The Greedy Mouse
He stretched his whiskers and thin tail, then sniffed the air. What a rainy super rainy day. Can you say super rainy? Anyway, his grey fur was all sticky and damp. What a miserable day that was.
Or possibly not? He noticed the window sill first, then the window. It was open. Shelter in sight! That branch over there would have been a perfect jumping board. He counted till 3 and there he was. Looking in and around, double checking for safety. He crouched in complete silence.
A sturdy bulky figure walked into the room and sat at the table. He then started pressing with his fingers on some black funny looking buttons. One finger at the time to be precise.
Yummy!
His little tail twitched with excitement. Letters! Letters then words and then sentences… at last some grub for his hungry belly.
“Dinner’s ready!” a female voice resounded. The sturdy figure rose from his seat mumbling something, then disappeared with heavy and slightly shuffling steps.
The mouse jumped and at the speed of light heading into FOOD!
THUMP
“My poor nose… “he thought rubbing it with his little paw. A second, a third, a fourth attempt. Same story. Every time he banged his mug and slipped back.
He was about to try a fifth time, when he heard first a strange bell sound and then some fast steps approaching the door. A figure similar to the first, but slimmer, dashed in. Then he rummaged under the cushions and grabbed a little box. He touched it. Light flashed. Then he touched it here and there, a final more determined hit and off he went.
The mouse climbed up the couch. He found the little box. With a touch of his thin crafty paw he made the light flash again.
Letters… words…at last I can eat, he thought, licking his hungry whiskers.
No luck. Not even this time. No harm to his little nose, but his pink tongue felt something cold and tasteless. He gave up disgusted and frustrated. At least it’s nice and comfy here, he thought snuggling under the yellow cushions.
He was about to nod off when
YUMMY
What a tasty bit of old binder is tucked here…Dinner at last. His whiskers twitched in excitement, but he just about had the time to grab it with his mouth, his sharp teeth holding onto it
SWISH
Some cold air hit his little tail.
GNOE…
All right, all right kiddies, everybody knows that cats go miaow in Italian. In English? German? French? Ok ok let’s stop this miaowing rocket and move on with the story.
Nomina sunt consequentia, pardon, essentia rerum. This fat cat was called Gnoseology, Knowledge. No time for debates, though. We have to save our tails.
The mouse quickly jumped on the top of the back of the couch and headed towards the little table next to it, but the cat was equally clever and chased him in parallel.
Caught! The poor little mouse had slipped in her mouth sliding down some kind of a slippery pyramid. Down into the cat’s mouth and throat.
He did save himself though. How? Being an extremely wellread mouse, and having digested both Tom Thumb and Pinocchio, he had chewed the bit of binder and left tiny fragments all the way down the intestines, the duodenus etc. Yes, his diet also consisted of anatomy books. Once he had reached Gnoseology’s throat, he tickled her and made her sneeze.
EEEETCHU
And there he was again perching on that window sill. He jumped down landing on some providential lambs’ ears. The sturdy figure appeared again.
“Best to close these shutters now” he shouted back at the family preparing for a good night of sleep before school for some and work for others. Then off he went with his paced steps.
The mouse reached the hole in the fence he had used to get in. A pair of curious eyes watched him suck in his thin belly to get through.
“Hungry, aren’t you? “a sweet thin voice beckoned him.
“Come with me. I will show you a special place” she continued pointing at some huge letters on a building.
LIBRARY
