Leggo the Mouse written & illustrated by c b taylor Copyright © September 201 4 c b taylor All rights reserved. ISBN: 1500857122 ISBN - 13: 978 - 1500857127 www.leggothemouse.com This book is dedicated to MDK and all those who struggle with the impossibl e. You inspire me to keep struggling 1 1 Leggo wasn’t sure what to do, but in the back of his head he had a niggling feeling that the choice he made might be life or death. Then again, just about every decision made by a mouse in this world could po tentially mean life or death. Leggo was hungry and after much struggle he had managed to chew the lid off a plastic bottle. The little white things inside didn’t look or smell appetizing, but they didn’t smell dangerous either. What to do? He tried nibblin g on one of the little white things and it tasted a bit funny, almost like a lemon. Lemons were not his favourite, but he was desperate. He hadn’t had anything really good to eat in a few days. He nibbled a bit more and as he ate he noticed that the little white c b taylor 2 thing had a line dividing it in half on one side. On the other side was some sort of symbol. He’d learned about symbols when he was very young. In particular there was symbol that he and all his siblings were taught to avoid. It meant instant death. He’d seen the results of ignoring that symbol. His friend Morrie had become so hungry he chose to ignore the symbol and eat something from a tin that had the symbol on it. After cautiously sniffing it he nibbled a bit and proclaimed that it tasted pretty good. A few minutes later he was complaining about being thirsty. A few minutes after that Morrie was writhing on the floor and then he was dead. Leggo didn’t need any more lessons along those lines. A noise startled him. A door opened. A person entered t he room. Quick, hide. The door to the cupboard in which he found himself opened, but he’d managed to position Leggo the Mouse 3 himself near the back of the cupboard behind a couple of boxes. “Where’s the aspirin, mom?” “It should be right there on the bottom shelf.” “I can ’t see it. Oh, hang on, I see it. It’s on its side and it’s open. The lid’s been chewed off!” “Oh, not again. I thought we got rid of all the mice. Better throw the whole bottle out. You never know what’s in there. I think I’ve got another bottle in the ki tchen.” The young boy took the bottle, lid and the three pills that had spilled out and threw them all in the garbage bin. Aspirin? What’s that? The boy was looking for it, but was he going to eat it? Leggo didn’t feel anything bad happening. But, then aga in it wasn’t exactly tasty. How can I tell what any of these things are? None of them smell very good. There must be a way to decipher the symbols on the bottles. How can I learn what c b taylor 4 they mean so I don’t end up like Morrie? As he pondered this question h e squeezed through the crack at the back of the cupboard and along the passage inside the wall to his nest. Here he kept some of his favourite things, stuff he had come across that seemed interesting, or things that held some mystery. There were shiny thin gs and things that crinkled and crackled. There were things that had nice smells, but were not edible. And then there were beautiful things. The things that Leggo found beautiful were not things that others might find beautiful. Instead, they were things t hat excited and inspired Leggo. A scrap of paper with symbols on it was exciting because he saw the people in the house spending a long time looking at such things. A key from an old computer keyboard was inspiring because it had a single symbol on it that he had seen on various scraps of paper in the garbage, and also because the people in the house Leggo the Mouse 5 spent a lot of time touching their keyboards. This particular key had a big round circle on it and Leggo just knew it had to be important. Leggo harboured a se cret ambition. He wanted to learn how to read. He didn’t know any other mice who could read. Then again he didn’t know very many mice. He had been almost alone in this house from a very young age. He had lost his friend Morrie quite a while ago and before that a couple of other mice had disappeared without a trace. He didn’t know what had happened to all his littermates or his mother. When he was very young he had entered the house through a small hole in the wall near the foundation of the house, but none of his family members had come along because they were afraid of exploring the place, having heard bad things about other mice who had dared to enter the old house. The best place in the house to find good things to eat was also the most dangerous place be cause the people spent so much time there. The trick was to visit the kitchen pantry c b taylor 6 at a time when nobody was home. However, Leggo had not figured out a reliable way to determine whether