Jamie ~ 3

 Jamies ~ 3  Crisis Point

By Len Morgan

Jamie was concerned.  The young ones were getting restless, wanting to do things their own way.  There were so many now they outnumbered their elders four to one and were growing more belligerent by the day.

Yesterday, Frizzy Whiskers had three of them for breakfast, and two for supper the night before.  He’d totally lost interest in chasing Jamie.  Not surprising when fresh young mice walked up to him and whispered in his ear “Eat Me!” 

It was way past the time when the older group should have moved out to find new premises but, they steadfastly refused to budge.

Barnabus the eldest of the Elders told Jamie of a similar thing happening in his youth.

 “That must have been oh… four years ago?”

.-…-. 

“The humans all left the house.  They took their little ones and pets with them.  They removed all the food.  Then, a large black van appeared out front, and a canopy was draped over the house.  Then a thick yellow smoke began to fill the house.  I got scared and ran up a disused water pipe but I was too fat and got stuck halfway up…

Two days later I was considerably thinner and overcome with hunger.  Then I was able to back down the pipe.  The air inside was awful, and there were dead bodies everywhere.  My whole family and all our friends…”  He gazed fixedly at the ceiling a haunted look in his eyes.

“There there Barnabus, there’s no need to worry, it wouldn’t – couldn’t happen here in our world.  Look at it, a land of plenty…”

“You don’t see!” said Barnabus, “it did happen here; It happened four years ago, just four years ago!”

 .-…-. 

“Just four years ago, I watched men sweep and shovel the bodies into a sack and burn them in the garden on a bonfire.”

Jamie fell silent; he had a lump in his throat.  “We must call a meeting…”

.-…-.

“Guards, keep an eye open in case Frizzy Whiskers returns.  This meeting was called to tell you all that we have to leave this house as quickly as possible!” Jamie began. 

“Yea yea!  We’ve heard it all before, Rules Rules Rules…” a voice piped out from the crowd.

“But you don’t understand…” Jamie yelled above the laughter.  “Barnabus has told me what happened in his youth, and he only survived by accident…”

“That was a shame!” yelled the heckler, accompanied by more laughter.

“Just listen to the story!  Then you can make up your own minds.” Shouted a large intelligent-looking youngster.

“What’s your name?” Jamie asked.

“Waldo.”

“As Waldo says, you can make up your own minds.”   They all fell silent so he retold Barnabus’s story.  They listened politely until he’d finished. 

“So, what does it have to do with us?  That was then,” somebody yelled.

“Good point,” said Jamie, “But, have you noticed the humans haven’t been around for several days, the food is gone…”

“Holidays,” said a voice from the crowd.

“Do they usually take their pets and food with them?” Waldo said.

Silence, was the reply.

“We need to leave the house for two to three days then we can return…”

“It’s just a story Barnabus is rambling he’s nearly six; getting feeble-minded.  You believe what he says?” asked the Heckler.

Just then one of the guards called out “A big black van just stopped outside, it’s reversing up the drive.” 

“Call it a Holiday,” Waldo chipped in. “We can take our stored food, and camp outback, visit our cousins the field mice, we may even enjoy the adventure.” 

They took a vote, half wanted to stay, the others wanted to go.  Surprisingly most who voted to go were the young ones. 

(to be continued)

 

Copyright Len Morgan