Once upon a time there was a small gray mouse who lived in a hidden
drawer in an old desk that sat by the fire in an old red house. For a
while there were happy children in the old house, running here and
there, spilling crumbs now and then, laughing, singing, and sometimes
sitting quietly by the fire. But they had gone home to their own
house, and forgotten all about the small gray mouse.
On the day that Small Gray Mouse found himself in a large dark
backpack, on the floor of an up stairs bedroom, he felt slightly
dizzy, a bit confused, and VERY hungry. How in the world did he get
up all of those stairs!? (he was, you will recall, a very, very small
mouse.) How was he to get out of the backpack and home to his cozy
hidden desk drawer? How was he to find any crumbs? He scurried about
looking of a way to climb out of the backpack. The inside was a
loose, slippery material that he could not get a good grip on. It was
tall. He was, of course, small. What to do? He spied a zipper on a
pocket near the top of the backpack. Oh! If only he could get
there! He could then hold onto the zipper and swing himself over the
edge and out! But how to get to the zipper? He thought and thought,
and, as thinking is such a very tiring thing to do Small yawned a
large yawn, rubbed his eyes, stretched, turned over, and fell asleep.
In his dreaming, Small herd soft scratching sounds, and a few
sniffles. He woke up wondering what it had been that he was dreaming,
when he heard the sniffly scratches again! He turned around to peer
at the top opening of the backpack, wondering if whatever was making
those noises was friendly, when he bumped into a soft, warm fluffy
white scratching, siffling…………..rabbit! Small was so startled that he
jumped straight up in the air, almost as high as the zipper! But he
had no thoughts of the zipper now! Landing back into the bottom of
the backpack he crept cautiously toward the rabbit. “Hi,” whispered
Small. “Who are you and how did you get here?” “Sniffle, sniffle,
sniffle,” said the rabbit, backing up away from Small. “What?” asked
Small. “Sniffle, snillfe……….my………..name……….sniffle, sniffle………..is
Snowball.” Slowly inching closer to Snowball, Small asked, “Is it
snowing?” This made Snowball laugh, which made her feel not so scared
anymore so she said, “Oh, No! Not that kind of Snowball! I am a
rabbit. I came from that book. And there it was! Small had been so
busy trying to get out of the backpack he had not noticed the book
lying against the side of the backpack. He read, “Annie and
Snowball.” ‘Hey!” Cried Small, “how did you get out of the book?”
“I popped,” said Snowball. “popped?” Asked Small. “How do you pop?
“ “I don’t know,” replied Sowball slowly, “I just did.” “Well who
is Annie?” Small asked. "Can she pop out and help us get out of
here? I AM HUNGRY!” “I don’t think she can, “ Snowball said. “She
is a person.” “So?” Small asked. “So I don’t think she can pop.”
They both sighed, looking at each other. “I’m hungry, too,” said
Snowball. “Maybe that’s why I popped.” They were both quiet, sitting
there, thinking.
After a moment, Small cleared his throat, looked around and said,
“well, we’ve got to think of something.” “Yes,” Snowball sniffled.
“Look,” said Small, “you are quite large. Do you think if I climbed
up on your back, I could jump to catch that zipper?” “Well……” said
Snowball, “ My fur is very tender. When Annie brushes me, she does so
very gently. Do you think it would hurt?” “I don’t think so,”
replied Small, “I am quite small.” “Yes.” Said Snowball, “you are.”
And with a sniffle, sniffle, scratch, she said’ “Let’s try!”
Snowball positioned herself just under the zipper, squeezed her eyes
tight, took a deep breath and said, “go.” Small tried to climb. He
fell back. He tried again. And fell back again. “There’s nothing
to hold on to except your fur, and I don’t want to hurt you,” Small
said. “What should I do?” “Try taking just a small pawfull and see
if that helps. I will try to be brave.” “ok,” said Small, “here we
go.” Gently, gently taking a very small pawfull of the softest
whitest fur Small had ever seen, and placing one back paw on Snowball,
ready to climb, he asked, “ready?” “Yes.” Whispered Snowball.
Small pulled ever so lightly and did get one foot up but instantly
Snowball screamed! (rabbits DO scream) Small let go at once and
dropped back to the floor. Snowball cried and cried and all Small
could think to say was, “Oh, Snowball! Oh Snowball!”
Snowball turned away from Small and cried into a dark corner of the
backpack, and Small sat in another dark corner, and listened to her.
They both felt terrible.
After a while Small spoke. “We’ve got to think. What would the
children do to get out? Children are good thinkers. What would they
do?” “They would ask for help from their friends.” “They would use
their arms and legs.” “They would call for help.” “They would see
what was around to use.” “They would build something.” “They would
KEEP TRYING.” "They would...........Wait an minute!” Small said,
jumping up out of his dark corner, “go back……they would build
something…….they would see what was around to use…….” “We tried
that,” moaned Snowball. “We used me!” “I know, I know, “ said Small,
suddenly busy scampering around every corner of the back pack,
suddenly excited about his idea.
