MICROMOUSE - PART II

For the rest of that winter, mouse and rat lived a happy and carefree life. With his rat friend to protect him, the little mouse no longer worried about Siamese. However, one day, one of the kids put a spring-loaded trap, baited with a big chunk of cheddar cheese, under the dining room table. Unable to resist this delectable morsel, the rat was caught in the trap. Early the next morning, the mouse found his rat friend dad in the trap.

The mouse mourned the loss of his friend and began to worry once more about Siamese. Fortunately, unbeknownst to him, he was spotted early one morning as he crawled out of his hole to snag some food. It was the family's youngest child, a seven-year-old girl named Penny. When she saw him scurry back to his hole, she fell in love with the little critter. From then on, every morning before everybody got up, Penny waited for him. She put a tempting morsel next to his hole in hopes of enticing him. For the first week, nothing happened because the mouse was too scared to emerge from his hiding place. But finally, one morning in early spring, he ventured out to grab the food. But as soon as he saw Penny, he dashed back into his hole.

This ritual repeated itself every morning for about a week as Penny left some food for the mouse to eat. And every morning, he emerged from his hole to snatch the food, then dash back to his hole. Eventually, the mouse began to trust the girl enough to grab the food from her outstretched hand. In fact, they soon became such good friends, that he let her hold him. He would also climb up her outstretched arm onto her shoulder. But one morning, while Penny was feeding him, her twelve-year-old brother Tommy snuck up behind her and surprised them both before the mouse could rush back to his hole.

"So, that's why you've been getting up so early every morning! " he exclaimed.

"Tommy, you really scared me,! she replied. "Don't sneak up on me like that again."

"I'm sorry," Tommy replied. "I just had to find out what you were up to."

"Please, don't let anyone else know that I'm feeding a mouse because then they'll kill him. Besides, we've become good friends. He even takes food right out of my hand."

"How do you know it's a he?"

"I just know," Penny answered.

"O.K., it'll be our special secret. But we should give him a name. What do you think we should call him?"

"How about MICROMOUSE because he's so tiny."

"That's a great idea! Micromouse it is."

From then on, Penny and Tommy were careful not to let anyone else in the house in on their little secret. Gradually, Micromouse began to trust Tommy enough to take the food out of his hand.

One day, Tommy had a bright idea that he shared with Penny. He spent the money he saved up from his paper route to buy a small hamster cage from a nearby pet shop. They hid the cage in Penny's bedroom. Then they placed a cup of water and some cheese inside, as well as an old washcloth that the mouse could lie on. After a lot of trial and error, they were able to coax Micromouse into the cage. They fed him daily and were careful to hide the cage under Penny's bed during the day while they were away at school. That way, no one else in the family was able to spot it. When they got back from school, they brought out the cage from its hiding place and took out Micromouse so they could play with him. By now, he trusted the kids enough to crawl up and down their arms and shoulders. From then on, Micromouse became the two kids' special pet.