"Skye and the Magic Mouse"

by Wayne Wallace

 

It started out innocently enough. It was late on a Wednesday night and Steve was at work and Skye was on the net with her pals in the 64 Knights Chat room. That's when she first saw it. The mouse zipped across the floor. Her cat tried to catch it, but the mouse was just too fast. Skye was scared to death of mice! She was now afraid to put her feet down on the floor. She wished Steve was here to find the mouse and kill it. She was being ridiculous, It was just a silly little mouse, she would just forget about it and continue chatting with her friends. They were having a particularly good time tonight, singing Eagle's songs.

 

It was now after 1 A.M. The cat was asleep in the corner, most of her pals on the net had logged off, she had sung all the Eagle's songs she knew and she was thinking about calling it a night, when she heard the mouse. It squeaked, a small squeak, but the squeak sounded as if it was intended to get her attention. Skye looked, and there the mouse was, on the table now, next to her keyboard. Skye stiffened in fright, frozen, holding her breath. The small brown mouse with the two large black eyes looked up at her, tweaking its nose and cocking its head from side to side looking directly at Skye. Skye jumped up from her chair and backed away from the table.

 

"Please don't be afraid of me," the small brown mouse said in precise and perfect English. Skye could not believe her ears. "You....you talked!" she exclaimed, taking another step backward. "Why yes, I am quite starved for intellectual conversation, actually." The rodent replied. Skye pinched her arm to assure her self that this was not some super-realistic dream. "What are you?" Skye asked the mouse, in awe of the creature. The mouse replied, "Oh my, it's such a terribly long and tedious story. Let me summarize. I was a prince, long ago, and far away. A young lady was very infatuated with me, as I was by her. We wanted to marry, but, alas, my parents, the King and Queen, forbade me from seeing her again. A commoner and all, you know. She was devastated. Her aunt, a witch, a fact of which I have since become painfully aware , cast a spell on me and I am destined to spend a thousand years as a mouse unless.......", The mouse paused for effect, "...unless a beautiful woman befriends me and kisses me." Skye studied the mouse for a moment, trying to take in all she had heard in the past few moments. "What happens if I kiss you?" she asked the royal rodent. "Well," he answered, "you are a beautiful woman. As I understand the curse, we would be on the same level after the kiss. Equals. Perhaps you could come with me back to my palace and maybe even be my queen? Would you like that?" Skye thought about it for a moment and then smiled and put out her hand for the mouse to scamper onto her palm. The mouse stood in her palm and looked up at her. "Now, the kiss, my queen," the mouse said to her. Slowly, Skye brought the mouse to her lips and kissed the little creature. POOF! Skye watched as the transformation took place. Now, the change was complete!

 

She was on the floor, a mere three inches long with a long tail, a long nose, big black eyes, and whiskers. She was a MOUSE! "Welcome to my world, my queen," the royal rodent said to her", laughing madly. Suddenly Skye's cat awoke and chased the two squeaking rodents across the floor. They ran for their lives to the safety of a small hole in the wall.