What was in the backpack? One small gray mouse. One very fluffy
white rabbit. But what else? “Look !” said Snowball, suddenly, not
even sniffeling now, “What’s that shinny thing over there?” Small
slowly, quietly, went toward a long golden pointy thing. Was it
alive? Was it a snake? (mice are particularly afraid of snakes……)
But Small was determined. He called to it, “Hey!” He called again
“you!” When there was no reply he very lightly reached out a paw and
touched it. Nothing happened. He touched it again. Still nothing.
“What is it?” Snowball whispered. “Idon’t know.” Small whispered
back. “Let me see,” said Snowball, VERY bravely, and together they
pulled on the thing until it came loose. “Oh!” laughed Snowball. “It
is a knitting needle! Annie is learning to knit. She wants to knit
me a little pink sweater. It is a knitting needle!”
How can a small gray mouse and a fluffy white rabbit escape from a
large backpack with only a knitting needle? Any ideas, anyone?
“Let’s throw it at the top opening and then climb up it.” Suggested
Small. “But what if we throw it right on out?” asked Snowball.
“Well…………..”said Small, thinking, always thinking. “You could hold on
to one end and I will throw the other end and then we won’t throw it
right on out.” “OK,” shrugged Snowball, “it’s worth a try.” They
tried. And they tried, and they tried. It is a hard thing to do – to
throw a knitting needle out of a backpack when you are a small, gray
mouse. A few of their throws actually worked! One pointy end of the
needle went out, while Snowball held fast to the other end. But when
Small tried to climb out, the needle came crashing back down into the
backpack, and they had to start again.
“My arm’s tired,” sighed Small. My paw’s cramping,” complained
Snowball, and she backed up to the edge of the backpack to sit down
for a rest. “Yikes!” she yelled as she leaped up from her sitting
place, “What was that?” “What was what?” asked Small, wierily. I
sat on something cold and hard. “What was it?” asked Small. “This,”
said Snowball, holding up a very strange, black, twisty, metal
thing. “Is that another kind of knitting needle?” Small asked. “I
don’t think so,” replied Snowball. I’ve never seen anything quite
like it before. Annie doesn’t have anything like it.” “It’s twisty
and heavy and look! This end clamps!” “So? “ questioned Snowball.
“Look! Look!” Small was almost shouting now, he was so excited with
an idea about the new thing. Talking and working rapidly Small said,
almost to himself, “If we clamp one end of the knitting needle on
here, and hold tight to the other end like before……….if we can throw
this black twisty thing out of the backpack, it just might be heavy
enough to hold the needle while we climb out!” “But it is so heavy!
Can you throw it? Can I hold on to the other end? We are both
already tired…..” “We can! We can! We can do it, Snowball! I feel
strong with excitement! Come on!! Grab your end! Let’s TRY!”
It took 6 throws before Small could get The Thing high enough. With
each try Small had to dash to Snowball to help her hold the weight of
The Thing. And for 5 of those throws, if fell right back in, almost
knocking Snowball on the head! But on the 6th throw……on the 6th
throw, it went flying over the top edge of the backpack. With both
Small and Snowball holding as tight as tight to the other end of the
knitting needle they sat down to catch their breath, and decide what
to do next. Small thought that Snowball should climb up first. But
Snowball thought that Small should climb up first because mice are
such good climbers. “In fact,” said Snowball, sniffling again,
“rabbits don’t climb at all.” “But I can’t go without YOU,” wailed
Small. “Whatever will we do?” Whatever indeed.
Well, the end of the story is, that as Snowball cried and Small tried
to comfort her and both of them watched their dreams of food fade
away, a large brown dog wondered into the bedroom. She was always
looking for the children. Every day she walked around the old red
house, looking. On this day she was especially excited because she
had heard rustling and bumping noises coming from the upstairs
bedroom. Could it be the children? She bound into the room with such
joy, and being large, as she was, she didn’t really watch where she
was going and she ran spang bang into a large black backpack. It fell
over onto it’s side and she was suddenly confronted by the sight of a
very white, very fluffy rabbit and a tiny gray mouse. Everyone stood
still and stared at each other. Small was terrified, and ran to hide
behind the backpack. Snowball, who couldn’t run, or think that
quickly, stayed still. She was remembering her friend Mudge. She was
remembering Mudge’s licks, and naps when she cuddled into his large,
protective body. She looked at this dog, and smiled. The dog gave
her a big, wet lick. It tickled a bit, as Mudge’s licks always did,
and she giggled. At the sound of his friend’s laughter, Small peeked
out from behind the backpack. He saw the dog lie down so Snowball
could climb up onto his back. He saw them head toward the stairs.
“Wait!” cried Small. The big brown dog stopped, turned, and saw
Small. She gave him a sniff, and before she knew what was happening,
Small grabbed a hold of the dog’s tail and swing himself up. In the
blink of an eye, Small was cuddled in, next to Snowball and the dog
walked slowly and carefully down the stairs. He delivered Snowball to
a shelf that was full of books about a rabbit named Snowball and her
little girl, Annie. And he took Small to the hidden drawer in the old
desk that sat by the fire in the old red house Then, he sniffed
around for awhile, looking for a crumb or two of something, and, with
a sigh, lay down by the fire.
