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Mice Movie

  by

  Wilde Blue Sky

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Mice Movie

  Copyright © 2012 by Wilde Blue Sky

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

  The author would like to thank Louise for her support.

  Note to reader - if you appreciated this short story please, if you are able, make a small donation to a charity of your choice.

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  Mice Movie

  Squeak stretched out, watching people drift into the movie theatre. Would they laugh, cry or scream today? No matter. Whatever the type of film, the sounds and flashing images would certainly entertain him.

  There was a scuttling on the narrow hanging rail that ran around the theatre. Rolo, large as life, a little dim, but the nicest mouse you could meet, scurried along swaying from side to side. Squeak murmured, ‘How does he manage not to fall off?’

  Rolo hungrily asked, ‘Have they dropped any tasty morsels yet?’

  ‘A few bits and pieces, but remember the golden rule.’

  Rolo looked blank.

  Squeak waved his paws. ‘Never let the people see you.’

  ‘O yes. I remember.’

  Squeak wasn’t sure if Rolo would ever learn. He’d been here two months and still hadn’t grasped the one simple rule. But Squeak liked Rolo.

  The sound of feet scampering along in a crazy manner announced Louise, the mother figure of the three, was on the way. Scatty, but, when absolutely required, level headed. She’d shown Squeak how to scavenge for food and avoid people when he’d first arrived.

  The three mice lay next to each other as silence fell over the audience, the lights dimmed and the screen came to life. The usual mixture of film trailers and adverts appeared. Rolo, as always, was entranced by the food adverts.

  Then it happened, a handsome singer appeared on the screen, Squeak and Rolo looked panicked. It was a Robbie video. As soon as the music started Louise couldn't control herself and violently swayed from side to side, oblivious to everything.

  Squeak gestured to Rolo. ‘Quick. Run otherwise we’ll be knocked off.’ When they were a safe distance away, Squeak looked at Louise. ‘I know she calls it dancing, but I not so sure.’

  Louise continued to sway and scamper around until the music came to an end then she sat down dreamy-eyed, with a strange smile on her face. Squeak and Rolo slowly made their way back to Louise and settled down.

  Rolo nudged Squeak. ‘When the film starts will you help us understand what’s happening?’

  Squeak smiled. ‘Don’t I always?’

  Rolo answered, ‘Good. I hope it’s a comedy.’

  Louise turned to Squeak. ‘I hope it’s a romance.’

  Rolo smirked. Louise raised an eyebrow and waved her tail at Rolo. He remembered the time she’d lashed him with her tail for saying the films she liked were soppy. The smirk disappeared from his face.

  Squeak looked at the screen. ‘I hope it’s a thriller or an action movie. I love seeing the ingenious ways people solve problems, it can teach us a lot. Maybe it will be my hero, the adventurer with the hat and whip who solves riddles and saves ancient treasures.’ He didn’t add that he’d made himself a little hat which he wore and a whip he played with when the other two weren’t around.

  As usual, half an hour into the movie, Rolo’s tummy started to rumble. His nose twitched as he smelt the hot dogs, sweets and popcorn. Then a bewitching aroma hit him and he licked his lips. ‘Toffee coated popcorn. My favourite.’ He looked down and there was a family tucking into a supersize bucket. Rolo’s mouth was wet with excitement and he started to inch along the rail to the electrical cable that ran down the back of the theatre.

  Squeak whispered, ‘Rolo. Come back. You know you can’t go down below until the people have gone.’

  Rolo scampered on. Squeak tried to grab hold of his tail, but missed by a fraction of an inch. Rolo crawled down the cable and disappeared into the sea of people.

  Squeak didn’t know what to do. Should he follow? Then he saw Rolo running along the back of the seats towards the supersize tub of toffee coated popcorn. Squeak held his breath. Surely Rolo wouldn’t do anything too stupid. Squeak couldn’t believe his eyes as Rolo inched along the arm of the chair and then jumped into the supersize tub of toffee coated popcorn and disappeared.

  A few moments later a woman grabbed a large handful of popcorn and raised it to her mouth. Rolo could clearly be seen dangling in the air, his teeth clamped around the largest piece of toffee coated popcorn in the world. Surely she wouldn’t eat Rolo?

