11/10/13 Andrew Busker

    Night  

  Andrew Busker

Once upon a time there was a mouse, but this mouse was not some ordinary mouse. It was a kangaroo mouse. It had big black feet, white fur, little black beady eyes, and a long skinny tail with an adorable puff of fur at the end. This mouse enjoyed scampering and hopping around as it scavenged the sand on the beaches of Baja California during the cool desert nights. It never enjoyed being out in the hot sun, so it slept in late and came out to explore the sand under the bright moonlight as usual. But one night the kangaroo mouse discovered something different. These large things were on top of the sand! And these large creatures laid between these large things! There was something else different as well: a delicious smell, but the mouse had to move about these strange, scary things to get to this delicious smell.

So it sat a moment and debated whether it should stay or should explore. Curiosity grew inside the mouse and it quickly scampered to the edge of these large objects on top of the sand. “Oh, cool.” It thought, “I can squeeze myself underneath most of this weird thing.” And so the mouse moved toward the small, keeping itself close beneath the smooth, large object and the fine sand at its feet. It grew really close to the source of the smell when the large object above it moved away, exposing the kangaroo mouse to these bright, blinding white beams. Terrified, the mouse began to hop around the large creatures in hope of finding a dark, small place for it to feel safe. It took a few moments of panicked hopping before it found a divot between the sand and another large, smooth object and felt safe again.

Frustrated that it was so close to the source of the smell and it ran away, the mouse decided it would try to reach that delicious item. It scampered along the edge of the curved, long, tall objects and was nearly to the source of the smell when that object moved too! The blinding lights returned and the mouse began to panic. After hopping two large jumps out of fear, it remembers its challenge to itself. The kangaroo mouse mustered up the bravery to find the source of the smell despite the bright lights and the loud noises coming from the large creatures. The mouse darted to the left, the right, then under a corner of white material, and finally it arrived to the source. It picked up the little tortilla crumb and nibbled on its delicious new find in silent victory. The kangaroo mouse scampered away from the large objects and creatures until it reached the green plants by the sea water. And then, it found a new smell.