Stories  
The Mousy, Mousy Story
by Mukesh Williams

One upon a time, not long ago, near Yosemite National Park, California, there lived three mice in a giant sequoias tree. There was Papa mouse. There was Mama mouse. And there was a small mouse. His name was Tom.

The giant sequoias tree was three thousand years old. It was so big that many animals lived on it. The black bear lived on it, the bobcat lived on it, the big bat lived on it, the puma sometimes came on it and the bald eagle came too. In the bark of the tree there lived a gray squirrel family. The youngest of the squirrel family was called Chirpy. Chirpy was Tom’s friend. Chirpy would give him nuts, and sometimes, wild berries.

Tom’s house was very big and very beautiful. There was a big room for Mama and Papa, a big playroom and a sleeping room for Tom. There was a very big kitchen for Mama and a big room for Papa to work. But there was a problem. There was a train track running in front of the house. The train track was pretty noisy. At night when Tom slept a train came and he woke up. Then again a train came and again he work up. Then again a train came and again he woke up. Anyway, like this it was morning.

In the morning, Papa mouse, Mama mouse and Tom woke up. They all went into the dining room and had breakfast. They had milk. They had raisin bread. They had strawberry yogurt. They had blueberry yogurt. They had boiled eggs. They had bananas. They had cashew nuts. They had walnuts. They had many, many things. It was a warm sunny morning. The big stone mountains of the Sierra Nevada looked blue and beautiful So Tom went out to play. He played with his friend, Chirpy the squirrel. They played in the deep valleys. They played in the grand meadows.

Then a train came. Chirpy got frightened and ran away. Tom was left alone. Suddenly the signal turned red and the train stopped. The doors of the train opened and Tom saw people sitting inside. Tom went inside and saw that some people were eating biscuits. Tom found some biscuits under the seats. He also started eating biscuits. Suddenly the signal turned green. The train doors closed and the train started moving. Tom got frightened, but he could not do anything.

The train stopped at the next station. The door opened and people began moving out. Tom also came out, but he did not know where he was. He started crying, “Mama! Mama! Where are you?” But there was no Mama. Tom was now lost. He moved up and down the station looking for his Mama. Then he got tired and climbed a tree. He was so tired he went off to sleep.

Now, when Tom did not return after some time, his Papa and Mama went looking for him. Mama began crying, “Where is my baby? Where is my baby?” Tom’s Papa said, “Maybe Tom went on the train to the next station and got lost. Let’s go and find him.” So both Papa and Mama waited for the next train and then reached the next station looking for Tom. Mama shouted everywhere, “Tom, where are you? Tom, where are you?” But Tom was sleeping on a tree. He did not hear his Mama calling him. Then Papa and Mama got tired and sat under the tree on which Tom was sleeping.

When Tom woke up he again started to cry, “Mama, Mama, where are you?” Tom’s Mama heard Tom crying and ran up the tree. She picked up Tom and kissed him and said, “Oh my baby! Oh my baby!” Then Tom’s Papa also climbed the tree and kissed Tom. Then all came back home and had a lovely dinner. They had sesame rice, they had yogurt, they had steamed fish, they had raisin buns, they had baked beans, and they had watermelon. They had everything. Then Tom said, “I will never do that again.” His father said, “That’s okay.” Here ends the story. 

August, 2007

Image under license with Gettyimages.com

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