Mister Mouse

“BAD KITTY! GET DOWN! BAD KITTY!! NO!”

Bad Kitty made a funny grunting sound and leapt off the screen to the floor.

“Get down Mouse – under the straw.” whispered Mongo. I dove down into the straw and finally dared to poke my head up a little so I could see what was happening.

Oh, there is a little big creature. It has golden fur and big blue eyes. And it is very angry with Bad Kitty.

Then the really scary thing happened. The little big creature grasped the screen top and lifted it with one hand, and reached in and grabbed Mongo with the other.

“Oh Mongo, my poor sweet rat. Did that silly kitty scare you?” It dropped the screen back in place and AHHHHH! moved Mongo toward it’s giant red mouth! But instead of biting him, it made a smacking sound and rubbed it’s big face all over his.

Mongo began to make the happy sound. It’s a little chittering thing we do when we feel warm and happy and safe. I could not believe my ears. This kind of activity should be greeted with hisses and howls, not the happy sound.

It said “I don’t know why he would do such a thing. D’Artagnan has lost his mind. He knows you’re off limits. Why, he’s never done that before!?”

The little big creature made another popping noise on Mongo’s head and lowered him back into the glass house.

“Oh My! Are you alright Mongo? Did it squish you? I thought it was going to bite you or… eat you.”

“Mr. Mouse, you have a very peculiar obsession with odd eating habits. She would never bite me or eat me. That is my girl. So, it is a she, and she has a name. She is called Bella.”

I scrambled all the way out of the straw and sat next to Mongo. “Are you hungry Mouse?” I was very hungry. All this running and dashing and being very afraid, it’s very taxing. Mongo led me to the other side of his house and there was a beautiful fancy dish with wonderful smelling food in it. Seeds, Nuts, and some little pressed blocks that smelled like the meaty nibbles I found on the floor. Hanging next to that was a bottle with sweet fresh water. On the other side of that was a small empty dish.

 ”Why is it empty”? I asked.

“Oh Mouse, that is the bowl for special food. It comes every evening.”

“Special Food?”

“Oh yes Mouse. Last night it was spaghetti.”

I struggled with this new word. “Spaghetti?”

“Oh yes, Mr. Mouse,  smashed up sweet tomatoes on top of those dried up wheat things that are next to that dried grape cereal you’ve been eating”.

“What – Yuck! those sticks are terrible. I should know. I tried to eat them once.” I said.

“Oh no no, ” said Mongo” They use a magic hotwaterpot and they make them soft, and then they cover it all with stinky cheese!”

“Oh – I love stinky cheese. Where is it?!”

“You can’t get it Mouse – it’s in the Shiver Crate”.

“Yes, the Shiver Crate. We can not go there. You shiver and then no more.”

“No more”?

“No more Mouse. No more Mongo.”

I am not sure about this shiver crate, but I am very sure about stinky cheese.