher. Trust me, he’s going to wipe the floor with her!”

Still laughing, she swept past. Krusher followed, but not before firing a nasty look my way.

“Well, it looks like those rumours are true,” EE said, frowning as he watched the pair walk away. “Neither of them seemed very nice.”

He could say that again. But I wasn’t worried. Krusher might be ten times bigger than me, but he had no idea what he was up against. He’d clearly never met a Stunt Bunny before!

Luckily, my other fellow competitors were much friendlier. Coco, the cuddly koala Susie had seen climbing a tree, and her owner were from Australia too, and they had plenty to say about Krusher and Ruby. Even Pablo, whose Mexican desert rat was hoping to win the high jump, had heard bad things about them.

“They say Krusher eats live grasshoppers before every jump,” Pablo said, his eyes darting from side to side nervously as though he expected Krusher to leap out from behind a bush at any moment. “Even though kangaroos are normally vegetarian.”