Friendship in Baker Street - Ch 4

“Loud and clear,” Fidget replied timidly at the thought of Olivia and himself being left all alone. Basil could be lying.

Basil thought of a solution that may turn out for the better. “But if something goes wrong, then holler.”

This made both Fidget and Olivia feel much better, but not for long after Basil shortly left them alone with no one, but Toby to protect them.

“Toby, you might want to be quiet because there might be something out there,” Fidget said, “Something frightening.”

“It’s not like him to leave us here like this,” Olivia agreed, “But we’ll try our best to manage.”

No sooner had she spoken these words than a wolf pup, who came bounding about and playfully nipped Fidget on one of his wings. Unfortunately for Fidget, he did not take it as “playful biting” because he would’ve gotten rabies. He let out a little yelp, which drew other wolf pups near him. The mother of the wolf pups growled at them in a scolding manner for she did not take kindly to her pups hurting other creatures, let alone, “city” creatures. This startled her pups completely, so they immediately did as they were told.

Both Olivia and Fidget were awestruck by this. Never had they seen wild animals surround them with peace, friendship, and protection. The wolves weren’t trying to hurt them, after all.

“Fidget! Olivia!” Basil called, frightening away the wolves. He, too, had seen wolves making peace with the mouse girl and the lad bat. “We took a little longer than we thought.”

Fidget’s happiness turned to shock, then anger. Driven by rage, he slapped Basil. “You shouldn’t have left us out there alone like that!” Fidget snapped. “You said if we stay here, we’ll be safe, but apparently, you lied!” He slapped the other cheek.

“I thought I was protecting you…” Basil said.

“That’s no excuse! You should’ve let us come with you!” Olivia scolded, just as upset as Fidget. “We could’ve been killed by wolves!”

“But you never listen, do you?” Fidget agreed, still seething.

Basil had tried to hold Olivia, but she, like Fidget, slapped him on both cheeks. The mouse detective was shocked, not necessarily because the slap hurt him, but because it came from one of his own friends. He couldn’t believe that Olivia would punish him the way Fidget did. Maybe she waited a long time to do it. Basil tried again, but this time with both Olivia and Fidget, only to be spat in the face. Much to his disbelief, Dawson did nothing but watch him get punished by children!

Fed up with this, Basil wiped the salvia off his face and tried to punish them by roughly holding them, but the resistant kids scratched, hit, yelled, threw things, bite, stomped on his feet as they landed, took out their water bottles, and spilled water in his face. Even Fidget had done all of the above for he’d been bitten. “Ow! My arms and feet!” Basil cried, finally realizing that the punishing end would only make the situation much worse. Before Fidget left and after Basil wiped the water off his face, Fidget beat him up.

Dawson exchanged a stern glance at Basil before turning to Fidget. “I’ll take care of your wing when we get back to Baker Street,” he promised.

Fidget panted abnormally, but that didn’t mean he didn’t accept what was given. Dawson hoisted him up to Toby, then Olivia and he climbed up after them with their backs facing Basil.

Basil, feeling ashamed, mysteriously followed.

…

Olivia and Fidget explained to Mr. Flaversham, Olivia’s father about their incident in the woods and Flaversham was shocked to hear that Basil lied to them into him thinking they’d be safe if they’d stay put in the forest, but as a result, it only put their lives at risk. He was also angry at Basil just as they were.

As of now, Dr. Dawson had given Basil a rabies shot in the arm, where Fidget (who’d been bitten by a wolf pup) had bitten him. “I’m really sorry,” Basil said.

“RUINED EVERYTHING, BASIL!” Fidget exploded at the top of his lungs, but dared not say more. He wanted to take care of his body before giving himself a heart attack or letting his blood pressure increase. There was nothing else for him to do than cross his arms.

“Lying isn’t protecting!” Olivia agreed, also with her arms folded, “We shouldn’t have listened to you!”

“You should be sorry, Basil,” Mr. Flaversham said sternly.

“I’m going to advise something we may all agree on, Basil,” Dr. Dawson said firmly.

