Little Mouse (youngsters:mystery, 523 words)
Author: Pitter Pat	Added: Jan 13 2004	Views/Reads: 6494/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Little Mouse follows the clues to find his friends.

Little Mouse sat quietly in the corner of the children's playground. It
was scary. There were no sounds of children at play, no creaking of 
swings or thumping of the slide, not even the sound of sand being 
tossed in the sandbox. 

Every mouse knows once a year on Christmas Eve the house is quiet,
without even a mouse sound, but Christmas Eve had been only a few weeks 
ago. Another year couldn't have gone by so quickly. Where had everyone 
gone? 

Little Mouse silently crept to the swings. As he suspected, no one was
in sight.  Little Mouse noticed a wrapper by the oak tree. He quickly 
scampered to see if it might be a clue to where everyone had gone. The 
wrapper was torn, but Little Mouse could still make out the lettering 
on it. S-N-I-C-K-E-R-S. He could smell the scent of a peanut candy bar, 
but like the children, none was in sight. 

“How strange,” said Little Mouse. He jumped and then realized the sound
had been his own voice. He thought for a moment then spoke again, 
“Hum... the sound of my voice breaks the silence. It makes the 
playground seem much friendlier. Perhaps if I continue to talk to 
myself someone will hear me and will talk back.” 

A faint snicker came from behind the slide. Little Mouse smiled. “Come
out, come out, wherever you are!” But no one came out. Little Mouse 
tiptoed toward the slide. Again, no one was in sight. Under the slide 
he saw another wrapper. The wrapper was empty, but smelled like sweet 
chocolate. “Perhaps the letters on this wrapper will tell me where the 
children are. M-O-U-N-D-S,” he read.  “What a strange clue.” 

Little Mouse looked toward the sandbox. Something was different. Taking
a closer look he saw a hill of sand. “A hill of sand, a hill of sand, 
a.... a mound!” Little Mouse dug through the sand and found another 
wrapper. “A clue!” smiled Little Mouse. 

Wiping the sand off the wrapper he read, “B-A-B-E R-U-T-H.” Little Mouse
scratched his head. Ruth was the name of the dog that played with the 
children. Ruth was nowhere in sight. She had disappeared with the 
children.  “Where could Ruth be?” asked Little Mouse. Little Mouse 
remembered yesterday the children had put a large basket with a pillow 
in it behind the bush.  They had sat Ruth in the basket. She liked her 
soft new bed. 

Little mouse scampered around the bush. He found the children sitting
quietly around the basket. “There you are! What are you doing?” he 
squeaked. 

“Shhh...” whispered the children as they pointed toward the basket. 

Little Mouse tiptoed to the edge of the basket and peeked inside. Ruth
was not alone. Cuddled close to Ruth's fur was one little puppy.  It 
was sound asleep. 

Little Mouse and the children sat quietly watching until Ruth's baby
woke. Then all the children talked at once.  They told Little Mouse 
about the new baby being born a few hours earlier. 

“What shall we name him?” asked one of the children. 

Little Mouse smiled. “He's the color of chocolate. How about
H-E-R-S-H-E-Y?” 


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