terrified when he first arrived. Poor Claudia! She was up half the night dealing with Rusty, so she didn’t get much sleep before she had to get up and go to the airport.”
Sally poured Rusty’s milk down the sink and washed the bottle.
“What do you want me to do today?” asked Antonia.
“The razorbill and the herring gulls need cleaning out and feeding, but if that’s too much for you I could find something easier?”
“I’ll do the birds,” said Antonia, pleased to be busy. Sea Watch felt weird without Claudia and Cai. It was far too quiet and empty. Antonia hoped that some other volunteers would arrive soon. Putting on a disposable apron and a pair of gloves, she collected cleaning materials and went outside to the aviaries. The first one contained Billy the razorbill, who was recovering from getting oil on his feathers. He sat on a perch watching Antonia navigate the porch with its double-door system designed to stop birds escaping.
“Urr,” he said conversationally.
“Urr,” answered Antonia, mimicking his throaty growl.
She removed the soiled straw from his sleeping quarters and replaced it with a fresh batch. Then she cleaned out his water bowl and refilled it. After that, Antonia swept and mopped the concrete floor. Finally, she left Billy with a fish breakfast and went outside to sweep round the aviary, clearing away the bits of straw and bird seed.
“Hi, Antonia.”
Antonia was so engrossed in her job that she hadn’t heard Emily arrive.
“Do you need any help?”
“Yes, please,” said Antonia. “I’m just about to start on the gulls.”
It was fun working with Emily. She made Antonia laugh telling her stories about life in Year Seven at Sandy Bay High, the local comprehensive. They finished the gulls in half the time it had taken Antonia to do Billy and then went inside. To Antonia’s surprise it was mid-morning and time to stop for a break. She sat with Sally and the other volunteers and was drinking squash and eating a biscuit when Cai arrived back from the airport with his parents and Claudia.
“Everyone, this is my mum and dad,” announced Cai, pinching a biscuit from the plate.
Antonia had met Cai’s parents before, but hadn’t seen them for ages and was overcome with shyness. She quickly recovered when Mr and Mrs Pacific hugged her warmly.
“How was your flight?” she asked, hugging them back.
“Good,” said Mr Pacific, “until we stepped off the plane and remembered how cold it is here in April.” He shivered dramatically and chattered his teeth.
“This isn’t cold, it’s warm!” exclaimed Cai.
Mr and Mrs Pacific looked as sleepy as Rusty the fox cub after their long flight, but Cai was too excited to notice and insisted on showing them round with Antonia.
“Come and see outside,” he said, after they’d looked at everything indoors. “We’ve got new aviaries, a deepwater pool and our own beach.”
“Is it the same beach that was here the last time I visited Claudia?” Mr Pacific joked.
Cai laughed. “You haven’t seen the deepwater pool, though,” he said persuasively.
“We’ll see the outside later, honey,” said Mrs Pacific, smothering a yawn with her hand. “Right now I need to lie down before I fall down!”
Antonia didn’t go up to the house with Cai. Expecting him to stay with his parents, she went down to the beach with Emily to take some sea-water samples. But it wasn’t long before Cai joined them.
“That was quick,” said Antonia.
“There wasn’t much point in hanging around,” said Cai. “Mum and Dad are having a sleep in Claudia’s spare room.”
“Don’t you miss your parents?” asked Emily curiously. “I’d miss mine if they lived on the other side of the world.”
Cai sighed. “I do miss them loads, but when we all lived together I didn’t see them much because they were working such long hours. In a way, it’s better like this. Now when I see them they take time off work so we can do stuff together. Dad’s taking me windsurfing and he said you could come too, Antonia.”
“Really? I’ve always wanted to try that,” said Antonia enthusiastically. She was pleased Mr Pacific had invited her.
There was so much to do at Sea Watch that the day sped by. Claudia was concerned about Rusty, who still wasn’t feeding well, and she rang Mr Singh, the vet, for a chat. She looked a little happier afterwards.
“Mr Singh thinks our cub might be cold. He told me to put a heat lamp in his pen and see if that helps. He’s also suggested getting in touch with the Sandy Bay Badger Sanctuary. They take in injured or orphaned fox cubs as well as badgers, so I’m going to see if they have room for Rusty. Mr Singh thinks he’ll be much better off there because they have lots of experience dealing with young cubs. They’ll have other foxes for Rusty to socialise with.”
At the end of the day Antonia and Cai couldn’t resist going to visit the cub before they went home. Rusty looked so small and cute curled up in the pen on his own.
“I wish we could keep him here until he’s big enough to release back into the wild,” said Cai.
“Me too,” Antonia agreed. “But it wouldn’t be fair. He’ll be much happier at the badger sanctuary.”
“I wonder if he misses his parents,” said Cai with a soft sigh.
Antonia gave Cai a look as he headed for the door.
But Cai sounded his usual cheery self as he called back, “See you tomorrow, Antonia. And don’t forget to ask if you can go windsurfing while my parents are here.”
“I’ll ask as soon as I get in,” said Antonia, following him.
The moment Antonia arrived home her little sister Jessica swooped on her.
“Come and play with me,” she said. “I’ve built a den in my bedroom with blankets and pegs. It’s really cool.”
“In a minute, Jess,” said Antonia. She wanted to ask Mum about going windsurfing first.
“That was nice of Cai’s dad,” said Mum. “Of course you can go.”
“Good, now you can come and play with me,” said Jessica.
Laughing good-naturedly, Antonia let Jessica pull her upstairs.
“Close your eyes,” said Jessica bossily.
Antonia closed them and Jess flung open her bedroom door, declaring dramatically, “Open them again.”
“Wow!”