  She stopped and stared in disbelief at the contents of her hand. Rolo stared in disbelief at her and grinned. She mumbled something to herself, opened her hand, dropped the popcorn and then let out a deafening scream. People looked around in surprise then started to stand up and shout to each other.

  Rolo managed to leap on to the back of a chair and run along the headrests. Then he leapt onto the leg of a woman who let out a scream and slapped the man next to her.

  Panic set in. People headed towards the exits. Squeak could see Rolo had been knocked to the ground. He couldn’t bear to think of Rolo being crushed in the stampede.

  Squeak had to act. What would they do in the movies? He remembered the emergency lift he’d made after seeing something similar in a film. It was a small wheel with string looped over the wheel rim. One end of the string was tied to a weight that was balanced on the rail and the other end was free. He called to Louise, ‘Rolo is in trouble. He needs our help. We’ll use the emergency lift,’ he pointed at his contraption, ‘When I give you the signal you need to push the weight off the rail, myself and Rolo will be hanging onto the other end.’

  Louise raised a disbelieving eyebrow then nodded.

  Squeak momentarily thought of getting his hat, but decided against it. He grabbed hold of the end of the string and leapt off the rail. The ground hurtled towards him. Was the string too long? Then the string snatched tight, he loosened his grip and gently fell the last few millimetres to the floor.

  A large boot landed just by Squeak’s tail, he turned and was confronted by hordes of panicked people scattering. He backed against the wall and frantically scanned the scene. ‘I’ll never find him in all this chaos.’ Then he spied a flicker of a long white tail. Squeak dashed over, dodging the stamping shoes and grabbed Rolo. ‘Come with me if you want to live.’

  Rolo was shamefaced. Squeak dragged him back to the string. ‘Hold on!’

  Rolo did as he was told and then Squeak waved to Louise, who heaved with all her might and managed to push the weight off the edge of the rail. As the weight began to fall, Rolo was whisked in to the air. Squeak only just managed to grab hold of Rolo’s tail and instantly he too was airborne. Moments later they were catapulted into the air as the weight hit the ground and the string looped over the top of the wheel. They landed in a heap on the rail.

  Louise stood open mouthed.

  Squeak mumbled, ‘It worked.’

  Rolo grinned. ‘That was fun. Can we do it again?’

  ‘Rolo!’ Squeak and Louise shouted in unison.

  Squeak berated Rolo, ‘That was an incredibly stupid thing to do. Now the people know we’re here there’ll be trouble.’

  Rolo looked down and shuffled his feet
.

  Suddenly the entire theatre was bathed in bright light. The manager and the usher burst in. The manager, a small plump man with a thin moustache and oily, slicked back black hair was frantically waving his arms. ‘A mouse! A mouse! The woman said there was a mouse in the popcorn! We’ll be ruined!’ He turned to the usher, a tall gangly youth with a blank expression and barked, ‘How could you let it happen!’

  The youth shrugged his shoulders.

  The manager looked distraught then he did a nasty half smile. ‘We’ll call the exterminator. He’ll know how to deal with these vermin!’

  Squeak and Louise looked accusingly at Rolo. ‘Now you’ve done it.’

  A few days later the three mice were sitting on the rail. Only the usher and manager had come into the theatre since the popcorn episode. They still found food, but none of it was fresh and they missed the movies.

  The manager and a strange man appeared.

  ‘Mice you say. Well don’t worry about it. My family have been getting rid of vermin for years. I’ll catch those little blighters or my name’s not Mr Rae, exterminator extraordinaire.’

  Squeak didn’t like the look of him. Pale blue overalls, a shiny bald head and a super-efficient air about him. Worst of all he had a mean-spirited face, the sort who’d enjoy killing mice.

  The manager was rubbing his hands. ‘We need to get rid of these mice quickly. The health and safety executive will be inspecting us next week. If we can’t show we’ve got rid of the mice then we won’t be able to reopen.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got my tools with me.’ He patted his big black case. ‘I’ll start straight away.’

  The three mice looked at each other with trepidation.