anybody was home and had been surprised on more than one occasion. H is escapes on these occasions left his heart racing and made it difficult for him to sleep because he would relive the close calls in his dreams and he would wake with his pulse pounding Leggo had no idea how he was going to learn how to read, but he had long ago learned the value of persistence. He would search and think and explore until he figured out a way to learn. Chewing holes in boxes and chewing the lids off plastic tubs had taught him that sometimes it took a long time to get results. An even mor e valuable lesson that he learned was that results, in the form of tasty food, don’t always materialize, even after hours of chewing through the lid of a plastic tub. Leggo was still hungry, but it was time for a nap. More than half his day was taken up by sleeping, an activity that Leggo enjoyed Leggo the Mouse 7 immensely as long as he wasn’t being chased or making a frantic escape in his dreams. He curled up in the corner of his nest and drifted off to sleep. Within minutes he was dreaming a dream where he was outside the house exploring the garden. There were many interesting smells and he tried nibbling on lots of things. He ate a few seeds and found a couple of nuts. He came across a snail and watched it slowly make its way across a leaf. He didn’t feel afraid in the dr eam even though in real life the garden was a perilous place. Between watching out for cats hiding behind trees and large birds flying overhead there were many dangers, but this dream was full of only the good things. 8 2 He woke with a start. A loud crack and rumble came from outside. Then he heard the rain come pelting down and hit the side of the house. It was just a thunder storm. He was happy to be inside. Well, time to start exploring again. Where to this time? He wandered down the passage inside the wall and emerged into the back of a storage closet with brooms and cleaning supplies. There was nothing good to eat here, and some things that he already knew were dangerous, but there was a bigger than normal gap between the floor and the bottom of t he door so he could leave the closet and explore. Night had fallen and he couldn’t see any lights coming from under the door so he squeezed himself under and into the hallway. Leggo the Mouse 9 The hallway was dark, but Leggo had been down it many times and could navigate b y sense of smell. He knew that the kitchen was at the end of the hallway. There were some great things in there, but that’s also where the people spent much of their time. It looked dark right now so he made his way toward the kitchen. In the kitchen his nose told him that most of the good stuff was up high and while he could make it up to the counter with some difficulty he could not climb up the tile walls to the high cupboards. He decided to explore somewhere new this evening. He managed to find a small gap where one of the lower cupboard doors wasn’t fully closed. Inside the cupboard were some large metal objects, but at the back of the cupboard was a bag. He couldn’t tell for sure what was in the bag, but c b taylor 10 it looked promising. He started to nibble a sma ll hole near the base of the bag and in no time at all he was through the outer layer. There was definitely something edible inside and he nibbled at the hole to make it bigger, but as he did this the hole suddenly got bigger than he’d anticipated and the contents of the bag came rushing out on top of him. After the initial shock and once the flow stopped he tried eating one of the small, hard, white grains that had come tumbling out on top of him. It was a bit dry, but it would do for now. He sat and ate u ntil he was full, and even just a bit stuffed. You never knew when you might have to go a few days without eating. Click. Lights. Footsteps. He had stayed too long. He raced for the gap in the cupboard door and poked his head under the door. He could see t he floor and the shoes of someone walking through the kitchen. They were walking back and forth getting things from various cupboards and opening drawers. He knew he had to make a hasty exit or he would be trapped, or worse. He waited until the shoes were on the far side of the kitchen from Leggo the Mouse 11 the hallway and made a run for it. He was halfway down the hallway before he looked back and noticed the person opening the cupboard where he had been just seconds before. He heard some clanging of metal objects being mo ved and then he saw out of the corner of his eye the person removing the bag he had eaten from. This caused a cascade of grains to pour over the floor and resulted in a shriek of exasperation. “Mom, there’s hole in the bag of rice. There’s rice everywhere! ” “Put the bag in a bowl and go get the broom. I’ll take a look at it in a second.” After putting the bag in a bowl the boy started