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The Miss Mouse Story
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| The Miss Mouse Tea Pot House |
There is a story to my Mouse House. Many years ago I began to have a fascination for Mouse Houses. For a while about 35 years ago I made them and sold them. They were made of scrap wood and looked very rustic. People actually bought them. One year I made a Gingerbread Mouse House. Real gingerbread to bring to my mother-in-laws Christmas party. It had two stories and the upstairs was an attic. There was a bed and dresser, a little mouse curled up under a quilt on the bed and other things that you would find in a Gingerbread Mouses bedroom. Downstairs there was a table and a couch and other furniture. All made of real gingerbread. Everyone loved it and one of the aunts took it home to save it. Sadly it didn't last and after a few weeks the icing melted a bit and everything started sliding apart.
When I married my second husband and we bought a house, I decided to make a real mouse house. I choose half scale because it wouldn't take up much room. I had been thinking of a story of an older lady mouse that lived in the woods so I decided that it would be her house.
The Miss Mouse Story
Chapter 1. The fire.
An older lady mouse lived in a hollow tree trunk in the Green Woods. She had made quite a little home in this hollow log. There were a few pieces of furniture from an old dollhouse that she found in a deserted house and dragged to her log. She had two rugs that were from an old tee shirt and a dish cloth. She found those in the dump. Her name was Miss Mouse. Miss because she had never married. She had been in love once and engaged but he left for the Great Mouse War of 1876. He was never seen again. He was declared "missing in action" and given a medal for mouse bravery. She had the medal on her matchbox dresser. His name was Marvin. She often thought of Marvin but it had been so many years that she could hardly remember what his face looked like. That made her very sad. She wished there were such a thing as a mouse camera so she could have had a picture of him but sadly there was not. One night as she sat in her rocking chair listening to the wind howl through the knothole window. She saw a bright blue light. Lightning she thought, very afraid. Then she heard a very loud noise, like a crack followed by a crackle and she smelled smoke. Oh, my goodness. She was so afraid. She knew that her hollow log was on fire. She scurried around trying to collect some of her things. Her warm shawl, the medal, Marvin's old cap that he had left when he went to war. Then she saw flames and she knew she had to get out of her log very fast so she ran through the kitchen knothole door and into the woods. It was raining very hard but the log was dry and old and burned very brightly. She took shelter under a large leaf. She tried very hard not to cry but the tears came anyway. What a horrible night this was. All she had in the world was burning. What would she do?
This is a picture of the kitchen of The Miss Mouse Tea Pot House.
Chapter 2. Crying and crying.
As she sat on a twig with a leaf over her head trying to keep the rain from soaking her. She heard a strange noise. Ker-plump, ker-plump, thump, thump. Miss Mouse turned her head so her ear was turned to the sound but she couldn't figure out what the sound was coming from. The sound stopped for a moment then continued. Ker-plump, thump. What could it be. It was pouring rain. The rain made a hissing sound as it hit the ground and the leaves. Her leaf was soaked and no longer protecting her so she looked for another leaf, preferably a dry one. She found one under a
large fallen branch and placed it over her head. It helped a bit but she was quite wet. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a bit of shiny green, an almost glowing green color. Then the thing that was colored the glowing green moved into view. A frog. It was Mr. Frog, her old friend. Howdy Miss Mouse, he said. I saw smoke from over yonder and wondered what it was. Oh my, he said and his eyes grew large and round. Your house burned. Oh my. Mr Frog was always saying oh my. He said oh my about everything. Oh my, he said again There is almost nothing left. Miss Mouse faced with the the complete realization that her house was gone started crying. Large fat tears dropped from her tiny mouse eyes.
What will I do she cried. What will I do. Mr. Frog tried to comfort her. There, there he said, it will be okay. I will get all the forest friends together.
In a little while Miss Mouse saw Tommie Turtle and Horace Mouse come along the path to what used to be her house. They both comforted her. We will help you they said.
