A Mouse In The House

There was a noise and Twinkie opened her eyes. She was back! Twinkie got up and stretched and yawned, scratched behind her ears and scurried down through the floor to the big hole into Ginny's room. Ginny was in the room in her big chair with the wheels on it and some kind of bag in her hands. Twinkie padded over the floor to watch and see if she had them in her hands. She didn't see any and Twinkie was a little dissappointed. The bag was dumped on the bed and Ginny moved over to the big dresser and fitted long stemmed candles onto the very old candleabra sitting on top of it. She pushed them down so they would stay and Twinkie slowly padded out onto the floor. Ginny turned at that moment and saw her and began to coo as she moved the big chair over to her. Twinkie's ears perked up and Ginny suddenly said "wait!" and moved toward the door. She rode the chair fast and Twinkie wiggled her whiskers and wondered what was up with that. n a moment Ginny came back and had them

in her lap. She stopped and Twinkie skittered up her pants to her shoulder and Ginny giggled and dug a cookie out of the bag. She broke off a small piece and offered it and Twinkie reached out with her tiny paws and happily took it and began to crunch on it as Ginny talked and ever so carefully petted Twinkie's tiny white head with her finger. She began to talk and little crumbs fell to the floor as Twinkie sat and listened. !other came into the room and checked the window, seeing Twinkie on Ginny's shoulder as she did. " don't know how you can have that little mouse on your shoulder like that, it would give me the willies." Ginny touched the tiny ears. ""ow could anyone get all freaked out over such a tiny cute creature. #ook at those little tiny fu$$y hands!" !other replied "%n&oy. 've never known anyone to make a little friend out of a mouse in the house they lived in." Twinkie didn't care, she was getting 'uite a fill from the cookie. She then went over to

Ginny's neck and gave her s few little licks to thank her for the meal and scurried back down her clothes to the floor and into her hole. She moved through the dark and came out in the room where (aul was busy trying to hang a large furry spider from his ceiling. "e was standing on a chair and could not reach the ceiling so he had taped a stapler to the end of a mop handle and was banging the end of it onto the spider feet, managing to get them stuck after a few tries. "e looked down and saw Twinkie. ")ow, you look incredibly tiny down there. "ow do you manage to survive in this world without getting stepped on* (aul came down and went to his dinner plate from the night before. " was about to take this to the kitchen, but here, hae something to make your vites and minerals go out of whack and make a fat la$y mousie out of you." "e tossed something orange on the floor and Twinkie took some nibbles off of it. +ot bad, not bad at all, a bit sweet but with a bit of an attitude. (aul left with his plate and Twinkie let out a tiny burp and scurried to the other side of the room. She went down into the insulation

and through the crack where the handful of old money had been stuck behind some boards and came out in the kitchen where mom and dad were talking. ,ad was working on something on a thing that had a bright face on it and Twinkie went to the edge of the counter top and watched for a moment. She suddenly saw mother standing over her. "-key, mouse with oversi$ed ears, don't want you on my countertop." Twinkie went back into her hole as (aul came in and she heard him ask "is that the same mouse, or a different one. f it's the same one she sure is fast." Twinkie went over the big metal pipe that was always warm to the bathroom where dad had showered earlier. There was the pool at the bottom of the old tub where water dripped from the old faucet and she got a long drink after the meals. She then went into the wall and to the crack in the wall that gave her the view out the upstairs bay window. Twinkie yawned and stretched, then laid down into the bit of insulation that was there. )ithout ever knowing she had been asleep, Twinkie woke up and saw that it was dark. She climbed down the old piece of cloth to the floor and walked out into the empty room. .s she did the wind picked up and the window opened

inward as a mist drifted in and stood in the middle of the room. The window slowly shut itself and the mist took shape into the old woman. She was wearing the same dress she had had on when they carried her out of the house and she drifted over the floor and looked down. ")hy there you are!" The ghostly woman said happily and a thin finger stopped in front of Twinkie. She climbed the icey cold arm and the dark face came down and looked at her as she sat on the ghostly woman's arm. "That's my Twinkie, keeping an eye on my house after gramma had to go. #ets see what they'vebeen up to, little mousie pie." Gramma drifted to the door and opened it as she petted Twinkie on the head and she floated down the hall way to (aul's room where he was sound asleep. She looked in on him and shook her head. "(oor dear, all that black clothes and that Gothic thing he does. worry about how he'll turn out, probably gives his mother fits." She eased the door shut and (aul sat up, wondering why the door opened and closed on it's own. Twinkie heard him say ")hy does that only do that once in a while*" Gramma floated down the hall to mom and dad's bedroom where the sound of snoring

could be heard and she opened the door gently. !other opened her eyes as the door opened itself and gramma went over to the window. " t's not the right time of the year for this to be open all night it's too cold." She slid the window gently down and Twinkie saw mother look over and wonder why they window was closing itself. Gamma then went over to the mirror and looked down. "!y old &ewelry bo/. She still has it. 'm so glad." Twinkie watched the mirror cover with fog as gramma stood there, and mother shook her head. "Good old haunted house." She said, and rolled over o go back to sleep. Gramma drifted out the door and shut it behind her. She floated down the hall singing to herself. Twinkie saw the air around them begin to swirl and she found herself in Gramma's time, with people she had never seen in the house. -ne of them was a young girl in a long dress who was sitting and reading a book to some children in the front room where sun was streaming in and the wind blew outside. Twinkie could smell the roses outdoors through the open window. Gramma walked past and listened as the children laughed and smiled at the story that

was read to them, and gramma went up to a huge spray of flowers nd smelled them. She opened the drawer on a large chest of drawers and looked for a brush. n the bedroom Twinkie could hear a sound and reali$e Ginny had sat up in bed to the sound of the drawer opening and closing by itself. Twinkie watched gramma take the old brush out and run it through her hair as the girl read the story, and she muttered to herself. "0ou're lucky, Twinkie, you dont have to worry about managing long hair. 0our worst problem is finding decent food, and with me and my family around, you dont have to worry long." Gramma looked at the kids in the front room as the story ended and they got up to go. The air then swirled around again and the house was dark, cooling again in the night air. Gramma moved down the hall and Twinkie saw mother ahed of them, turning to see the empty hall and Twinkie floating in midair. !other &ust stared and heard a scratching sound as gramma ran her nails gently down the wall and hummed to herself. !other wved her hand and dismissed what she had seen as she went down stairs to the kitchen. Gramma walked past the bathroom and shut the door as she passed it. She then went back into the room with the bay

window and looked out. " used to sit at this window all the time and daydream, then write down all my ideas. Some of them became the stories used to pay for this house. 1ut, over time, all things fade away, don't they, Twinkie*" She said. She then touched the little head and gently eased Twinkie down to the floor again. )ith a little s'ueak, Twinkie watched gramma fade out and drift through the window again. "er visits were always fun, going to some other part of her life for a moment as Twinkie rode along. )ith a little s'ueak, Twinkie tottered off to the hole in the wall again till the ne/t time.