The Secret Adventures Of Squeakity, part 01

As the lights went out for the night and all was quiet in the room that she shared with the cats, Squeakity heard something strange coming from the room next to hers. The connecting door was open a few inches, but not enough to see through, even if she could see in the dark. From the open door leading to the living room, she could see the blinking green lights of the computer router. The hum of the heater and clicking of the ceiling fan as it turned round and round were familiar sounds to her. So, what was the sound she had heard?

Tigera, the female bronze tabby, was curled up in her bed high up on the wall, fast asleep. And, Bobby, the big brown tabby tom, was nowhere in the room. Squeakity could hear Tigera’s steady breathing among the other usual sounds. Could it be Bobby making that strange noise?

There it was again! A sort of rummaging noise as if someone we're searching for something. But everyone was asleep. Even Jade, the silly hound dog, was securely closed into her cage for the night. There shouldn't be any scratching noises.

Squeakity thought and thought. It couldn't be a cricket. She'd heard plenty of those before, and they made a chirpy noise not a scratchy, rummagy noise. Think, think, think. She tapped her dainty little paw against her forehead, but nothing came to mind. It was a new sound, a strange sound.

Curious, but not terribly afraid, she scrambled up and out through the wires of her enclosure, then dropped with a plop onto the floor. She'd managed to knock the wind out of herself for a second, so she laid where she had landed until she caught her breath again, then got to her feet and headed for the doorway. She could barely see where she was going, it was mostly dark shapes and shadows. A little thrill of excitement ran through her small body. Maybe she should squeal for Tigera to wake up. She considered that for a second, then dismissed it thinking that the cat probably wouldn't pay her any attention anyway.

As she got closer to the door, the sound got louder. It was still the rummagy sound, but now there seemed to also be a little bit of a scratchiness with it. She crept forward, her little round body wiggling slightly from side to side as she moved. She got to the door and peeked around the edge of it, trying to see... Something. But the room was totally lightless since there was no streetlight outside of the window. She stood still, listening, waiting for her eyes to hopefully adjust.

There it was again! Just like before. She strained her little ears to hear exactly where the noise was coming from. It seemed to be coming from where the closet might be. She hadn't been in this room very many times before, so she really didn't have a good mental picture of what it would look like, so she had to guess. And her guess was the closet.

Squeakity's little, short legs took her slowly toward where she thought the closet would be, where the noise was most definitely coming from. Her frazzled orange and white fur stood on end as she made her way closer and closer to her destination. She wondered what she was going to find there. Her tiny paws landed silently with each step, and she almost held her breath as she followed the sound.

When she got there, it wasn't the closet. It was a cardboard box. She pressed her ear to the side of the box and listened intently. There was the scratching again, and the rummaging sound. Was it the box making that noise? Or something in the box? If it was something in the box, what could it be? She couldn't think of anything that the humans could have put into the box that would make that sound.

“Hello?” she whispered hesitantly.

More rustling and rummaging. More scratching... Then a... Squeak? It was such a high-pitched squeak that she almost didn't understand it. Almost.

“Hello.” was the reply.

Squeakity cocked her head to the side and studied the box.

“Are... are... you the box?”

Some more rummaging and scratching, then a squeaky voice answered her from the top of the box.

“No, I'm not the box, silly. Why would I be the box?”

Squeakity tipped her nose up toward the voice in the dark.

“I don't know. If you're not the box, well, what are you?”

Some more scratching, and some scuffling, then a soft plop right in front of her.

“Why, I'm a mouse.”

Squeakity sucked in a sharp breath. a mouse! In the house? This just would not do.

“Oh, you're not allowed to be here. My people don't like mouses. You have to leave. Now!”

The mouse began to laugh, it's squeaky voice giggling.

Squeakity stomped her front paw in frustration.

“What are you laughing about?”

The mouse’s laughter dribbled to a halt, ending in a high-pitched wheeze.

“It's just so funny that you said mouses.”

Squeakity didn't see the humor in it. What was so funny about mouses anyway?

“So, I said mouses, what of it?”

Another giggle slipped past the mouse’s lips.

“It's funny because, it's not mouses, it's mice.”

Embarrassed, and a little frustrated, Squeakity managed to regain some self-control.

