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Let’s!’

  THE MOUSE WHO LOVED HIS BICYCLE

  PPart III

  The second day Mouse crept out of the shed as soon as the sun began to rise. He was ready to run to the witch’s yard and find a way to get to the door without running into the cat. He was just passing by a flower pot when he felt his tail get caught in something. He slowly turned around, rubbing his sleepy eyes, when he heard:

  ‘Good morning to you, little mouse!’

  Mouse froze in place. Right in front of him, standing almost one foot tall, was the cat.

  ‘You’re a fast runner. First mouse to get away from me in ages. But now listen; I’m not here to harm you. Really, you can relax now. Seriously, loosen up, you look like you’re going to explode.’

  ‘What do you want from me?’

  ‘I just want to talk to you for a moment. It kind of impressed me, how you ran away like that. What made you do it?’

  ‘I had to get home.’

  ‘Well, sure, but why in such a hurry?’

  ‘Look, I can’t talk about this here, Topsy will hear. Let’s go under the bench, next to the front door. Be quiet until we’re there, please.’ Mouse said. The cat stayed quiet until they reached the bench.

  ‘Yesterday I had to get back to Topsy. I promised her I’d get the witch to turn her into a mouse and we’ll be together. She didn’t want me to go because she was afraid for me. But I wanted to, because I want us to be a family. So I did. Only I didn’t know the witch had you. So I thought for a while I was going to die. But I couldn’t let Topsy down like that. I promised her something and I’ll do it and it won’t be the last thing I do either, because we’re going to live happily ever after too.’

  ‘So it’s love, basically, you’re saying love made you do it?’

  ‘Yes, my love for Topsy made me do it.’

  ‘Who is this Topsy? Or, more precisely, what is she if she isn’t a mouse?’

  ‘She’s a bicycle. A pink bicycle with a basket in front and ribbons on the sides.’

  ‘You’re in love with a bicycle?!’

  ‘Yes. She’s wonderful. She tells me poems and I sleep in her basket every night. When Maria takes her out, I go along and we see the world together. I want her to be able to move by herself so we can leave this place and have a life of our own.’

  ‘How on earth did you fall in love with a bicycle?’

  ‘We just met and fell in love. I came back to the shed really happy one day because I’d found a big piece of cheese. She was there, brand new, with her sparkling ribbons and her shiny wheels. So I thought she looked really pretty and I said it out loud. She answered with a thank you poem:

  ‘My ribbons went from pink to red

  Hearing what the mouse had said

  So I thank him from the heart

  And hope he’ll accept this tart.’

  ‘Did she really have a tart?’

  ‘No, of course not. She’s just funny like that.’

  ‘I’ve never heard of a talking bike before.’

  ‘Me neither. She’s magical. She used to belong to a princess who had a palace magician and got him to make her bicycle come alive. But she was given away when the princess grew up and here she is.’

  ‘So she loves you too?’

  ‘Of course. More than anything. Like I love her.’

  ‘And you defied death for her?’

  ‘If not for her, then for whom?’

  ‘Ok, I get it. I will help you turn Topsy into a mouse. But you must promise to teach me how to love like that.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Yes, you need my help. The witch doesn’t like to help anybody ever. But I can learn her spells. We’ll have to make a plan. But first you have to promise me.’

  ‘I don’t think you can teach the spells to someone.’

  ‘Well, you’ll have to find a way. I want to have what you two have. I’m tired of being alone all the time. I want a family.’

  ‘I could try. But how do I know you’re telling the truth?’

  ‘We’ll go to the witch’s house. Once you see the cages and jars filled with animals you’ll see.’

  ‘Let’s go, then. The faster we do this, the better.’

  ‘Let’s go!’

  THE MOUSE WHO LOVED HIS BICYCLE

  PPart IV

  With the cat by his side, getting to the witch’s house was not the problem anymore. The cat allowed Mouse to ride on its back and they got there faster than you could say pickle.

  ‘Okay, Mouse, we’re going to go in through the back door. There’s a kitty door so we’ll have no trouble. Once we’re in, we have to go into the first room on the left. That’s where the witch keeps her spell book and magical ingredients. That door is always locked so I can’t get in. You’ll have to crawl under the door, get the key that should be dangling in the clothes hanger, to the right. Don’t let the key fall in one of the jars on the floor, you’ll never be able to get it out by yourself. Once you have it, bring it out, we’ll unlock the door and I’ll get in and read the transformation spell in the book. Then we’ll take the ingredients we need and run back to your shed.’