  They watched as Mr Rae placed numerous small rectangular white boxes with tubes running through their centres around the theatre.

  Rolo scratched his head. ‘What do you think they are?’

  Squeak rubbed his chin. ‘Some form of trap. Remember the nature film we saw where they trapped the big cats in a cage by laying down bait for them?’

  Rolo looked blank, but Louise seemed to remember. ‘Yes. They put some food in a cage and when the cats tried to get it the cage door slammed shut.’

  Squeak looked at Rolo. ‘No matter what is in those white boxes you must stay away from them. They’re dangerous. Do you understand?’

  Rolo nodded, but Squeak wasn’t sure Rolo really understood.

  That evening after the three mice had retired to their little loft den, Squeak was lying on his mattress of old theatre tickets thinking, when he heard a scampering noise. He ignored it at first, thinking either Louise or Rolo were going to the bathroom (Squeak had designed their den with all mod cons), but the noise continued. Then he suddenly realised. ‘Rolo!’

  Squeak peeked out of his bedroom door and saw Rolo scuttling out of the front door. Squeak was going to shout out but decided to follow him instead.

  Minutes later Squeak watched as Rolo sniffed the trap, peered in then licked his lips. Squeak breathed in deeply, his nose twitched as the heavenly aroma of fresh cheese enticed him towards the trap. He shook his head and turned his attention to Rolo who was just poking his nose inside the trap. Rolo moved forward and then stopped dead. He tried to move backwards and forwards but couldn’t move.

  Rolo sighed, ‘On dear. I’m stuck. What am I going to do?’

  Squeak jumped along to Rolo. ‘Hold on Rolo, I’ll help you.’

  Rolo said in an embarrassed voice, ‘Thank you.’

  Squeak rubbed his chin. ‘The only film I recall about someone being stuck was the one where a bear got stuck in someone’s front door.’ He went round the back of Rolo grabbed hold of him and yelled, ‘After three try and go backwards with all your strength. One, two, three!’

  Rolo’s feet frantically tried to get some grip on the carpet and Squeak tugged on Rolo with all his strength. After a few moments of thrashing around Rolo suddenly became free and the two mice tumbled backwards and landed in a heap.

  Rolo looked a little red faced. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘No problem. But don’t do it again.’

  ‘But the cheese smells so good!’

  Squeak sniffed the air and couldn’t disagree. He walked carefully up to the trap and looked in. He could see the cheese was carefully balanced on a mechanism attached to a metal bar. Squeak thought for a few moments and then remembered an old cartoon he’d seen. ‘If we use a long pole we can nudge the cheese and set off the trap. Then I can get the cheese in safety.’

  Rolo looked confused, but nodded.

  Squeak said, ‘Go and look for one of the straws the people use to drink through.’

  A few minutes later Rolo came back with one clutched between his teeth and dropped it on the floor. Squeak used it to gently prod the cheese. There was a terrible whooshing noise followed by a large cracking sound, as the metal bar snapped down and crushed the end of the straw.

  Rolo gulped in disbelief. Then he looked at his tummy and licked his lips. ‘Is it safe to get the cheese now?’

  ‘Yes. But we will need to check if it is drugged as well.’

  ‘How can we do that?’

  ‘We’ll have to test it on something?’ Squeak scratched his head then clicked his paw. ‘We’ll use the flies. They’ll eat anything and since they are so much smaller than us they will react much quicker to any poison.’

  Rolo gave a confused smile.

  Squeak pulled the cheese out of the trap, broke of a chunk and took it out into the foyer where the flies lived. As Squeak moved forward he saw a big fly buzzing around. Squeak placed the cheese on the floor and then coughed. The fly came down, landed on the cheese and ate heartily. The fly continued to eat and then, having had its fill, flew off.

  Squeak said to himself, ‘Didn’t seem to do any harm to the fly. Should be OK.’

  He returned to Rolo, just in time to see Rolo throw the last morsel of cheese into the back of his throat. Rolo patted his tummy and then let out a little burp. He put his paw in front of his mouth and giggled, ‘Sorry.’

