Little Mouse

“Hello, Little Mouse.” Pippa saluted me. Her smile was half-cocked. She then blew a raspberry, as her laughter at herself for her own silliness, pushed through her lips. She fetched me some already-shelled peanuts, from a jar behind the bar. She laid three halves in front of me.

“Don’t worry. They are unsalted.” She picked up her rag cloth and continued to wipe down the bar, as she collected the old pint glasses. It was over an hour ago she had rang last call. The night hadn't been slow. The last punter stumbled out of his chair and left into the cold winter’s night some thirty minutes ago. The customers of that day left spilt beer and glasses in their wake.

“So, Little Mouse, how was your day?” The loneliness in her voice cracked through. Pippa’s only life was to work. She was young, in her twenties I believe. Village life wasn’t suited to her. Serving the same old, day after day, doing the same thing, day after day; the monotony of her life was one of solitude.

I thought about how I could cheer her up. Normally I'd quietly eat, then go. So I pondered her question. How was my day?

***

There was a cat, by the lake, in the field. It chased me for what seemed like hours. I even yelled at the cat, to leave me alone, but he wouldn’t. But as it happened, an owl came and swooped the cat up, to take away. But the cat was too fat. The owl dropped him in the lake.

The cat called out for help—it could not swim. Thankfully, he was a fat cat and floated nicely. He bobbed along the surface like an apple in a barrel of water.

The owl apologised to her would-be-meal. “Oh dear! I am frightfully sorry! I didn’t mean to drop you in the lake!” The owl called, from her branch in the sycamore tree.

Only a moment ago, I was the intended meal of the cat. But he had my sympathies. The lake was not my favourite place. The fish and the frogs nip at my legs whenever I have fallen in, in the past.

I swallowed my pride, and burped out some courage. I dove in. I swam. The fish and the frogs nipped at my legs. But I made it to the cat. “Cat,” I said, “if you promise to not eat me, I’ll drag you back to shore.”

“But you're so small.” He said, “How could someone so small, pull someone so large?”

“Yes, hoo hoo hoo!” The owl laughed, “Hoo, who do you think you are?”

“I am Little Mouse.” I said, “But I will do my best to keep you from drowning.”

So I stuck my teeth into the scruff of Cat’s neck, and I swam as hard as I could back to shore. The fish and the frogs nipped again at my legs. “Ouch!” I cried out with a muffling cat scruff in my mouth, “The fish and the frogs nip at my legs!”

“Oh, let me see what I can do!” Said Cat.

He whipped his tail, with absolute fury, in the lake water. It whacked and scared off the fish and the frogs. I finished dragging him to shore, and he kept his promise not to eat me.

I decided to leave the field. It was best to get out of there before Cat changed his mind, or before the owl started to look at me as an easy meal.

I came to a country road, when a deer ran across. It caused an on coming car to swerve and roll over. The driver was unhurt, or so I thought. But their phone flew away. It was out of reach from their upside-down-seatbelt-buckled-self.

“Hello,” I said, “Shall I call for emergency services for you?”

But I guess that was when their pain set in. The human screamed at me! They screamed and they screamed. Well, I had no choice now but to call on their behalf.

I made my way to their phone. I tapped those three digits and called for help. The human continued to scream behind me, but the person on the phone was most helpful. They told me to wait their with the injured person until help arrived.

I obliged. They person’s screams turned to whimpers after a while. They must have been badly hurt, as they swatted at me when I came near. So I climbed up from behind, and I chewed through their seatbelt. Their hands were braced and they lowered themselves down. Then, they passed out. So, I did what I could. I dragged them further away from the car, which had now caught fire.

Two ambulances, a firetruck, and a number of police vehicles made their way to us. They rushed the fire out and the person into an ambulance. I watched, and tried to tell them all what had happened. But there was chaos and nobody listened to me. So off I went, down the country road.

I couldn’t even begin to believe the rest of my day. After saving a cat from drowning, and a person from a car wreck, I then saved Mrs. McNeal's roast—she had fallen asleep with her roast in the oven!

After that, Mr. Crawford cross-word puzzle was left unfinished. It was the one he gets from his computer, the New York Times Saturday edition. He normally has no issue with Sunday’s, but Saturday always baffles him. So I finished it for him.

***

There was more that happened to me today. But I didn't wish to bore my dear Pippa. I shared with her how I was feeling and what had happened. It felt so good to have gotten it all off my chest.

“Holy smokes…” Pippa finally replied after a moment. Her awe and gobsmacked-look was appreciated, given all I had been through today.

“You…” Pippa continued, “You are a talking mouse!?”

"Didn't you know?"