The Mouse in the Mirror

Chapter Four

A continuous pounding woke the little mouse from his slumber.

Lying with his head rested between his paws, the little mouse turned over onto his back and stretched. Half way through a satisfying yawn, a howl of anger and despair reached his ears and caused him to prematurely end his yawn and stand on all fours in the middle of the pillow. Ears pricked up, he listened intently for any further disturbances.

A rattle, a grunt of exertion, quickly followed by the clatter of something hitting a wall and falling to the floor, could be heard coming from the room where the little mouse had dined before his nap.

Curious as to who could be making all this noise (and admittedly quite concerned, if not straight out scared), the little mouse crept from the security of the pillow towards the open doorway leading to the noise filled room.

Softly and carefully he approached the rim of the doorway and with only a moments hesitation, he slowly peered around the corner.

There in the gloom of the room, the little mouse beheld a sight which kept him transfixed. A rat, a big rat, halfway to being the size of a cat, a rat making noises you associated with dogs and pigs, a rat who was fat, ugly, filthy and obviously raving mad.

The rubbish pile was no longer a pile, paper and scraps littered half the room, the empty Coke can, obviously the worse for wear and showing signs of abuse, lay in a far corner, the cardboard box lay in tattered pieces, all of which were continuously tossed around by the crazy rat. A piece of cardboard or candy wrap would barely have time to land on the floor, before the spasmodic rat would dart by and fling it up again.

So as an over all scene, the little mouse watched a tireless rat run around in no particular pattern, throwing rubbish into the air so that it seemed as though it were snowing!



In, out, round, round, back, forth, to and fro.

The Bad Rat watched the papers rise and fall, and found a satisfying thrill at his power to never let them rest. As he darted around fanning the fire of his anger, something caught his eye at the perifory of his vision.

Skidding to an abrupt halt, the Bad Rat whirled around to face one of the open doorways. There peeking around the corner of the doorway was a mouse!

Adding two and two together the Bad Rat instinctively knew that this was the *@#!%* mouse who had eaten his cheese!

All this registered in the time it takes to draw a breath. And doing just that, the Bad Rat propelled himself at the open doorway. Smiling to himself as he saw the expression on the face of the little mouse change from shock to terror, before his little head disappeared back around the corner.

No more than a second later, the Bad Rat also rounded the corner of the doorway to find the mouse only a metre ahead of him, running for dear life.



“If only I hadn’t eaten so much.”

This was the thought that insisted on occupying the little mouse’d panicky mind, preventing him from coming up with any practical ideas on how to escape the demon chasing him.

For that’s how the Bad Rat appeared to the frightened little mouse. A monster, three times his size, roaring and babbling, hissing obscenities and spitting out promises of torture and cruelty as it chased him around the room, gaining ground much too quickly for the little mouse’s liking.

Coming around for their third circuit of the room, the little mouse in desperate need of a change in luck, neatly side-stepped into the open and empty fireplace. Not anticipating this move, the Bad Rat overshot the mark, tried to stop, skidded instead - smack! bang! - into the wall.

Although this was a small victory for the little mouse, it was just that - small, and unfortunately short lived. For without even stopping to check if he’d done his nose any damage, the Bad Rat did an abrupt about-turn and blocked the front of the fireplace before the little mouse could take advantage of his small triumph.

Continuously drooling and muttering something about not caring if he was a fatso, the Bad Rat advanced on the little mouse, who shook with fear and tried to press himself further and further into the back corner of the cold stone wall as if by sheer force he could will himself to melt into the rock and concrete, and out of this nightmare.

Slowly but surely the Bad Rat inched forward, savouring the terror and panic he was inflicting on the helpless little mouse.

He stood a step short of the little mouse, raised himself onto his hind legs and lifted his front paws above his head for effect, and was pleased with his performance when a small squeak escaped from the throat of his prey.

Taking in a deep breath, readying himself for the oncoming fun of rendering this thief limb from limb, the Bad Rat flexed the muscles in his lower legs ready to pounce, when without warning a large, brown, furry object fell from the chimney opening and flattened the Bad Rat, knocking him unconscious.

Dust and soot sprang into life, clouding the air. The little mouse still in shock, was unsure if his situation had just gotten better or worse.



Continue on to Chapter Five
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Copyright © 1994 by Steven Younis.