The Anxious Mouse
The Fable of the Anxious Mouse By Vixy Moore Once upon a time there was a mouse who lived in the country. Every day she went about her mousey business, gathering materials and food for the communal nest, greeting other mice, grooming and sleeping. One day, she was in the barn pulling straw from a bale for bedding when the farm cat pounced at her from out of nowhere! The mouse squeaked and ran into a tiny gap between the bales until she was deep enough that the cat’s searching paw couldn’t reach her. Her heart pounded, her muscles were tense, and her breath only came in short gasps. It was a long, long time after the cat had gone that she was able to calm down enough to go home, without any straw. The other mice were unhappy seeing her arrive back with nothing. Everyone else had done their job and brought back new bedding materials and food for the colony. “It happens,” one of the mice told her. “Tomorrow is another day. Just make sure you come home with something ...