  Squeak thought about telling Rolo off, but simply shook his head. ‘The cheese is safe to eat. Let’s go and get the rest of the cheese from the other traps.’

  Rolo greedily agreed.

  By the morning they’d robbed the cheese from over twenty traps and had more cheese than they could carry. Squeak looked at the pile and thought. ‘In one film the people used sacks to make it easier to carry big loads.’ Squeak went under one of the chairs, grabbed a low hanging piece of cloth and tugged. It ripped and Squeak carried the square of cloth back to the mound of cheese.

  Rolo looked at him dimly.

  ‘We’ll put the cheese in the centre of the cloth then grab the four corners to make it easier to carry,’ explained Squeak. ‘Go and get another piece, so we can have one each.’

  The two mice returned to their den with their bundles and laid them on the floor. Louise poked her head out of her bedroom door and let out an astonished gasp. ‘Where did you get all the cheese from?’

  ‘It came from the traps,’ answered Squeak. ‘Come on, let’s eat a hearty breakfast and toast the health of Mr Rae!’

  The mice gorged themselves. Within an hour it was all gone and each of them lay stretched out with full tummies. Then there was an almighty groan from the theatre.

  ‘What happened to these traps? What are all these straws doing here? Where’s the cheese? I can’t believe it.’

  Mr Rae was obviously not amused by Rolo and Squeak’s work.

  The three mice chortled to themselves. They had defeated Mr Rae. Then they heard a shout, ‘I don’t know how you did it, but I’ll get you next time. You’d better watch out, I’ll be back.’

  The three mice grinned at each other then settle down in piles of old theatre tickets for a well-deserved snooze.

  The next day the mice were woken by sounds of people moving around. Squeak went out on to the rail and peered down.

  The manager was exasperatedl
y waving his arms around. ‘So the traps didn’t work?’

  Mr Rae scratched his head. ‘I don’t know why the traps didn’t catch them.’

  ‘What do you want to try now?’

  ‘I’ll put down more traps, maybe the first lot weren’t set properly, and also try some other methods.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘We can try gassing them.’

  ‘Gassing them?’

  ‘Yes. We place a tent around the outside of the building and pump in gas.’

  ‘Isn’t that a bit extreme?’

  ‘You want to make sure we get rid of them?’

  The theatre manager nodded.

  ‘I’ll get started on erecting the canopy around the building and then we can begin the gassing process.’

  ‘How long will it take?’

  ‘We could be ready tomorrow. The gassing procedure takes twenty-four hours.’

  Squeak knew they were in mortal danger. He wondered whether they should leave the theatre, but decided against it, there was no telling what dangers lurked outside. He racked his mind for films of gassing. ‘The people sealed themselves in a car and closed off all the air vents to make it airtight, that protected them from the gas.’

  Squeak recalled the old disused water tank in the loft. Squeak knew it was easily big enough for the three mice and it had only two pipes, one for water to come in and one for the water to go down into the theatres bathrooms. He made his way back to the den, where Louise and Rolo were sitting.

  Squeak explained, ‘They’re going to try and gas us. We need to go to the old water tank, with some food and something to block the two pipes. Then we’ll have to try and sleep for twenty-four hours until the gas has gone.’

  Louise and Rolo looked puzzled.

  Squeak carried on, ‘If you two go and get the cheese out of the traps, the same as we did last time Rolo, I’ll try and find something to block up the pipes on the water tank.’

  Louise and Rolo did as they were told.

  Squeak went to the loft. He’d been searching around the water tank for a few minutes when he came across some old discarded cardboard cups. The coned shape gave him an idea. He grabbed one and dragged it along to water tank. He then pushed the cardboard cup, small end first, in to the outlet pipe. After a few heaves it stuck solid. Squeak checked the edges. ‘A perfect seal, no holes in the cup or around the edges. If we use a second cup, pulled in from the inside, on the inlet pipe we’ll have an air tight container.’

  Squeak scampered along the beams and was soon on top of the old water tank. He looked around the outside of the tank, it seemed old, but there were no holes in it. He peered into the tank, it was dark and deep. They would need some rope to climb down and something to provide light.

  Thirty minutes later Squeak