“Okay, mice are not allowed in the house. You have to leave.”

It got quiet, only the normal house noises breaking the silence, and Squeakity wondered what the mouse was going to do. Would it leave like she told it to? Or was she going to have to get tough? Cause if she had to get tough, the fur was going to fly. Hopefully not her fur.

“Are you still here?” she asked into the void.

“Of course, I'm still here. I'm not going to leave just because you said so. I mean, what are you going to do about it?”

Squeakity ground her teeth, her blood pressure going up making her feel hot. What was she going to do, indeed?

“I'm a Guinea pig and I'm bigger than you. I'll make you leave.”

A tiny snort of derision was the mouse’s only response.

“You don't think I can do it, do you?”

“Well,” the mouse replied, “I think that you might be able to do it... If you could catch me, but you can't. Guinea pigs are too slow.”

Squeakity knew that her best chance would be to call for one of the cats but now her pride was involved, and she wanted to prove that she could do it herself. So, she gathered up all of the resources from within herself and pulled them together, then grabbed for the mouse.

The mouse didn't even know what hit him because, before he could even blink, Squeakity had him by the tail. Of course, it was only by sheer luck, but she got him by the tail because she couldn't see what she was grabbing. But that didn't matter, she had him.

“Great!” he squeaked, “You've got me by the tail. Congratulations. Now what are you going to do?”

With her mouth closed around his tail, what was she going to do? She couldn't open any doors to shove him outside. She honestly didn't think she could kill him herself, the thought made her want to throw up. And, if she tried to call for help, she would have to drop his tail. Realizing what a fix she'd put herself in, she wished that she would have just called for the cats. Surely one of them would have come, right? While she tried to figure out what she was going to do, the mouse stood there tapping a hindfoot in annoyance.

A somewhat brilliant idea came to her mind. What if she drags the mouse by his tail into the cat room and somehow woke up Tigera? But how would she wake up the cat? Okay, she'd come up with that later, after she got him into their room.

With that plan in mind, she turned around with his tail still firmly in her mouth and began to walk. He wasn't super heavy, but walking was more difficult while tugging him along beside her. Not only was she pulling his weight along with her own, but he was also scrambling to go in the other direction.

“Let me go! Where are you taking me?!”

He really shouldn't have expected an answer since her mouth was closed around his tail, and he received none. She just kept pulling him along toward the slit of doorway that showed a room slightly less dark than the one they were leaving. When they passed through the doorway, the glow from the streetlamp coming in through the window lightened up the shadows and gave form to the things in the room. Once inside, he also heard the clicking of the ceiling fan and the soft breathing of the sleeping cat curled up on its bed high up on the wall. He was beginning to figure out what she had in mind, and he didn't like it at all. If she woke the cat, he was done for. He began to scramble frantically, trying to pull his tail free of her grip, but she held him tightly.

“Please,” he begged, “not the cat. Please don't wake up the cat.”

Squeakity just kept moving forward, determined to see it through.

“Please!” his struggling increased dramatically, “I'll do anything you say! Just don't wake up the cat!”

Squeakity stopped. Could she trust him? He was a mouse after all. Even though they were both rodents, they weren't the same. Mice were sneaky and conniving. She looked at him in the shadows, his silhouette clearly defined. He was quite a bit smaller than her.

She took her front paw and stepped hard on his tail, then let go with her mouth so that she could speak.

“If you don't want me to wake up the cat, then you must promise to leave this house and never come back. If I ever see you or hear you again, the cat will be waiting. Cause I'm going to tell both of the cats and the dog that you were here tonight, and they'll be watching, too.”

“Yes, okay,” he stammered eagerly, “I promise! I'll leave and never come back.”

Squeakity decided to believe him, since he sounded very sincere, and she lifted her foot off of his tail so that he could leave. She watched his silhouette dart off into the darkness and scurry away into the night. She hoped that he would keep his promise, because he seemed like a nice enough mouse, and she really didn't want him to be eaten by a cat. She shuddered at the thought and was extremely glad that she didn't need to worry about that for herself. They were all part of the family.

With a contented sigh, Squeakity climbed back into her enclosure and settled comfortably into her savings, satisfied that everything was just right… for that night at least.