  ‘Cat… what’s your name?’

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘Since we’re going to do something dangerous together, I think we should at least know each other’s names.’

  ‘Well, I don’t usually tell other creatures my name. It’s silly and I don’t want people calling me by it.’

  ‘Is it Strauss?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Krueger?’

  ‘No, of course not!’

  ‘Flavio?’

  ‘Would you stop that!’

  ‘Oh, I know! Vikrum! It’s got to be Vikrum.’

  ‘It’s Cosmo, all right? Before the witch I used to belong to a little boy who wanted to be an astronaut and he named me Cosmo.’

  ‘Oh, wow! Nice to meet you Cosmo, my name is Twist.’

  ‘Twist the mouse? That’s really your name?’

  ‘Yes. I know, it’s funny. Twist the mouse.’

  ‘I just realized this practically makes our adventure a cosmic twist.’

  ‘Yes… how ironic. Like it was meant to be. But look, Cat, we have to get going. I’ll crawl under the door. Wait for me here.’

  The little mouse did exactly as the cat told him and in a few minutes he was out with the key.

  ‘Whew! Almost fell into a jar of jellyfish. Now lift me on your head, up to the keyhole. We’re almost there!’

  The mouse slowly turned the key, which was difficult with how excited he was, but just as the lock clicked and the cat pushed the door, a loud shriek sounded in the room.

  ‘Oh! She’s got a magical alarm! Quick mouse, run out! Don’t stop until you get home! Hurry! Go!’

  The mouse turned around and raced out of the house and as he did he could hear the loud thud of the witch’s steps.

  ‘Who dares to open my spell room?’

  He couldn’t hear what happened afterwards. He reached the house, climbed into Topsy’s basket and pretended he had been sleeping all along. He was terrified about what could have happened to his new found friend and he swore he would return to the house in the night, when the witch was asleep, to check on Cosmo.

  That day he told Topsy he had to go visit his cousin on the other side of town because he was too nervous to be around her. He walked around the town all day, planning his entry into the house. He was sure that the witch would have moved her spell book from the room after they triggered the alarm so he was dead worried they might never find it again. He came back home right as Topsy was about to go to sleep and asked her:

  ‘Tell me an encouraging poem, Topsy. I’m going back to see the witch tomorrow and I need it for good luck.’

  ‘Oh, Mouse. Here goes:

  Every now and then I see a toad

  Trying to get across the road

  He leaps and leaps almost half across

  Then comes back completely lost.

  What does happen little toad,


  When you’re about to cross the road?

  Well I realize, quite crankily

  That the road travels merely horizontally

  And though at times I want to cross,

  I want more to just get tossed

  High up in the air, so high

  That I could see through space and time.’

  ‘Topsy, you’re wonderful!’

  ‘Let’s go to sleep, Mouse.’

  ‘Okay,’ Mouse whispered, sleepily.

  THE MOUSE WHO LOVED HIS BICYCLE

  PPart V

  That night a strong, cold wind blew outside and the door of the shed creaked as the tree branches hit the roof above. Mouse lay in Topsy’s basket terrified.

  ‘Oh, if it weren’t for my silly dreams! I love Topsy and she loves me, we could have just as well lived together. Why did I have to start all of this? What do I do now? There’s nobody to help me anymore and the witch is a dreadful creature and she probably did awful things to poor Cosmo. And I promised to teach him how to love and I can’t keep that promise either.  I’m such a bad friend. I can’t do anything right…’

  The cat reached the shed just as Mouse began talking to himself. He heard everything he had said and his feline heart melted. He had known the mouse for just one day and he’d even tried to hurt him. Yet, the little white ball of fur worried for him and felt guilty. As far as Cosmo knew, except for the little boy that used to be his master, nobody had cared about him all that much. So he felt, for the first time, like he had a real friend. He slowly pushed the door of the shed and walked in.

  ‘Don’t be blaming yourself, Twist, I’m fine.’

  ‘Cosmo! You’re alive! Are you alright? Did the witch hurt you?’

  ‘A little bit. She knocked me around a bit with her broom, but I’m fine. She was only mad at me because I was around but she didn’t figure out I was part of the plan. She thought some other witch had tried to break in. She’s at war with a few of