burbubble
Animal amulets
Molly goes for breakfast
One cold wet morning Molly Mouse poked her tiny head out of a hole in the living room wall. The coast was clear. The cat was away and the human in the house was busy ruining the world. One thing she liked about humans was their capacity to produce mountains of rubbish. She liked nothing better than to ramble round the rubbish at night nibbling at whatever bits she found in the bins or around them. She had to be on her guard though, because the rubbish also attracted foxes and cats and the odd stray dog. Altough the dogs weren't a big threat because they were so thick you could usually cod them and convince them to leave you alone.
She scrambled around the skirting boards and squeezed under the crack in the faulty front door. The wind outside made her fur stand up on end. Seeing no one, she skid skillfully to the back yard. Brightly coloured abandoned objects lay strewn across the concrete and the patchy lawn. These were great hiding places and she could take cover under them as she made her way to the shed at the back of the tiny garden. Her little heart was pumping, so far so good, not a predator in sight.
An old aquaintance
The bins were in sight and as luck would have it they were full. Some of the black refuse sacks were just sitting on the grass beside the green plastic bins. Great – this meant easy access. She gnawed at the first one and got into it. This household certainly didn't recycle as the bag was full of plastic objects. Her nose twitched and lured her to a white plastic bag in among the plastic bits and pieces. It was full of leftovers from dinners. Joy of joys, she tucked into potato peals, lettuce ends, broccoli stalks and bits of unwanted fatty raw meat. Yummy.
Then she stopped and went dead still. It wasn't as if she heard something it was more a feeling she had – a feeling that she was being watched, or worse, hunted.
If she stayed put she could end up as dinner so she decided to act on a hunch and push the items around the bag. She had to act fast. She bit a hole in another part of the bag just as it tumbled down to the ground. She heard a fat miaow and a rattle of hard plastic as the bag fell on what was obviously a cat.
Out she flew from the newly gnawed exit and she scampered in under the shed door. Right under the paw of Tiger, the house cat.
A quest
“Ha Ha, you mice are so dumb, I knew you would run in here. You run in here every time you hear a cat. I have been watching you and waiting for you to slip up. You sort being predictable just makes life easier for us cats.” cackled the mean white fluffy persian cat.
“Please let me go,” begged Molly “I'll do anything, I'll clean out the cat litter, I'll ring the vet any time you are ill, I'll enter you in cat contests and I'll rig them so that you win.”
“That sounds rather nice but I think I would rather just have breakfast now than hire a maid.” said the cat haughtily.
“I wouldn't be a maid, I would be a slave.” replied Molly humbly.
“Hmm, maybe you could be useful after all,” thought Tiger out loud.
Then he snapped off Molly's tail.
“Aggh!, Please don't eat me,”pleaded Molly.
“All right then,” said the cat slowly. “I'll give you a task, If you can achieve it within the month, I'll give you back your tail, if you fail I'll eat you.”
“Fine,” replied Molly, “I'll do the task, what is it?”
“Well sit yourself down there and listen carefully. There is a certain thing I would like to own, it's nothing special really but I think it would enhance my good looks.” explained Tiger.
“Right so,” sang Molly enthusiastically, “where is it?”
“That’s part of the problem, it is in a realm where reality as you know it doesn't really apply and any old mad thing can happen. It could be dangerous.”
“I'll take my chances,” said Molly
“You must go down this drain pipe hear, don't eat the blue pellets in the middle, that's rat poison and keep going, as you enter the realm the light will turn into rainbow colours and your eyes will take time to adjust. You will know you have arrived when you can see clearly. Oh yes and when you get there you must find the Toad called Thunder thighs, he'll give you further directions. Ask him for the amber amulet and make sure you specify that it is not for you.”
“Right so,” said Molly and she went to dash into the pipe.
Tiger grabbed her and cut off an ear.
“Aggh, what did you do that for?” she roared.
“I didn't think you'd come back for the tail.”sneered the cat.