walking down the hall to the very same closet that Leggo was heading for. Leggo was sure he would be seen running down the h allway, but he managed to make it to the closet and squeeze himself under the door. He found his way to the back of the closet and out the hole, then turned around to take a look. He saw the closet door open and the boy took a broom and dustpan. That was a c b taylor 12 little too close for comfort. However, he had eaten so much that now all he wanted to do was sleep again. He had heard the boy refer to what he had eaten as a ‘bag of rice’. There were symbols on the bag and Leggo had taken a look at them, but there were too many to memorize, and Leggo’s eyesight was not good, making it difficult to clearly distinguish them. He would like to be able to recognize the bag of rice again and he was sure he could by sense of smell alone, but more important for his ambition he w anted to be able to recognize the symbols associated with the bag of rice. Just above where he had nibbled the hole there was a rectangle almost identical to ones he had seen before with exactly the same symbols down the left side and different symbols dow n the right side. Every time he had seen this rectangle the bag, box or bottle contained something good to eat. That was somewhere to start. He would have to test this new idea. He made his way back to his nest and fell asleep quickly. 13 3 After waking Leggo decided to venture outside. Getting outside required him to navigate a circuitous route along the passageways inside the walls. He had to go up and down and finally exit the house at the side just under the gutter. From here he could make his way do wn to the ground by following a drainpipe. Once outside he had to be very careful. He relied on his sense of smell and his hearing to detect dangers, but he was keenly aware of the risks he faced. The best he could do was to minimize the time he spent expo sed. The sun was just rising and upon reaching the ground he darted for the tall grass running along the side of the house. He made his way to a fence and then followed the line of the fence to the back of the property. Much of the backyard of the house c b taylor 14 wa s shaded by trees and small bushes and this suited Leggo as he was less worried about birds seeing him. Of course, cats were another matter altogether. He knew there were cats in the neighbourhood and could sometimes smell them. Today the coast seemed clea r. He scampered all the way to the back alley where the garbage cans and recycling bins were kept. He was hoping the recycling bin was full today. He was in luck. There were cans and bottles and papers and bags. Lots to explore. He searched systematically for the rectangle that he had identified on the rice bag. He found quite a few examples of it, every one slightly different. In every case the container retained smells of food, or even a few bits of food. He nibbled away and enjoyed the snacks, but this w as not his primary purpose today. He found a few more boxes that did not seem to have the rectangle on them and they did not smell of food. However, there were a few exceptions. Some bags had no writing on them at all and certainly smelled of good things. Try as he might, though, he Leggo the Mouse 15 couldn’t find a single container with the rectangle that didn’t seem to contain the remnants of food. He felt this was an important breakthrough. Aside from a few crumbs he was not finding much food, so he decided to make his w ay back to the house. He left the alley and entered the backyard. After only a few steps a dark blue flash swept overhead and he froze in panic. He looked up to see a Stellar’s jay perched on the fence. The jay had his back to Leggo and started to squawk l oudly. Leggo knew from experience that the jays often did this when there was a cat around, so he dashed as fast as possible back to the house. He hid beside the drainpipe, too afraid that by climbing up the side of the house he would come into the jay’s v iew. He waited, his heart pounding, as the jay continued his squawking, c b taylor 16 bobbing his head as he did so. After a few minutes the jay became silent and hopped about to face the other way. He was now looking almost directly at Leggo, but Leggo knew that the j ay would not come down that close to the house. However, Leggo was worried that a cat might still be prowling around. He wasn’t sure what to do. After another minute the jay flew away and Leggo took the opportunity to climb up to the gutter and inside the house. His heart was still pounding so he rested here awhile until he calmed down. That was a close call, but worth it for what he felt he had discovered. He decided to explore the house. There were still a few rooms he had never visited. He made his way a long the passages and came out into the back of a closet full of sheets and