The Bread Bin Mouse

Chapter 1.

"Bite!"

"Jump!"

"Escape!"

She could hear her friends yelling.

Someone had grabbed her and dropped her into a dark box!

Perhaps she should've bitten the person who'd grabbed her. Perhaps she should've bitten very hard. But she wasn't really that sort of mouse; the only mouse she'd ever bitten was her brother. She'd never ever bitten a human. For one thing they were too big and for another they fed her. It just isn't wise to bite the hand that feeds you.

So there it was. She didn't bite. She didn't jump. She didn't escape! She did nothing at all!

Her friends were still shouting. She could hear their voices in the distance.

"Jump out!

"Escape!"

"Don't let them take you away!"

She curled up shivering in a corner of the dark box. She was very frightened now because she might never see her friends again. But she was also very annoyed because not only had she been sold but she'd been sold for the measly amount of 50p!

50 pence! I'm worth much more than that, she thought, indignantly.

Her thoughts were cut short when the box began to sway dangerously from side to side. It was impossible to keep her balance. She tripped over something and, in the darkness, bashed her head against the side of the box. Soon she not only had a big bruise on her head but she was also feeling seasick or rather boxsick. Under her fur, her face went a sickly green colour.

"I hate boxes", she muttered miserably as she fell over for the tenth time.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw a ray of light finding its way through a small hole in the top of the box. The ray of light lit the box just a little and she was able to see that there were some things in the box with her. She sniffed the objects cautiously. Pens and crayons. The humiliation of it all! She was imprisoned in a pencil case!

I may never get out of here, she thought, so I'm going to make sure I leave a farewell message just in case.

With great difficulty she managed to lift up a red pen. The pen was heavy (she was a very small mouse) and difficult to hold because of the swaying of the box but slowly and in very squiggly writing she wrote the following words:

She dropped the pen, exhausted by the effort and slumped down in a corner. What would happen next, she wondered.

The swaying lessened. She could hear people talking.

"Hello Mum. Guess what we've bought with our pocket money."

"A spaceship?"

"Don't be silly."

"A game of some sort or a book or sweets?"

"No - you'll never guess"

"Go on. Tell me."

"We've bought a mouse. She's in my pencil box!"

"A MOUSE !!!" shrieked their mother, who was prone to overreact as far as mice were concerned.

The shriek was so loud and eerie that Penny Whistle leapt upward in fright and banged her head yet again. "That's it! That's most definitely it! I've had quite enough of this!" she yelled out. Surprisingly she'd lost all her fear.

"Let me out of this box, IMMEDIATELY", she shouted. "Do you hear! This is Penny Whistle speaking and I demand to be let out of this box NOW!"

She listened for their reply. But there was no reply. No reply at all. And, although they were still talking out there it wasn't about freeing her. She heard one of them say, "Wherever will we put her?"

"In that old bread bin."

"That's a good idea. She'll never escape from that; its metal so she can't chew her way out and the walls are too high and slippery to climb."

Penny Whistle could hardly believe her ears. A BREAD BIN FOR A HOUSE did they seriously imagine she'd stand for it!

Chapter 2.

Penny Whistle heard a noise above her, looked up and saw the lid of the box opening very, very slowly. Her heart began to beat fast. They were about to take her out of the box and put her into that old bread bin they'd been talking about. Here is my chance to escape, she thought, and this time I really will leap about in a frenzy and bite! She got ready to spring into attack.

But before she knew it, she was outwitted. The lid was open, blinding light rushed in, someone grabbed her, she was lifted up and put down again - it all happened in seconds. When her eyes got used to the light, she found that she was standing in the middle of a large round bread bin.

She looked around in dismay. She was surrounded by high white walls and everything was bare and cold and white. There was nowhere to hide and she was completely alone. She became angry and afraid all at the same time. She began to jump up and down. She flung herself about. She dashed round and round the bread bin at top speed.

"What a speed!" shouted the younger girl.

"She's frightened", said the boy, ''I'm going to get her some food." The boy thought that food was the answer to most things, as far as pets were concerned - and he wasn't far wrong! He was soon back with handfuls of nuts, fruit and sunflower seeds. He placed them, carefully, in front of Penny Whistle.

"And she can make herself a nest with this cotton wool and straw", said the taller of the two girls as she put the cotton wool and straw into the bread bin.

"I've found a large springy twig!", shouted the younger girl, who recently, had had a lesson at school called 'Ways to keep your teeth healthy'. Chewing on things was good for your teeth and she didn't see why it should be any different for mice.