“What? Why? You always say that, Dawson,” Basil scoffed, “Are you mad?!”

“You weren’t so clever in lying to them and leaving them where danger and disaster sets upon them!” Dawson snapped, “I even heard you lie to Olivia and Fidget and you were wrong to leave them there!” To Olivia and Fidget, he said softly, “Next time this happens to you, you can come along, but try to be quiet or at least whisper when you need to talk. Can you do that?”

“Yes, sir,” Fidget said sincerely.

“We promise,” Olivia said truthfully.

“Good,” Dawson said, “I’ll take care of that wing of yours, Fidget. I had just got done with Basil.”

“After I make sure Basil really learns his lesson,” Fidget replied.

“Me, too,” Olivia said and she and Fidget.

“Basil, get out,” Fidget said, pointing towards the door, “And think about what you did.”

“What? But this is my house,” Basil protested.

“He’s not kidding, Basil,” Olivia said with her hands on her hips.

“I’m dead serious,” Fidget agreed, also with his hands on his hips and added in a threatening tone, “If you’re not out in three seconds, I’ll drag you out and see how it feels to be left out in a dangerous territory.”

“You can’t be serious,” Basil said as he started on his way out.

“OUT!” Fidget yelled and Basil ran out.

As Basil left the house, he thought about what he’s done. Making them stay in a dangerous territory wasn’t worth it.

…

“Fidget, if I may, I can hold your hand,” Basil offered after a while.

Fidget, who was far too exhausted to argue with him anymore, decided to allow his assistance. It worked out just perfectly! Fidget was cured from rabies.

“You’re lucky it was one of your wings, instead of two,” said Dawson, “Or worse, your stomach.”

“Well, it looks like you are rabies free,” Basil declared, “But I’ll let you sleep on my armchair just to be sure.” He placed a bucket next to Fidget in case Fidget vomited, but much to Basil’s relief, Fidget didn’t feel sick to his stomach. Basil even brought out a blanket and pillow onto his armchair where Fidget could sleep in in case something bad were to happen, such as barfing or much worse, hurting someone.

…

That night as Fidget slept on Basil’s armchair, he had nightmares about wolves trying to actually hurt him and Olivia, instead of saving them. Tired of them, he awoke, panting for air.

Basil rushed over to him. “I guess leaving you out here wasn’t such a good idea after all,” he said as he ruefully scooped up the traumatized bat. “Would you rather sleep in a bed with Olivia?”

“Mmm hmm,” Fidget whimpered.

“Yeah? I thought so.”

“I had a nightmare about these wolves,” Fidget explained sorrowfully, “They attacked me and Olivia.”

“Wolves usually do that when humans are around their pups and when they try to mess with wolves themselves,” Basil pointed out.

“If that happens, then maybe we can run off, throw things, or try to make ourselves look bigger.”

“You can still fly, can’t you?” Basil reminded him.

“I can, but you guys can’t.”

“Right. So that means we’ll have to stand some place to make us look bigger than the wolves, but the wolves that we bumped into tonight seemed very nice.”

Fidget nuzzled his head against Basil’s chest, which Basil found unquestionably cute. “That they were,” Fidget agreed, then he yawned. “I’m starting to get sleepy.”

The great mouse detective set the bat onto Olivia’s bed, where Olivia was sleeping and tucked him in. “Goodnight, Fidget.”

“Goodnight, Basil.”

Suddenly, Olivia woke up to find Fidget in bed with her. “Fidget, what are you doing in bed with me?” she inquired.

“Oh, I couldn’t sleep well on Basil’s chair,” Fidget answered.

“You mean, you had a nightmare?”

He nodded. “It was about the wolves. They tried to attack us.”

“Oh, no.” Olivia was shaking her head in alarm. “Were you getting sick when you slept on the chair?” she asked, changing the subject.

“No and I never get sick of you,” Fidget joked.

Olivia giggled in amusement at Fidget’s joke until they both drifted off into an undisturbed sleep.