As he slowly emerged from the hole, he glanced left and right quickly to make sure no big ten-toed feet were in the room, then he scampered to the foot of the bed that was exactly a tail's stretch from the hole. The smell that wafted around his twitching nose was so delicious that he could almost taste whatever the heavenly food was. It wasn't Swiss cheese, it wasn't cheddar, Brie, mozzarella, or even Parmesan! He couldn't quite put his claw on what it might be! He stood on his hind legs and pulled on his whiskers with his paw. The smell was so divine that the poor thing was shaking.
"What could that possibly be? I've never smelled anything so detectable in my whole entire life." Unwittingly, the mouse began to walk dreamily towards the door of the room, not paying any attention to his surroundings. The door was slightly ajar, allowing the mouthwatering scent to linger in the room. As soon as the mouse was within a paw's length from the door, it swung opened wide, nearly knocking the mouse across the room.
"Eek!" he squeaked and tumbled off balance. Finding his senses, he darted to the wall and ran as fast as he could behind the bureau nearest the door. Two stocking feet pattered around the room. A pajama set was tossed on the floor just beside the bureau. They were dotted with glittery silver stars. Then the feet turned so they were standing directly in front of the bureau for a second before stepping one then two into a flowing dress. The sound of a zipper being zipped perked up the mouse's ears, then as fast as the feet had come in, they were gone again. The door was left open wide, and without waiting for another intrusion, and mad with the desire to taste the mysterious food, the mouse shot out of the room, managed the stairs with a deftness of an experienced thief, and found a snag in the carpet of the living room. He had found this snag during the first couple of days in the house and labored day and night to make it into a kind of tunnel. It ran all the way along the wall and behind two Lazyboys which leading straight into the master bedroom. As he ran along the little mouse-made tunnel, he pushed his nose up to lift the carpet slightly and make his journey a bit quicker. "The state of this carpet is disgraceful! The dust coming off of it must be from the seventeenth century! Sheesh!"
After a few sneezes and a thorough cleansing of his face and whiskers, he popped out of the other end of the carpet with a big sigh. "Oh thank goodness! Note to self: must dust the tunnel!" The door into the kitchen was conveniently, and not accidentaly, just outside the tunnel. "OH MY!" was all the little mouse could muster to say. He was so taken aback by the smell of the food that he nearly gave his position away with an excited squeak. He sneaked around the threshold of the door without a sound. His mouth was now watering and his tongue swept over his lips numerous times to stop himself from slobbering. He was a respectable mouse after all! Scrutinizing the room for the best elevation onto the table, he was delighted to see that the legs of the chairs were designed so finely that the notches carved into them would provide the perfect paw holds for his climb. Just as he was about to mount the chair, a movement from beyond the table caught his beady little eye. It was another pair of feet, but much larger than those that pattered into the room upstairs. They clanked with every step as the high heels walked from the table and back to the stove.
"Oh, I don't care. I just have to have that food! If I can store some in my home, I could impress any female mouse! I could have a wife and children in no time! I would be king mouse and all the common mice would beg me for a piece of the food! And I would give it to them generously! Let them eat cheese! I would--" his reverie was cut short by a sudden and powerful earthquake! He fell helplessly to the ground, but thankfully he wasn't hurt. A close pounding came from those two smaller feet that he had seen earlier, then he realized that there was no earthquake. The owner of the feet had pulled out the chair and sat down at the table. Now this would prove to be a challenge.
He hopped hurriedly over to the next chair and climbed up to the seat that was still pushed in under the table. "Oh my. That's what I get for being so senseless!" He repproached himself a couple more times before following the swirly designed pegs running up the back of the chair. A round, innocent human face was turned in his direction and staring at him curiously. He didn't see her though. The smell was so great and so overwhelming that he couldn't take his tiny black eyes off the huge turkey in the middle of the table. "Oh my! So that is the food of the gods!" he half mumbled, half thought to himself. He paid no heed to the humans around him. He was so captivated by the glazed, perfectly roasted, stuffed bird in front of him that nothing else in the world seemed to matter to him.
Then, frozen with fear, he stopped dead in his tracks as a whispered "No!" broke his trance. He was now looking at the small face of a six year old girl sitting at the table. Her face had a pleading expression on it as she repeated herself, "No!" To the mouse's surprise, her voice was booming yet she didn't seem dangerous at all. His muscles loosened a little bit, but he was still ready to dart if need be. "Don't move. Mom will panic if she sees you!" Her voice, though thundering to him, was still only a whisper, as she reached slowly across the table towards the turkey. She took off the smallest chunk of skin, which was the size of a mountain to the mouse, and placed it close to him. She was careful not to scare him away by getting too close. "Happy Thanksgiving." she whispered with a small, very small smile.
Without properly saying thank you, the mouse bit hard into the turkey and made a run for it. Down the back of the chair, down the legs, across the kitchen floor, into the master bedroom, through the dusty mouse-made tunnel, behind the Lazyboys, out the other end, up the endless stairs (which was harder than he thought with a piece of turkey awkwardly hanging out of his mouth), under the bed in the room and finally, though with much pulling and maneuvering, into his little home.
"Oh my!" He panted. His heart was pounding hard and his paws were going over and over his whiskers. After a couple of minutes he had calmed down and found his ground again. "Oh. My." He said again, though this time with more relief. He stripped off a piece of the turkey, and very leisurely, savoring the taste of every nibble, he ate the food that had delivered that amazing smell into his home. He had gotten through a couple strips before he patted his stomach with great satisfaction. Warm, relaxed, and full, he rolled over to the corner of his hole, closed his eyes while rubbing his stomach and said one last time with a tone of pure indulgence, "Oh, my."
© Mikal Minarich
Happy Thanksgiving! :)
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