Jacob the Mouse by Grandma Tu-Tu

Jacob the mouse lives in Maggie’s house. He eats apples. He finds bits of apple behind the couch where Maggie drops them. Maggie doesn't know that Jacob lives there. She doesn't know what happens with the bits of apple that fall under the couch. She thinks that a fairy magically makes those apple bits disappear, but it is Jacob.     

  

When everything is dark and quiet, Jacob comes out from under the stove. He has made a warm nest out of newspaper bits, and lint from the clothes dryer.

When the moon is bright, you can see Jacob in the kitchen. You can see his whiskers start to twitch. It looks like his nose is wiggling as fast as a bowl of jelly when he sniffs.

        Jacob moved into Maggie’s house from the woods outside.

His Mommy and Daddy live in the cedar trees.

            One day, a little girl with sparkly eyes and blond hair, wearing a bright yellow dress skipped past him. 

              She was singing a happy song that she made up: _

I am so happy to be here,

I am so happy to be going to gymnastics,

I love my Mommy,

I love my Daddy,

I love my Brother Jackson,

I Love my Grandma and Grandpa,                        

And I love my Grandma Tu-Tu too. 

          And on she went, skipping and singing.Jacob saw her, and knew that he could live in her house, that he would be happy too. Jacob called her “SUNSHINE GIRL”

One day when the patio door was open, Jacob sneaked out. He ran to the brook. He was looking for nuts that his friend, Petey the squirrel, had dropped. He was very busy.

Suddenly he heard a noise. His nose started to wiggle, his whiskers started to jiggle, he was sniffing the air. What was Jacob hearing? His busy nose turned this way and that and soon he smelled something, something furry.

He turned around and saw Spiro, the cat behind the big rock.

Jacob dropped his hazelnuts and scurried down to the brook. “I see some branches across the brook. I can get across the brook on those branches and I will be safe from Spiro.” thought Jacob.

Jacob saw the branches getting closer as he ran with all his little heart. He jumped on to a branch and ran halfway across the brook. He stopped, and turned around.

“Where is Spiro now? Am I safe yet?” he thought.

Spiro jumped straight up into the air, and came straight down. He walked to the edge of the brook and sniffed the water.       

        He then turned and walked away, head held high, flicking the end of his long black tail. Jacob could hear him softly yowling:

        “I lost my dinner!”