“Oh I'll be back all right,” replied Molly angrily. “You just keep your word, I'll get you that amulet and you will give me back my ear and tail.”
They both spat on a paw. Then silently they shook paws and Molly dashed down the poison filled pipe. She was back in point two of a second.
“Have you a bag handy?” she asked Tiger.
“Here you are, now get going, I'll be waiting here,” ordered Tiger.
For the birds
She hadn't gone far into the narrow brown pipe when she stopped and carefully put some of the bright blue poisonous pellets into the bag the cat gave her. Perhaps they would be of some use. Then up she got and off she rushed mumbling all the while to herself, “find the toad, find the toad.”
Then it happened, she had only travelled two thirds of the length of the pipe when the brownness of the pipe turned a strange orange then yellow and red and then all the colours of the rainbow circled around her head. Suddenly everything went out of focus. She was sure Tiger was playing with the pipe and just throwing it up in the air and catching it. She felt as if at any moment she would empty the contents of her stomach. Then it stopped. All of a sudden everything was very still. Whereas before she had heard the twittering of birds outside now she heard something else. It sounded like birds playing jazz. She came out of the pipe a little shaken but relieved that the ground was firm. She looked up to where she thought the noise was coming from and sure enough, there in the branches were birds playing jazz. She had never seen such a sight. Maybe they were good at what they were playing but as Molly had no interest in jazz she didn't even try to appreciate it. She waited impatiently for them to finish.
When they finally started putting away their instruments Molly shouted, “Excuse me, but do any of you know where I can find a toad called Thunder thighs.”
The blue tit that had been playing the saxophone turned his head downwards.
“You won't find any of our kind hanging out with toads, let alone being seen around toads, they are too into heavy metal for our liking.”
The other birds clicked their claws and said, “yeah, yeah.” in unison.
“Oh, well then, I'm sorry to have bothered you all,” answered Molly.
“Wait a minute, why don't you ask the frogs, they're cool, they sometimes sing tenor for the operatic society,” said the crow who had been playing the bass.
“I will so and thank you so much, can you point me in the general direction please?” she asked.
“No problem,” said the sparrow who had been playing percussion. “Just head towards the ponds beside the waterfall, head northwards through this forest and you'll get there in no time.”
Molly thanked them all again and she also told them their music was marvellous. She didn't really think so but she thought they would like to hear it anyway. She liked to keep everyone happy. So with a little more hope, off she skipped northwards into the wood.
Plinkity Plonk
The deeper she got into the wood the darker it got. There was a tremendous silence. It was obvious the birds didn't hang out here because she couldn't hear anything that sounded like jazz. Then she heard something in the distance that sounded like a banjo. It was rattling to a lively tune. She moved some of the leaves and branches out of her way and there she spied a grey hare plipping and plopping away on the banjo. He started to sing. Molly butted in.
“Ahem, excuse me but do you know a toad called Thunder thighs?”
The hare was so startled he dropped the banjo, “kablang,” it went as it hit the stony ground. “Oh there you are,” said the hare suddenly. “I know nothing about no toad by that name, why don't we ask the banjo,” he suggested. Molly thought she had better make an excuse and leave, this hare was clearly barmy.
He asked the banjo if it knew anything. The banjo said nothing. He looked at Molly in a baffled way.
“Well, what are you waiting for, it'll hardly give you an answer if you stare at it, pick it up and pluck the strings,” he said and sighed at Molly's stupidity.
Molly picked up the banjo. She plucked one string. She plucked another. It sounded like a banjo that was out of tune. The hare grabbed it off her, “no wonder it's not making sense, give it here and I'll tune it up for you,” huffed the hare.
He tuned it up and handed it back to her. She plucked the strings and the banjo sang out in it's plinkety plankety way, “You're very close, just go straight on and turn left at the largest oak tree, you can't miss it.”
Molly was delighted. She had never heard a banjo speak before. She wondered who was playing who? Was the hare playing the banjo or was it really the banjo playing the hare?
