Barney the Baby Hedgehog Read Online Free Page A

you can drop the act. I heard you doing your Doctor Doolittle talking to the animals thing!”
    Eva tutted. “I just thought – what if Barney isn’t the only baby hedgehog who got lost in Mr Ingleby’s barn? What if he’s got brothers and sisters?”
    “And no mum?” Karl nodded slowly. “It’s possible.”
    “More than possible!” Eva insisted. “I checked the website and it says there are usually three or four babies in one litter. They’re called hoglets! Isn’t that cute?”
    Karl rolled his eyes. “Cute? I hope you’renot getting too attached, Eva. And remember – you’re only guessing that the mum isn’t still around.” Karl was being logical as usual.
    “I know.” Eva bit her lip. “But what if ?”

    “OK, say you’re right,” Karl argued, walking out of the unit with Eva following. “Say there are more orphan babies out there. What do you plan to do about it?”
    “I don’t know yet. I’m going to carry on thinking,” she replied, closing the door behind her. “But, Karl, I’ll tell you one thing for sure – I’m not going to forget about it!”

Chapter Six
    “So I was wondering, Annie, if you’d like to camp out in Mr Ingleby’s barn?”
    Annie stood at the front door, her mouth gaping open in surprise. “Just run through that again,” she begged Eva. “You want to find out if there are any more baby hedgehogs like Barney, and the way you plan to do it is to have a sleepover in the barn at High Trees Farm. Did I get that right?”
    Eagerly Eva nodded. The idea had come to her at teatime. In a second she’d jumped up and started to organize.
    “Uh-oh, Eva’s just had one of her eureka moments!” Mark had laughed.
    “More hoglets … probably lost … camp out … Annie!” she’d gabbled.
    In the end, her mum and dad had agreed to the barn sleepover, but only as long as Linda let Annie go along too, and provided Tom Ingleby didn’t mind.
    “But don’t be disappointed if no other hoglets show up,” Heidi had warned. “You two could be out there all night and see absolutely nothing!”
    “Mad!” Karl had said, retreating to his computer. “I’m going to email Joel and tell him that my sister is as nutty as a fruitcake!”
    Eva had gone ahead anyway and dugout her sleeping bag, a fleece and a thick pair of socks. Now she was at Annie’s door, desperate to get on with her plan.
    “Quick – ask your mum!” she urged Annie. “Remind her we’re still on summer holidays, so there’s no school tomorrow. Promise her we’ll be careful, and say Mr and Mrs Ingleby will keep an eye on us.”
    “I heard all that,” Linda said, coming out from the lounge. Luckily, she was still in a good mood over Rosie. In fact, she’d been busily looking through a Build-Your- Own-Stable catalogue when Eva had knocked at the door. “So, Eva – this is Operation Baby Hedgehog, is it?”
    Eva nodded. “Can Annie sleep out with me, please?”
    “If she wants to – yes, she can.”
    “Of course you want to, don’t you?” Eva didn’t give Annie chance to object.“You need to pack a sleeping bag and a bottle of water, plus snacks…”
    “Whoa!” Annie cut Eva off mid-flow. She stood in her flowery top with cut-off white trousers and smart new trainers. “Do I look as if I’m dressed to sleep out in a mucky old barn?”

    “Oh!” Eva’s face fell. “Are you saying you don’t want to?”
    For a split second Annie kept Eva in suspense. Then she broke out in a wide grin. “Course I do! Give me five minutes to change, and I’ll be round at your place.”
    Eva breathed a sigh of relief. “ So not funny,” she muttered, scooting back to Animal Magic, where she made a couple of doorstep cheese sandwiches and packed them in her school rucksack.
    “Apples?” Mark suggested, putting them in the bag for her. “Flapjacks? And by the way, your mum rang Tom Ingleby and he says it’s OK to do your sleepover there.”
    Soon Eva was packed and ready, her bag stuffed with