Guinea Pigs Online Read Online Free PDF Page A

such a beautifullove song? Coco blushed. Her heart jumped.
    She felt her way along the walls, following the sound. She stopped. The most handsome guinea pig she had ever seen stood in the middle of a small hollow, under a shaft of light that shone through a hole above him. He had short thick fur—a deep-black undercoat sprinkled with silver, which glowed in the light like tiny diamonds—and black eyes. Slung over his shoulder was a small blue satchel, which he was mending with a needle and thread, pullingit in and out. He paused, lifting his head as if about to sing another verse.

    Then he saw Coco. He stopped his mending and smiled.
    “You feeling better, señorita?”
    Señorita!
Coco nearly fainted again. He was so romantic! She felt like a princess.
    “Yes,” she squeaked, “I am. Thank you so much for rescuing me.”
    “You’re welcome.” He looked at her from under his shaggy eyebrows. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Eduardo Julio Antonio del Montefrom far away in the Andean mountains: Cavy Boliviensis.”
    “I’m Coco,” said Coco, “from number 7, Middleton Crescent, Strawberry Park. And before that I lived with the Queen. Er . . . Cavy Palaciensis.”
    “Really?” Eduardo nodded thoughtfully. “The Queen!” He frowned. “So tell me, Señorita Coco, what’s a pretty princess like you doing hanging around a place like this at midnight?”
    “I was trying to find Fuzzy.”
    “Fuzzy?”

    “Yes, we share a hutch. He’s Ben’s and I’m Henrietta’s. He’s not my boyfriend or anything,” Coco added hastily. She explained about Scarlet Cleaver’s ad and about Fuzzy running away. She told him about Terry finding out about the other missing guinea pigs on the computer. “The fox sent me a message,” shesaid, “after Terry left, pretending to be a friend. He offered to help me find Fuzzy. That’s why I agreed to meet him here.”
    “
Caramba!
” Eduardo whistled. “You should choose your friends more carefully next time, señorita. Don’t you know you should NEVER—”
    “One does now!” Coco said miserably. “I won’t do it again. It was all so different at the Palace,” she sobbed. “One simply wrote letters, placed them on a silver tray and asked the butler to put them in the post.”
    “I see,” Eduardo raised his eyebrows. “Well, it’s not like that here in the bush, señorita. You have to be able to look after yourself or it’s curtains. You have to find shelter, search for food, keep a watch out for predators.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Man! You domestic guinea pigs, you’re so spoiled you’re something else!”
    “What do you mean?” Coco asked huffily. There was no need to be rude.
    “My mother brought me up as a freedom fighter,” Eduardo sighed, picking up his mending. “‘Eduardo,’ she said, ‘travel the world and free yourbrothers and sisters.’ I did as I was told. Like her, I used to think all guinea pigs should be free.” He shrugged. “Since I’ve been here, I’m not so sure. Some guinea pigs, like you, señorita, are better off in cages. Go back to yours now, where you belong.”
    “They’re called hutches actually,” Coco chattered. Eduardo was making her feel quite cross. She couldn’t imagine why she had ever liked him. He was clearly not a gentleman. “And there’s nothing wrong with living in them as long as you have nice owners like Henrietta and Ben, or the Queen.”
    “Wouldn’t you rather be roaming the Andean mountains?” Eduardo looked aghast. “Foraging for chickweed?”
    “Certainly not,” Coco snapped. “One would miss the quilted toilet paper, one should think! Besides, it would make Henrietta and the Queen very sad. Which reminds me,” she said firmly, “I have to find Fuzzy. Ben will be terribly worried.” She looked around. “Which way is out?”
    “Where are you going?” Eduardo blocked her way.
    Coco drew herself up and flicked her whiskers at him. “111 Upper Street,” she