“It's a combination of both,” responded the banjo.
“Hey, how did you know I was thinking that?” asked the puzzled mouse.
“It's the banjo, it reads your thoughts,” said the hare, “ and I think it wants to go with you on your journey. The banjo was hopping out of the hare's hands towards Molly.
“Take it with you but don't forget to bring it back to me,” said the hare and he smiled as he put the banjo strap around Molly's head and under her arm. Suddenly the smile left his face.
“What happened to your ear, “ he asked gravely.
“It's a long story but it's part of the reason I have to find this toad.” said Molly.
“Good luck, you two!” he yelled as the strange pair headed straight toward the largest oak tree.
On the frog's back
After a good long trek the companions finally reached the ponds beside the waterfall. The sound of the water falling was tremendous and because of it Molly almost missed a little purple and blue frog that was calling her. She stepped closer to the bottom of the waterfall and looked up at it. It had a rainbow flying out from it and a strange high shrilling hum also seemed to emanate from it.
“I wouldn't go under it if I were you,” she suddenly heard.
She spun around, there on a rock sat a brightly coloured frog whose colours changed whenever he changed his facial expression.
“It's magic isn't it but don't go under it. The water hits the rocks very hard so now there's an enormous hole under where the water falls,” said the frog.
Molly stared at his slimy body, she couldn't make out what colour he really was.
“I'm looking for a toad named Thunder thighs, the birds told me the frogs could help,” she finally splurted out.
“Well I think you have come to the right place and you're just in time for the body licking festival.”
“Uggh what sort of a festival is that?” reacted Molly.
“Don't worry nobody will lick your body as you are covered in fur, that would be disgusting.” replied the frog.
Off they went down to the pond that was most hidden and nearest the waterfall. It was full of colour changing frogs that were licking each other's backs and then falling over and laughing. Molly thought it was the most stupid thing she had ever seen. The banjo hopped off her back. It was moving. One of the frogs squelched closer and tried to pluck two strings. As he did so the banjo sang out, “Get away,”
But it was too late, Molly had licked a frog's back out of curiously and now she was rolling around on a leaf hallucinating about ears and tails.
Molly Mouse gets tough
The ears and tails swirled around and around and there was some sort of pink tinge off them. Then they mushed in together and became one creature. The creature spoke to Molly. It told her not to dally around here and get a move on. It also told her that she had to stop following other creatures and become a leader of mice and little beings. She had a good giggle at that but then she felt ill. It was true that she could be a bit of a doormat. If she had been a bit of a dormouse it wouldn't have been so bad. Maybe it really was time to get tough. She suddenly felt very small. She looked around her, maybe she really was tiny. All the leaves seemed to have got enormous. A frog approached her. That was when she knew she was in trouble. He was the biggest frog she had ever seen. She heard a frog say, “Take these two down to the opera hall, I'll let the toad know they're asking questions.”
Then she passed out.
When she came to, she was sitting in a balcony in the plushiest red velvet seat she had ever sat in. She felt odd. She felt like somebody else and her head was a little sore. A frog gave her some orange juice. He told her to wait here and then he whispered to her that Thunder thighs would sit beside her when the performance was well underway. The banjo jumped a bit. Molly plucked the strings, “This could be good,” it plonked.
Molly found the opera a little boring but the costumes were fantastic. She wondered did the frogs make them themselves, If so, they were a highly talented lot. The audience area was jet black when the lighting was focused on the stage. Then to make things even darker the red velvet curtains in her theatre box closed. She turned around. There closing the door to the balcony was the largest being with floppy rubbery feet. When he took the trench-coat and blond wig off she almost puked. This was the famous toad alright. His thighs were so big he couldn't sit down in any of the chairs so he stood at the back of the balcony.
“I understand you've been looking for me.” he said in a deep croaky voice.
Molly stared at him and asked herself why wasn't he called big head, his ugly head was twice the size of his thighs.
