Here is a story for today
The Christmas Mouse
By Kevin Daniels
Once upon a time there was a mouse that lived in a house. The mouse was called Max. Max the mouse, they called him. Max the mouse who lived in a house.
The house the mouse lived in belonged to a normal family with two small children, one a boy, and one a girl. The boy was called Damien, and the girl was called Sarah. Occasionally, Max would see the children when he was foraging for food. He liked the children.
He didn't like the parents.
The parents were also putting mousetraps around the house to try and capture him. But Max was clever enough to stay away from then.
But other than the mousetraps and the occasional cat, Max lived a fairly happy life.
But there was one time of the year that he enjoyed more than any other – christmas.
You see, Max was a particularly festive mouse, and every christmas he decorated his small abode under the floorboards with a small piece of tinsel, and a branch of a fir tree acted as an ersatz christmas tree.
As the the leaves began to fall from the trees and the weather turned colder, Max began to become filled with a tingly sense of anticipation. This feeling was increased when one morning he woke up to find that the garden had been covered with a blanket of snow.
Max liked to play in the snow. Even though it was a small amount of snow by a human's standard, it was a lot for someone the size of a mouse.
It was the christmas holidays, and so the children were out playing in the snow. Max didn't go outside much – it was difficult for a mouse to stay warm in this type of weather, but the snow just made him feel so excited that he had to go once or twice.
A few days later and the snow began to melt, but Max didn't care, because it was already christmas eve. Damien and Sarah were sat by the fireplace, talking about what presents they wanted to get for christmas.
Damien siad that he wanted a remote control car, and Sarah said she wanted a new doll house because Damien had broken the old one, and Damien said it was an accident and he hadn't meant to do it, and Sarah said that Santa doesn't bring naughty boys any presents and Damien had been a naughty boy, and Damien said that that wasn't true and Sarah said it was and Damien started to cry because he was worried he wouldn't get any presents and Sarah said it was his fault that he was on the naughty list and that he was only pretending to cry and Damien said that he was, but he wanted Santa to think he was sorry, and Sarah said hat Santa can't see them all the time, and Damien asked how he knows if they've been good then, and Sarah said that their parents have to tell him, and Damien said that that isn't true and that Santa sends his elves to spy on all the children, and Sarah said that that wasn't true becuase the elves were to be making presents, and Damien said that the elves just buy the presents form the shop, and Sarah said that that isn't true, and Damien said that reindeers aren't true, and Sarah siad that they are, and Damien said that there is no way that Santa could even get to all the houses and all the children in the world in one night and Sarah said that heh could because he could slow down time somehow, and Damien said that maybe that was true, and Sarah said that it was.
Max thought it was cute how the children talked about Santa Claus as if he was real. As a mouse, he'd always known that Santa wasn't real.
That night, the children went to sleep with great difficulty, their minds filled with thoughts of christmas day.
All through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even Max.
But then, something was.
Max was deep alseep, dreaming of cheese, but then he heard a noise coming from the front room of the hosue, like someone falling. He escaped out of his hole and into the darkness of the front room.
He ran and hid under the christmas tree, and tried to see what he could.
There was a man standing there. He was dressed from head to toe in fur, and his clothes were red stained with black. He was holding a large sack over his shoulder, which he placed down on the ground.
He began to pull presents out of the sack and placed them under the tree. Max froze and tried to not be seen, but for a second the man noticed him, and he noticed the man. He had tinkling eyes, rosey cheeks, and a long white beard.
Surely it couldn't be... thought Max.
He finished placing the presents under the tree, stood up and disappeared out of view for a few moments, before turning, and picking up the sack. He walked over to the fireplace and the next second he was gone.
Max waited a few seconds, and he quickly headed out under the floorbaords, and through a secret way outside. A moment later he heard a great wooshing sound, and he looked up in the sky.
Eight reindeer were flying away from the house, being heralded on by a cry of
"Now dasher! Now dancer! Now prancer! Now vizen!
on comet! On cupid! On donder and blizten"
Max couldn't believe what he was hearing. He went back into his mouse house in the house.
He was surprised to find a stocking placed next to his bed, full of cheese.
He heard one final call from Santa Claus 'Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!'.