MICROMOUSE - PART I

For the following few blogposts, I will depart from my usual format to relate an original children's story in four parts called MICROMOUSE.

There once was a little tiny white mouse who lived in a great big mansion with twenty

rooms: two living rooms, three dining rooms, ten bedrooms, a kitchen, a billiard room, an art gallery, a study, a library, and two large walk-in closets. The mansion was owned by a wealthy family. Besides the couple who owned the house, it housed ten kids, a houskeeper,

a maid, a butler, a nanny, a chef, a grandmother, and an uncle and his wife. The family also owned two dogs and three cats.

This mouse lived inside a little hole in one of the giant walk-in closets next to the largest dining room, and ate the scraps of food that the wasteful kids dropped under the dining room table. He therefore always had a lot to eat and never went hungry. Although the two family dogs Buster and Keaton never bothered the mouse, the three cats were another matter entirely. They were named Calico, Tabby, and Siamese. These cats were spoiled rotten by their owners, especially Siamese. Each had their own litter box and feeding bowl. They were coddled by all the kids, and spent most of the day reclining on the many available laps, eating, grooming themselves, or sleeping. At night, however, they prowled the house looking for mice and other small critters.

Of the three cats, Siamese was the fiercest and most agile, so the little mouse had to be vary careful. On one such night after everyone was asleep, something terrible happened. The mouse's closest friend was a lady mouse. She was just about to return to the hole she shared with him after eating some scraps of food under the dining room table, when Siamese chased her all around the dining room and kitchen. He pounced on her, tearing open her delicate skin. After playing with her for a while, Siamese swallowed her whole.

Not only was the little hemouse devastated by the loss of his companion, but now he became even more wary when looking for food, scared that he might become Siamese's next dinner.

Summer passed quickly and turned into autumn. The leaves of the trees around the house turned golden, orange, brown, and red as the temperature dropped and the wind grew stronger. The three cats who had spent most of the summer outside, now spent more time indoors. This made the mouse even more scared. However, his luck would soon turn when he was befriended by a large brown rat who lived in the hole next to him. The rat took his mouse partner under his wing and protected him from the marauding cats. They became friends, even soulmates. Now the mouse was no longer afraid to venture out of his hole as long as his rat pal was near.

However, one night just before dawn, the mouse got so hungry that he ventured out of his hole by himself since the rat was not around. Sure enough, there was enough food under the dining room table to feed a whole army of mice. He gorged himself on scraps of discarded chicken bones, crusts of bread, and cheese. Suddenly, Siamese showed up with claws extended and licking his chops. He was just about to catch the mouse when the rat appeared out of nowhere. The two fierce combatants fought it out tooth and nail! Just when the cat seemed to have the upper hand, the rat bit him in the neck hard enough to draw blood. With that, Siamese slunk away with his tail between his legs. This gave the mouse enough time to get away and back to his hole.

From then on, rat and mouse were inseparable. The mouse never again ventured out of his hole by himself unless his rat companion was by his side. Together, they were unassailable! As word of Siamese's ignominious defeat reached the other cats, none of them ever bothered the mouse again. And mouse and rat lived together in peace and harmony for the rest of that fall.