“A friend of mine is in trouble and he needs the amber amulet to get him out of it,” she lied.
“What will you give me in exchange for the amulet?” asked the toad.
“This banjo is neat, do you want that?” offered Molly.
“If I've go my facts right, it's not yours to give, I hear it belongs to the hare,” the toad pointed out while he played with the amulet around his neck.
“All right so, I have nothing to offer you, but I'm desperate,” pleaded Molly.
“That's not good enough,” said the toad. He put back on the trench-coat and blond wig and turned away. Molly grabbed the banjo and whacked it as hard as she could across the back of his squishy head. “Ouch,” sang the banjo. The toad fell to the floor. Molly unfastened the amulet from around the toad's neck, grabbed the banjo and ran out the door. She opera was still in full swing. She made her way out of the theatre and carefully ran into the foliage. She had what she wanted, now she just needed to find a way out of this place.
Get back
She hadn't ran far when she heard the angry croak of toads and frogs. They were after her all right. It was time to scamper out of here as fast as she could. But where could she go? She hid in the undergrowth and kept really still. The banjo started to bounce.
“Not now banjo, we've got to keep quiet or they will find us,” she whispered.
The banjo reluctantly went still. The shouting and the shrill screaming got closer. Molly shut her eyes and prayed that they wouldn't see her. The angry mob sailed past. The refugees stayed where they were until they felt it was safe to come out of their leafy hideout. The banjo was bopping around now like a lunatic.
“Will you cut that out,” said Molly. Then she plucked it's strings. “We're being watched, look up.”
Molly looked upwards. There, resting patiently with both beady eyes firmly fixed on the odd pair was the crow that had been playing the bass.
Molly said a word that we shouldn't print and asked the crow how long he had been there.
“Oh, only until you decided to hide, before that I was everywhere you have been. I've been following you since you arrived.” it cackled and added, “Tiger would be really impressed with you, he hired me to make sure you did what you were supposed to, to be honest he really doesn't trust any kind of vermin.”
It was then that Molly noticed one of the crows claws was damaged.
“What happened to your claw?” asked Molly.
“Oh the cat got me too, why do you think I'm working for him. He's got some kind of brilliant surgeon who apparently can stitch us up nicely.” explained the crow.
“If you ask me we've already been stitched up.” sighed Molly.
“My claw may be damaged, but my wings are fine, hop up on my back and I'll get you two out of here.” offered the crow.
Molly and the banjo jumped up and off they flew. They could see the angry amphibians down below. They looked like tadpoles from the distance. Not long in the air they came to the entrance of what looked like a deserted mine.
“Hold on tight,” cawed the crow, “…next stop your world.”
Everything went odd again and Molly closed her eyes. When she opened them she was squeezing out of the original pipe she had initially gone into. The crow was holding the banjo and talking to Tiger. Tiger was smiling when he grabbed Molly. He took the amulet off her and handed her to a hairy monkey that brought her to a laboratory and locked her in a cage. There were loads of cages in the room all full of white mice or rats. Molly sat alone in the the cage and felt like a fool. She felt so sorry for herself she began to cry. How would she get out of this mess. A heavy door at the back of the lab creaked open. Molly could not believe her eyes. Dressed in a lab long white lab coat was the so called mythical character himself – the Pied Piper.
Two messengers
Molly watched him potter around the laboratory, checking things. She couldn't make out what was going on until she saw him take out from a cage two white mice. One had a ear on her back. The other had two tails. Molly put two and two together and shouted, “Hey that's my ear and you there, that's my tail.”
The two laboratory mice looked over at her.
“Hello Molly,” said one, “this is Lucy, I'm Spike. These extra limbs are not yours, the Pied Piper grows them on us. They do experiments on us constantly. I can't tell you how sorry I am to see you here. The wasps by the window told us what Tiger had planned for you. I suppose he has the amulet.” sighed Spike.
“Yes he does but I'm not sure what it does or why it's so important,” said Molly.
