The Orphan and the Mouse by Martha Freeman

Author:Martha Freeman
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2014-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-One

Shortly after sunrise, Mary and Andrew watched from behind the crack in the baseboard as Jimmy laid the newspaper on the boss’s desk. When he left, they scurried across the oak floor and the deep-piled rug before making the climb up the steep face to the plateau above. As thieves of the colony, both were thoroughly familiar with the desktop and its landmarks. For her part, Mary couldn’t help thinking how much her life had changed since the last time she’d been there.

This was no time for reflection. There was hardly time for a deep breath. By Mary’s calculations, they had only about a quarter hour to carry out their mission.

In the hours before morning, the two thieves had planned each maneuver and practiced. Now, without so much as a squeak, they bit down on opposite corners of the front page, then pulled and yanked till the newspaper had unfolded and lay flat.

Next came the hard part, flipping the entire paper over.

This was because—according to Andrew—the back page was less important than the front. Thus it would be even less obvious to the boss if the missing square came from the back.

Working together, Mary and Andrew bit the right top corner and scooted backward diagonally, pulling the corner with them. By this time, Mary had regained full strength in her wounded shoulder still the work was exhausting. At last she felt the weight of the paper shift, and . . . they had done it! The back page was on top.

Now it was up to Andrew to choose the square he wanted, so Mary sat back as he studied the markings. Was he really reading? She would soon know. When he pointed his nose at a spot near the page’s edge, Mary went to work.

Nothing gnaws like a mouse, and soon the square Andrew wanted was detached. Flipping the newspaper was easier the second time; then Andrew took a moment to align it with the edge of the desk. There was, unfortunately, no way for the mice to refold it in two. They would just have to hope the boss had other things on her mind.

With her nose, Mary pushed the square off the edge of the desk. Once it had floated safely to the rug, Andrew leaped from the desk—the show-off—and Mary slid down the cord attached to the black talking box. To carry the paper back to the portal, the two mice balanced it across both their backs, bent their tails over the top to keep it in place, and ran across the room, their noses side by side.

By now the sun was well up, and they could hear Mrs. Spinelli’s footfalls in the kitchen. They had worked efficiently. There should be time enough to complete the mission as planned.

Beginning to breathe easier, Mary squeezed through the portal and waited in mouse territory for Andrew to slide a corner of the paper under the baseboard. When it appeared, she gripped it in her teeth and tugged, but

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.