Mouse

Mouse was small for his age. His mother said it was a cute look and one day, when he was older, many a female mouse would come running after him. Mouse liked to explore too and as he was small he could fit in many places where other mice could not. He liked the squeezing between cereal boxes in the pantry, the climbing up of benches, and the nibbling of cheeses when they had been left out overnight. As the days went by Mouse grew, not bigger but bolder, and soon the kitchen and the pantry became a boring playground. Mouse was hungry for more excitement. He thought he wanted to meet the female mice his mother had often mentioned too. Mouse had become a teenager.
‘Don’t stray too far tonight’, said Mother Mouse. ‘You’re not old enough or big enough to fend for yourself properly yet’.
‘Oh, Spiders’ rear ends to you, mama; I know what I am doing’.
‘I certainly hope you do’, said Mother shaking her little head, her nose twitching with worry. ‘Remember what happened to your Dad. A Cat got him. It was a ginger cat, with ginger eyes, and a bushy tail that went straight in the air. If you can’t stay in this kitchen, please be careful’.
Mouse accepted that last statement for permission. Mother, on the other hand, had said this as a warning of what may happen if he left the kitchen and hoped it had scared him in to staying where it was safe.
‘Silly fools’, thought Mouse about the older mice. ‘How can they know of the dangers if they never go anywhere? Plus, I’d never let a cat catch me, I’m too clever for that’. And with that, Mouse scurried up the pipe and through the hole that led to the outside world. Mouse, elated at the new smells and sounds, sniffed in the darkness. Clever little Mouse kept himself hidden, under large objects or in bushes. The thrill tantalised him, and after he had exhausted his senses and his little legs, he took himself home and slept soundly next to Mother all day. Mother looked at her little boy with sadness, and a tear ran down her nose. Her child, her only child left alive in this world, was so much like his Dad.
Night after night, Mouse went exploring and eventually spied the Cat. Not venturing too close Mouse sniffed at the sleeping feline. Its smell was strange, and it sounded like that big white box in the kitchen where all those yummy cheeses are kept. The Cat had been asleep but Mouse watched as it stretched and sat up, pruning its ginger hair. Around its neck was a red, velvet collar and walking as if it owned the place, with its tail straight in the air, Cat went to a tree.
‘Oh, Miaow’, said Cat. ‘I’m so hungry. I think the eggs in the nest have hatched. I must go and check the eggs’.
So Cat leapt up the tree. But there was a screech and a wail and Mouse saw Cat hanging by its beautiful red collar on a branch.
‘Poor Cat’, thought Mouse. ‘I must save the cat’. And so Mouse ran to Cats rescue. Brave little Mouse hurried up the tree to the branch where the ginger ball of fluff hung so majestically at the neck.
‘I’ll rescue you’, yelled Mouse.
‘You’, said Cat. ‘How are you going to do that?’
‘Watch, or listen’.
Mouse started chewing through the red velvet collar thinking about the cereal packets he had eaten through in his younger days. Perhaps Cat would be his friend, and he, Brave Mouse, could explore further without having to be afraid of the cat ever again. Mouse’s tail twitched in excitement at the thought.
As the collar came apart, Cat fell to his paws and Mouse ran down the tree. But before Mouse could even say a word, Cat pounced on Mouse and broke his neck. ‘The birds can wait till tomorrow’, Cat thought. ‘This Mouse is so very tasty, so yummy. Miaow'.
Just like his Dad.