“Tiger is a smart cat, the amulet gives a shape changing power to the wearer. Tiger knows it's the humans, not the cats that call the shots. He's going to turn himself into a human. At the moment we're safe enough. Humans need us lab mice but Tiger wants to rid the world of all vermin. He's very manipulative so he thinks he can get the Pied Piper, who is capable of anything if you pay him well, to wipe out all types of rats and mice.” said Spike and his whole body slumped over as he finished his sentence.
“He'll be asleep now for about ten minutes, he does that a lot lately.” whispered Lucy.
“We've got to get the amulet back off Tiger, where's the crow, he was only half on Tiger's side, maybe he can help us?” squeaked Molly in a blind panic. She felt extremely responsible for the survival or extinction of her kind right now.
“I'm here too,” said a voice from above her cage. Molly's heart sank into her belly.
A transformation
Meanwhile Tiger was busy. He put the amber amulet around his neck, made his wish and in a puff of smoke there stood a fairly hairy human. He rushed out of the shed and put on some of the Pied Piper's clothes that were hanging on the clothes' line. A little bit of trivia for you now, if you know any extremely hairy humans that wear a lot of jewellery, there's a fair chance that they are really animals wearing shape changing amulets.
He dashed back into the shed and grabbed the banjo thinking to himself, the Pied Piper was a sucker for musical instruments. It would make a nice motivational present for the person who was going to create the poison that would eradicate all mice and rats from the planet. Maybe a nice disease would do the trick
Now, being a human who had never conversed with other humans nor read a book written by another human being meant Tiger had some trouble adjusting to his new body image. He had to go to the toilet so he ran over to a sand heap, did his business there and then covered it up by kicking sand over it with his foot. As he was doing so he realised from the disapproving looks of the neighbours and the twitching curtains from across the road that humans just didn't do this. He would have to be much more observant of human behaviour. He picked up the banjo and headed into the house and downstairs into the dreary basement where the Pied Piper's lab was.
A new look
He knocked three times on the steel door. This was the secret knock they had for each other so the Pied Piper was terribly startled when he opened the door and spied a pair of barefooted feet there. He looked up and almost fell back when he saw an old, badly dressed man with very long white whiskers flying out from his face standing there with his shirt buttoned badly and an amber amulet floating over his hairy white chest.
“Get out of my clothes!” was the first thing that shot out of his mouth. Then he made a few hesitant noises because he was unable to comprehend what was going on and couldn't finish a sentence. The cat-man did it for him.
“Yes it's me all right, I've turned into a human,” he muttered “now let's get down to business. I have a little job for you. I want you to make a potent poison or disease that will rid the entire world of mice and rats. You will be rewarded well if you accomplish this task and just as a motivational present I'd like you to have this banjo.”
The cat was right. The Pied Piper was a sucker for musical instruments. He agreed to do the job and he added that he had almost finished making a disease that would do the job and not affect any other creature that came in contact with it.
“Sounds wonderful!” said Tiger cheerfully. Then he added, “have you any clothes in your wardrobe that are not for skinny people?”
“No, I'm afraid not.” replied the Pied Piper as he put the banjo down beside the cages and got back to work with added fervour. The cat-man went out to the garden to see if he could catch himself a snack.
A way out?
It was night when The Pied Piper finished his diabolical formula. He put it in a test tube and dropped it into his coat pocket then he turned off the lights and closed the heavy steel door behind him. The banjo started to hop. Molly moved closer and stuck her paws out as far as possible and plucked the banjo's strings.
“Undo one of my strings and you can use it to pick the locks on the cages,” plipped the banjo.
“Genius,” said Molly as her little hands went to work. It wasn't long before the room was full of free mice and rats. Some of them were quite nervous as the had never tasted freedom before. Molly did her best to calm them. They headed towards the windows and the ventilation and cracks in the wall to escape their jail but not before thanking Molly and the banjo. Molly put the string back on the banjo and plucked a few strings. The banjo sang, “Now we need a good plan.”
