A children's story inspired by a true happening.
Scritch, scritch, scritch.
Mrs. Hinkley sat up in bed. "Ernest!" She shook Mr. Hinkley's arm. "There's something in the bathroom!"
Mr. Hinkley opened one eye. "Well, I guess you'll have to go see what it is," he said.
Mrs. Hinkley crept to the bathroom. She fumbled for the light switch. She screamed.
"Ernest!" Mrs. Hinkley cried. "There's a mouse in the tub! You'll have to get it out!"
Mr. Hinkley opened his other eye. "I'm not the one who found it," he said.
Mrs. Hinkley fumed all the way to the broom closet. "Shoo!" she told the mouse in the tub. The mouse shooed, right up the broom handle.
"Ernest!" Mrs. Hinkley put her hands on her hips. "There is a broom and a mouse in the tub!"
Mr. Hinkley pulled the covers up to his chin. "What are you going to do about it?" he asked.
Mrs. Hinkley glared all the way to the clothes hamper. She dumped the clothes on the floor. She dumped the hamper in the tub on top of the mouse. "You are going for a ride," she said.
The mouse went for a ride, but not how Mrs. Hinkley thought he would.
"Ernest!" Mrs. Hinkley pulled the covers off the bed. "There is a mouse and a broom and a clothes hamper in the tub!"
Mr. Hinkley put the pillow over his head. "I guess you'll have to take them out," he said.
Mrs. Hinkley sat down and thought. She smiled all the way to the door. "Pete!" she called. "Come here, Pete!"
Pete didn't want to come. He'd been taking a catnap dreaming of Kitty Kibble and catnip.
Mrs. Hinkley ran all the way to the bathroom. She threw Pete into the tub with the broom and the hamper and the mouse. She slammed the door shut. She waited.
Crash!
Bang!
Splat!
Squeak!
Hiss!
Silence.
Mrs. Hinkley opened the door. Nothing moved.
"Pete?" called Mrs. Hinkley. "Pete? Where are you?"
Pete was hiding behind the towels. Mrs. Hinkley looked in the tub. The mouse looked back.
Mrs. Hinkley sighed. "If you aren't going to catch the mouse then you will have to leave," she told Pete.
Pete didn't want to leave. He liked the towels. He liked the cozy bathroom. He liked that no ants tickled his toes.
"Ernest!" Mrs. Hinkley sat down on the bed. There is a mouse and a broom and a hamper in the tub, and Pete won't come out."
Mr. Hinkley turned over on his back. "Imagine that," he said.
"I don't have to imagine it," said Mrs. Hinkley.
She stomped to the kitchen. She chose her biggest kettle and her wooden spoon. She marched back to the bedroom. She beat on the kettle. She yodeled her finest yodel.
Mr. Hinkley covered his ears. He sat up in bed. "OK, OK," he said, "I'll see what I can do."
Mr. Hinkley went to the kitchen. He found some left over tuna and a slice of not-quite-moldy cheese.
He opened the bathroom window. He winked at Pete. "Here you go," he said.
Pete liked tuna better than cozy towels. He leaped out the window.
Then Mr. Hinkley turned to the mouse in the tub. He offered him some of the not-quite-moldy cheese. He lifted the mouse carefully out of the tub.
"Goodnight, Arnold," he said.
And then Mr. Hinkley went back to bed.
The End.
