Larry Mouse Finds a Friend

Larry Mouse found himself all alone on a dark wet night on a stretch of road he had never been on before. He found himself in this predicament because somebody thought a highway was a good idea and tore down his lovely old Victorian home. His dear friends, Pumpkin and Bud, had been made to move away. Very upset they had been. But when the big people say you are moving and, no the mouse is not welcome. Well, they had no choice but to acquiesce and move.

It was a horrible day when the giant yellow monsters came and ripped the house apart. Larry knew they were bad, they had CAT printed right on them. Now he was a gentleman of the road, in search of a new home. His meager belongings were wrapped in an old red handkerchief tied to a sturdy bindle stick.

Larry had been walking for several hours, it seemed like much longer, when it began to rain. Being mouse-sized Larry tucked up under a large flower to wait out the storm. Even under a leaf, he was getting wet, very wet. He had put on his only good tweed travel suit when he had to leave his house and it was very nice for traveling, except when it got wet it weighed a ton.

Larry needed to find somewhere to sleep for the night and to get out of the tweed suit. He struck out across a field away from the road he was traveling and spotted an old barn. Rickety thing it was but it would be better than a leaf.

After entering the barn and waiting for his eyesight to adjust to the dim interior he saw it was very nice inside, for a barn, he would be much drier than outside.

“I say, you there. Yes, you.” A deep voice boomed out of the dimness.

“Who is that?” Larry was taken by surprise at someone else already in the barn.

“Who? Well it is I, Abercrombie Flagg, at your service”.

At this, a large barn owl fluttered, as owls do, down to the floor where Larry was standing, in stunned silence.

“I ask a question I typically get an answer but today you have the tables turned on me and asked a question first. Very intelligent question at that. I am worried though as to why you are in my barn?” Abercrombie Flagg spoke in a low tone of voice.

“Well, sir I am Larry Mouse. I just wanted to get in out of the rain.”

The large barn owl sized up Larry and finally decided he was way too small to eat and too well dressed to be a window salesman therefore he could stay. This made Larry very happy, especially the part about not being eaten, or a salesman of double glazing.

“I had to leave my former abode, giant yellow CAT monsters tore it down for a highway, whatever that is.” Larry felt he needed to explain his current condition.

“So, I am searching for a new home and if possible to find my old friends Pumpkin and Bud. I fear they may be lost forever having been dragged away to a ‘sub division’, which by the sound of it can not be very nice.”

Larry and Abercrombie settled down by a bale of straw for the night. Abercrombie tucked his head down and went to sleep almost immediately so Larry unrolled his meager processions and went to bed.

A great thundering noise woke Larry the next morning and to his shock, a giant red monster called “International Harvester” was coming into the barn. All these mechanized monsters had the strangest names. The very structure shook and dust made lines in the air. Larry looked around for Abercrombie but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Psst, hey you, Mr. Mouse”. A soft voice came from the rafters. “Get out of there, fly up here before the farmer sees you. He does not like to have visitors in the barn.”

Larry could not fly, so he grabbed his bedroll and red handkerchief and scurried behind a bale of hay. Abercrombie wondered what was taking so long for Larry to fly up to safety when it dawned on him that maybe mice could not fly. This must be a very sad thing for them, not to be able to fly.

The farmer finally silenced the great machine and left the barn. Abercrombie flew down to see how Larry was.

“You’re OK then? Great. Sorry I didn’t realize you couldn’t fly. The farmer will be back later, he comes and goes all the time and I know he takes a dislike to your kind, that is you being a mouse.” Abercrombie said matter of fact like and swiveled his head from side to side. Larry was never quite sure what he was looking at but he didn’t want to be rude and ask.

“I guess this barn won’t be a good new home for myself then. Do you know of any place else that might be a good home for me?” Larry sat down and looked at his new friend.

“Well, not sure about good, but I am sure this barn is not a very accommodating abode for one such as yourself.” The owl had once spent a long cold winter trapped in a barn not this one mind but another barn and the only thing he had to read was a dictionary. He wasn’t the same after that.

“Does that mean I should leave?” Larry asked Abercrombie.

“Yes, I am much afraid that it is so. You need to leave.” Abercrombie fluttered about for while before returning to the discussion of a future home.

“I do know there is a small enclave of houses south of here but you will need to pass through the field, where the Bull lives.” Abercrombie menacingly accented the word bull.

“Is that significant? I mean about the Bull?” Larry asked trying not to sound as if he didn’t know what a Bull was, he didn’t exactly know but was reluctant to sound ignorant of this fact.

“Oh yes, Barnabas, the Bull, is not found of anybody. Also, the farmer has mentioned more than once that the area is considered a minefield, loaded with some type of ordinance called ‘cow pats’, very dangerous.”

Larry was scared now and was certain he would not be going through the field.

“There are lots of those big people there so it is possible that is where this Pumpkin person is and whatever a Bud is.”

Larry and Abercrombie spent the rest of the day, either sleeping or talking about houses. Abercrombie favored the larger multistory modern apartment block to your smaller single-story tract house. Larry wasn’t sure what an apartment block was but he did explain that his old house was multi-storied, at least Larry had told a lot of stories while living there. Abercrombie was sure that was the same thing and therefore judged that his old house was perfect. Larry agreed. Shame it had been torn down. Larry agreed, again.

It was a pleasant afternoon till the farmer returned. He had spotted Larry that morning and was going to catch him. The farmer went about the barn with little spring mechanisms and small plates of smelly green liquid. Larry started to sniff at the green plates.

“I wouldn’t do that my son. I have seen that before, very nasty stuff. We will have to avoid it.” Abercrombie made a fuss about the spring traps and the fact that they were everywhere.

“Only one thing for it then.” Abercrombie stated in that way that only barn owls can do “I will have to airlift you to the other side, yes most logical thing to do. We will leave at midnight tonight.”

Larry was very scared now, airlift, midnight, big Barnabas the Bull, land mines! Well, Abercrombie sounded quite satisfied that the plan would work so there was nothing to do now but wait for midnight. Abercrombie immediately went to sleep. He was very good at that.

Night fell on the farm and the barn. The time arrived and Abercrombie true to his word did grab Larry in his talons and take flight.

“Isn’t it a glorious sight?” the owl said into the wind.

“I haven’t opened my eyes just yet, are we in the air?”

Larry opened his eyes after a minute or two and was astounded at the sites he could see. The barn kept getting smaller and smaller as they gained altitude. Larry had never been this high in the sky before and it was nerve-racking, to say the least.

“Who Who Who!” Abercrombie screeched out at the night sky.

Larry dangled precariously from Abercrombie’s sharp taloned foot. It wasn’t so bad. Larry had a good look around and you could indeed see to the village. Below he saw a giant beast in the yard, that had to be Barnabas the Bull.

‘So that’s a bull’ Larry thought to himself. It was a wise decision to fly over him.

Abercrombie gave a little twitch of his foot and Larry looked up to see what was what.

“We’re about there. I’ll sit you down just on the other side of that hedge.” And with that Abercrombie dove in that direction. Larry was sure he was just showing off a little but it was fun.

“Here you go Larry, safe as houses. The village is just down the road so you should be able to get there with no problems.”

Larry thanked Abercrombie for all his hospitality and said he would like to visit again if that would be ok.

“Sure, you can visit whenever you want, but best to wait a while for the farmer to calm down.”

Larry said he would do that and he better be off.

Larry picked up his red handkerchief and wrapped up his belonging and tied it to his bindle stick. He headed down the little lane towards what he hoped would be his new home. He looked back and saw the silhouette of Abercrombie as he flew through the moonlit night.

The barn was a good home, for an owl.