As for Penny Whistle she'd never seen so much food and comfort. She began to feel much better. She wasn't frightened now, either, because the children were trying very hard to make her feel at home. She wondered how she could show her thanks. She had been given the name of Penny Whistle by her friends ever since the day she'd fallen and broken her front teeth on the bars of their cage. It was when she was sitting in the corner of the cage, trying to keep her mind off her aching teeth, that she'd attempted to whistle and, surprisingly enough, discovered that she could - whether she was good at whistling before that day she would never know but she'd been very good at whistling from then on!.

So what better way to show her appreciation than whistling one of her favourite tunes for the children. She put her head in the air and whistled the tune to a song she'd made up. The song was all about a place where her family had lived; the song began:

' I remember a place where the grass was golden
and a golden gate bridge went over the ocean'

Her curly whiskers twitched in time with the tune.

The children were enchanted.

"She's a pop star!"

"She's a film star!"

"She's a Magnificent Mouse."

"She's bewitched."

"She's probably a one-off, a real rarity, worth a million pounds. At least!" exclaimed the boy excitedly.

Now he knows I'm worth more than 50p, thought Penny Whistle. Trouble is, he's probably, at this very moment, plotting how to sell me to a Record Company and make a million. Penny Whistle stopped whistling, just in case.

They were disappointed and asked her, very politely, to whistle again and even offered her tempting titbits of chocolate and sweets to encourage her but Penny Whistle kept silent. After a while they got bored and went away with the parting words, "She's tired out. She'll probably whistle again tomorrow."

"Oh no, I won't, " Penny Whistle muttered under her breath, "You're not selling me to any Record Company."

It was very quiet now that the children had gone. Penny Whistle cautiously sniffed the food they'd left her. You couldn't be too careful. She didn't want to get poisoned! It smelt OK. So she nibbled a nut, ate a whole grape and then a sunflower seed. Then she ate another nut, another grape, and another sunflower seed and then she ate yet another nut, yet another grape and yet another sunflower seed and she kept on eating until she was so full she could hardly move. She fell into the cotton wool nest and was soon fast asleep. She was exhausted. It had been the most eventful day of her whole life. And, for the moment at least, she'd forgotten all about escaping.

no other mouse could whistle quite like her - her whistling had a special sweet tone to it (now that is a matter of opinion!) probably caused by the fact that ever since the accident one of her teeth stuck out at a very odd angle.

Chapter 3.

Penny Whistle was completely spoilt for the rest of the week. Even though she didn't whistle another single note, the children gave her the most delicious food and spoke to her kindly. She enjoyed being spoilt and spent the whole week lolling about on her cotton wool nest. If she wanted something tasty to eat, she only had to stretch out a paw and something like a Brazil nut or a grape would drop into it.

In fact she was treated like a Queen and soon began to feel like a real Queen and started to call herself Queen Penelope the First. Mmmmm, this is the life. I only wish that the rest of my friends were here to enjoy it with me, she thought, as she patted her full stomach and popped yet another grape into her mouth. She was thoroughly enjoying this life of luxury. The only thing she objected to were the noises in the night.

"I'll just have to complain," she said out loud. She'd become rather pompous of late and felt that because she was a Queen she was entitled to perfection.

The following day she woke up at her usual time and waited for the children to bring her breakfast. But, to her surprise, they were late. She waited and waited and waited. Hours passed. Eventually darkness fell and still there was no sign of the children. Feeling disappointed and a little bit worried, she curled up in her cotton wool nest and went to sleep.

During the night she was disturbed by the scratching sounds she'd heard before but had never really worried about until now. She felt so alone and was glad when morning came. But a dark, heavy sort of feeling crept over her. Something was very wrong. Why had the children forgotten to feed her yesterday? Surely they would feed her today and maybe even bring some extra grapes to make up for forgetting.

She listened carefully for sounds of the children approaching. The house was very quiet. But wait! again she heard something scratching and sniffing just outside the bread bin. She was frightened now. She was sure that those were the very sounds that had disturbed her at night. She looked around at the bread bin walls. Fortunately, the walls were high and she hoped that IT whatever IT was couldn't get in. But she also knew that she couldn't get out either!

She was trapped inside this old bread bin and what if the children really had forgotten all about her? If they had then she would starve! She would never see her friends again. She started to cry out, "HELP! HELP! HELP! Bring me some food. SAVE ME FROM THE UGLY MONSTER!"

she was sure that IT was very ugly as well as being very dangerous!

To go to the next chapters please read this clue and then click on the word found in the above 3 chapters. Here is the clue:

Yellow and green it's easily seen

in the sun on a hot summer's day

in the Autumn the birds

they gather in herds - ('it's flocks not herds!'. 'But flocks doesn't rhyme!' As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted...)

and take all the seeds away!

to top of page

back