Snake Escape

1

DO WE CATCH SNAKES?

Jordan Fox opened his eyes, feeling confused. It was Saturday. Why was he awake so early? And what was that noise?

Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz!

He lifted his head to listen. The noise was coming from across the room. It sounded muffled. Like an alarm clock covered with a blanket.

Or like a phone under a rock!

Jordan sat up and prodded the bunk above him.

'Harry, wake up!' he hissed. 'It's the FoxPhone!'

His twin brother made a grunting sound but didn't move. It always took Harry ages to wake up.

Jordan would have to answer the phone himself. Gulp!

He scrambled out of bed and crossed the room. On his desk there was a big glass tank with sticks and sand and rocks in it. The buzzing sound was coming from under one of the rocks. It was the perfect hiding place for a secret mobile phone. When the twins' mother cleaned their room, she never opened Max's tank.

Jordan had never opened it, either.

Until today.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly lifted the lid. Unlike his owner Harry, Max the tarantula was wide awake.

And he was sitting on the rock with the phone underneath!

Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz!

Jordan had to answer. People only rang the FoxPhone in an emergency.

He grabbed a ruler off the desk and carefully pushed the rock to one side. Max stayed on the rock. His eight beady eyes watched Jordan's trembling hand come slowly down and grab the phone away.

'Mission Fox Animal Rescue Service,' he whispered. 'Does an animal need help?'

'Well, I'm really the one who needs help,' said a shaky voice. It sounded like an old lady.

'I'm sorry,' Jordan told her. 'We only help animals, not people. Would you like me to call an ambulance or something?'

'Good heavens, no!' the old lady said. Jordan heard the sound of paper shuffling. 'I found this flyer in my letterbox, you see. It says you help find lost pets.'

Jordan knew the words on the flyer off by heart – they were his words. Well, Harry had helped a bit.

'Have you lost your pet?' Jordan asked.

'Well, Bella's my husband's pet, actually,' said the old lady. 'She's a snake.'

A creepy feeling, like a tarantula's feet, ran up and down Jordan's spine.

Snakes freaked him out even more than giant hairy spiders. 'What sort of snake?' he asked nervously.

'A scrub python,' said the old lady. 'Hang on a minute,' Jordan said.

The FoxPhone had a special app called BRAIN (Bird, Reptile and Animal Identification Network). Jordan typed in Scrub python and a big scaly snake appeared on the screen. Yikes! Jordan nearly dropped the phone. Quickly he scrolled down to 'DESCRIPTION' It said scrub pythons were the largest snakes in Australia. They could grow to eight metres long!

Further down, under 'HABITS'as something even worse . . .

Jordan looked in the mirror, and made himself stand very tall.

He clicked the PHONE button.

'Is Bella a full-grown snake?' he asked.

'I don't know,' said the old lady. 'You'd have to ask my husband.'

'Can I talk to him, please?'

'That's the trouble, you see,' she said.

'My husband's at the hospital. Yesterday my grandson came to visit and he must have left Bella's cage door open.'

'Do you know where Bella might have gone?' asked Jordan.

'I think she's somewhere in the house,' said the old lady. 'But I'm a bit scared to go looking for her.'

So was Jordan. 'Could you hang on again, please?' he asked.

Jordan crossed back to the bed, and gave his brother a big shake. 'Harry, do we catch snakes?'

'Uhhhhn,' went Harry.

Jordan waved the phone at him. 'Wake up! We've got a call on the FoxPhone.'

'Who is it?' Harry asked sleepily.

'An old lady,' whispered Jordan. 'She wants us to catch a snake.'

Suddenly Harry was wide awake. 'Awesome!' he cried. 'What sort of snake?'

Jordan told him about Bella.

Harry jumped down off his bunk and raced to the wardrobe to look at the handwritten chart that was taped to the back of the door.

'Our first Code Red mission!' he cried.