The next day her three friends, Mr. Frog, Mr. Turtle and Mr. Mouse went on a long trip through the woods gathering all their friends. All the small animals had a meeting and decided what to do. They went to the peoples town dump and looked all around. Then Bill Mole found a wonderful old Tea Pot. It wasn't new but it could be cleaned up and they all pitched in and cleaned it up. Bill Mole scrubbed and scrubbed it. Soon it looked shiny and new. Mr. Turtle was working on the inside and soon had it spotless. When they finished they all stood back and looked at this Tea Pot. It was a very large pot. she will love it they all said and they rigged up a wagon with several of the friends pulling it with old shoelaces. Through the woods they went. Bumpity, bumpity bump, went the cart. Soon they arrived at The Huckle Berry Clearing. There they set up the Tea Pot and congratulated themselves on a moving job well done.Later after they had done a bit of landscaping and Mr. Mole had planted some wild flowers, they thought it was most complete. Mr. Frog went back to Ms. Mouse. She was still sitting on the log but no longer had the leaf over her head. It had stopped raining and her poor charred log had stopped burning. Miss Mouse was still crying.
Chapter 3. Marvin
The new Tea Pot House inside without stairs.
Miss Mouse looked up and Mr. Frogs large green eyes peered into hers. She didn't say a word. Mr. Frog didn't say a word. Without so much as a glance left or right Mr. Frog took her little mouse paw in his froggy green hand and led her down a path in the woods. The path was littered with sticks and there were large stones in the way sometimes. Mr. Frog told Miss Mouse not to worry that her friends would clean the path up and it would be safe for her to travel. She wondered where they were leading her. She was still crying and hic-cupping. I, I, I don't know what to do she managed to say between sobs. "Where are we going Mr. Frog" she said but Mr. Frog did not answer her. He just smiled and looked mysterious. Soon she heard noises in the woods near the Huckle Berry Clearing. It sounded like hammering and scraping. What could that noise be she thought. Very soon she saw the teapot and she exclaimed, OH!!!! and put a tiny paw over her mouth. What is that, she said. The hammering and scraping noise that she had heard were Mr. Mole and Mrs. Minny Squirrel sanding the floor of the teapot. As Miss Mouse watched the floor became shiny and pretty. Oh, she thought. It is a house. What a fine house in a teapot. Who could it be for?
It's for you all her woodland friends said as if they had read her mind.. It is a new house for you.We worked so hard Minnie said We really hope you like it.
OH!!! said Miss Mouse with another hic-up. OH!!! It is wonderful. I love it but what shall I put in it? I need furniture. I will go to the mouse dump and look around. There must be some good things there that I can use. We will go with you they all cried. They were laughing and congratulating each other. Mr. Mole had a very proud look on his little mole face as he was the one who had the idea to do this for Miss Mouse.
Off they all went to the people dump. When they got there they stopped quickly and hid behind the fence posts. There was a people there and he was raking all the things into piles. What was he doing. This had never happened before. Maybe he is raking it into piles so that they can take it away Mr. Mole said in a mouse squeak. Minnie answered in another different sounding Mouse squeak. I agree with you croaked Mr. Frog whose first name was Freddy although all the forest folk called him Greenie.
They waited and waited and finally the people person left. He must have been tired of raking. Miss Mouse was disappointed because she has know just about where everything was located in the people dump. Now it was all mixed up. She went to the nearest pile and started looking through the mess of things. Oh my, she thought as she saw some papers. When she looked closer she could see that they were people pictures. Well. she thought, if there are any pretty pictures here I might use them for pictures for my walls. She used her mini mouse paws to sort through them She was shocked. What was she seeing! It was a picture of a mouse scurrying towards a hole in the wall. It was a bit blurred but still she could see. It wasn't just any old mouse. It was "Marvin". His face looked very scared but it was a picture of Marvin her long, lost, love. Oh, Marvin she thought. This must have been taken before they had met as he looked very young. It must have been when he had lived in that big old people house. He had said it was a good place to stay but he was always afraid. He must have left right after the people took that picture of him.
She looked at the rest of the pictures. They were very dry because the tin box they were in must have been closed before the people person had started raking. She picked up Marvin's picture again. Oh Marvin, she thought. Oh Marvin.
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Look for the next chapter soon.
Barbara thank You to all my friends. I would love to have comments.