The lab was empty. Only Molly and the banjo remained. If they were going to come up with a good plan to stop Tiger and the Pied Piper it would have to be a really good plan.
Molly Mouse gets tougher
“Caw caw caw,” they suddenly heard. It was the crow and he was still in one of the cages. Molly plucked the strings of the banjo.
“It's o.k, we can trust him this time, take the keys from the front desk, I've already unlocked it, then climb up there and release him. When you are finished hide the keys in my body and I'll keep them safe.”
Molly scampered up the wall and let the crow out. The crow was overjoyed.
“Remember what the Pied Piper is famous for. If he suspects the cat won't give him his reward we could buy him off by offering a greater reward, remember what he did in Hamlin,” suggested the crow.
No, no, we're not taking any chances. It's time to get tough. He could easily say we weren't paying him enough and try to blackmail us, or worse use that formula to kill all my friends and family and me. We won't take any chances,” responded Molly.
“Molly's right,” vibrated the banjo.
Just then the steel door opened slowly. The crow hid under the table and put his two wings together as if he was praying and closed his eyes. Molly scampered up into the crows cage and closed it. The Pied piper was whistling to himself an extremely haunting melody that almost mesmerised Molly. He sat on his chair that was in front of the desk where the crow was hiding, Stretched out his legs, threw a plastic bag of what must of been his sandwiches on the table and put his hands behind his head. He leaned back on the hind legs of the chair. When he finally noticed all the cages with their doors swinging open he fell backwards. He started to shout like a madman. He searched his pockets. Then with a look that suggested he had left whatever it was he was looking for upstairs he left the room. Molly shouted at the crow.
“Now's our chance, open his sandwiches and then open the banjo, you should find a bag with some blue pellets in it, don't eat them but put them into his sandwiches and then get back into positions,” ordered Molly. The trembling crow did just that.
When the Pied Piper came back he was annoyed, he had spent a lifetime creating this laboratory. He ate one of the sandwiches angrily. It tasted horrible. The others waited and watched eventually he collapsed in a heap. The rat poison that Molly had found in the pipe had done the trick. The crow searched his pockets. He got the test tube with the formula out of one and wrapped it carefully in bubble wrap and hid it inside the banjo. Then he grabbed the keys, flew up to Molly, got her out and onto his back, grabbed the banjo's strap and flew out the window.
“Now it's Tiger's turn,” he cackled.
Another transformation
They searched the house for him, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Then, concluding that cats love napping they decided that he had to be in bed asleep. There he was in the bedroom stretched out and snoring. Molly got off the crows back. The crow put the banjo down carefully and tried to unfasten the amulet. He couldn't do it. He whispered to Molly to try.
“He'll smell me,” she protested. “No he won't,” encouraged the crow, “his senses are dulled as a human.”
Molly crept under Tiger's neck and unfastened the amulet. Then the crow grabbed it. They put it carefully inside the banjo and all three flew out the window.
When Tiger finally woke up, he was amazed to find he was a cat again, and an amulet – less cat at that. He screamed in anger. He ran swiftly down to the basement. The Pied Piper wasn't moving and the lab was empty. He searched the Pied Piper's pockets, nothing, not even a few cents.
He was furious. Then it dawned on him that there were a lot of free rats and mice about, he could have fun hunting them but these were strange things that the Pied Piper had done experiments on. What if they wanted revenge. He decided to make a run for it.
The last account we have of Tiger came from an old wasp, who saw him disappearing down a pipe that was left in the back of a shed.
Meanwhile Molly and the crow were returning the banjo to the hare, who was more than happy to be able to add their adventure to his list of ballads. The crow returned the amber amulet to the toad as Molly was too afraid to do so. Molly decided to stay and live in this realm as there were no cats that she was aware of living there. So she moved in with the crow. The two cripples lived happily together and Molly eventually got to like jazz.
A wasp told me the other day she was taking saxophone classes.
The end for now.
