Ms. Elto the Christmas mouse

My name is Ms. Elto and this is the story of how I saved a family Christmas. It was the day of Christmas Eve. I went around and gathered the last of the cheese to give my kids. As I finished grabbing the cheese and other gifts I went towards the home I was living in. The house was well decorated. The humans that owned the house loved Christmas very much. They didn’t mind having mice live in the wall as long as we didn’t damage anything, make a mess, and help keep the bugs away. The humans would also leave little blocks of cheese for myself and my children. On Halloween and Valentine's Day, the humans would leave them treats. When Easter came around I would help the human kids find easter eggs around the house. 

Christmas was a different time for the humans. Every year the humans would make little stockings for myself and my kids. The humans also made a spot for us inside the tree so they could enjoy a nice view. The relationship between us and humans was only kept to them. If the other mice found out that a human family was this nice to a family of mice then more mice would want to move in and the next thing they know is the whole house is overrun by the mice. For Christmas this year the humans decided to make hot chocolate for my kids. Everything was perfect this year. 

The annual parade was happening downtown. The human kids were all old enough to go and still young enough to enjoy it. When they were walking out the door, Sam the youngest girl, forgot her jacket. She ran back inside and grabbed it off the couch. Then she ran back and closed the door behind her. What she also forgot was to lock the door. I quickly ran up to the window and watched the family drive away. I walked over to the tree and checked on the lights to make sure they were all working for the family when they got home. Four of the lights were out. All four of them were blue lights. 

I then went out to the garage to fetch the replacement lights from the box. As I looked around in the box I could hear a car pull up in the driveway. From under the garage door, I could see sunlight. Then some feet walked by causing a shadow to go across the opening. 

“Hurry up, they could be back any minute.” One voice said. From the sound of the doors closing I could tell there were at least three people. I was able to poke my head underneath the door enough to see the three men running up to the front door. They were all dressed in black clothing and had ski masks on. One man had a bag hanging from his side. I backed up and ran back towards the house door. I squeezed inside and ran to my hole in the wall to check on the kids. “I need you three to stay here. Don’t come out unless I tell you to.” I said to them.

I closed the door and then ran out to the living room. The first man opened the front door. “It’s unlocked.” He shouted. He immediately ran towards the bedrooms. The second man ran inside and into the kitchen. The third man stayed inside the front room. He kicked over the tree and it nearly landed on me. I dashed around the couch and grabbed the tinsel that fell out of the tree. The man grabbed one of the gifts and shook it. He could hear the sounds of a fire truck. The next present he picked up didn’t make noise but he could tell it was something good by the weight. I hustled and ran around the man's feet a bunch of times so that when the man tried to walk away he would trip. 

The man reached up to grab the T.V. off the wall. He ripped the bracket away from the wall leaving the holes from the screws. When he placed the T.V. on the couch he also tried to take a step. He tripped and fell to the ground. The thud of the impact caused one of the other robbers to run to his aide. The other robber stayed inside the bedrooms grabbing whatever jewelry and cash he could find. I poked my head around the door. Even if he wasn’t focused on stealing things he couldn’t see me. I cautiously walked up behind him and started to untie his shoelaces. “Hey get in here.” one of the other robbers shouted from the living room. The robber in the bedroom dashed out toward the others. I only got one shoe untied before he ran away. 

In the living room, the three men gathered and removed the tinsel from the first guy's feet. The other guy was angry at the first one and picked the tree back up and made sure all of the tinsel was off the ground. “Were are just robbing them not trying to ruin everything.” 

I saw my opportunity and took it. I ran to the tree and grabbed the tinsel. I wrapped part of it around the top of the tree and jumped off. When the slack of the tinsel tightened up I swung around. They still had not seen me swinging around. I used my momentum to swing back and forth until the tree eventually fell on top of the robbers. One of them was knocked out by the star hitting them on the head and landed on the other two. With his weight and the weight of the tree, the other two men couldn’t move. 

I ran over to the phone and dialed nine one one. I can’t speak human so I couldn’t tell them that there were robbers. I just hoped that they would send someone out to find these guys. Before I walked back to my little hole I heard an ornament break. I looked back to see ornaments lying on the ground shattered. Stopping these guys made a mess and it made me feel bad about the mess. This family trusted me. So I gathered up all of the broken pieces and brought them back to my room. My kids and I spent the next few hours putting them back together. 

After a while, the front door opened. Mr. Oldfield was the first one inside. He looked at the robbers lying on the ground underneath the tree. He called nine one one and told them. He was shocked when they told them they already had a call from them but there was no answer. Mrs. Oldfield walked in with Sam and Dean behind her. They all looked around the house to see if they still had anything that was missing. Sam walked over to my little hole in the wall and knocked on the door. My kids opened the door and we pushed the ornaments outside. She smiled and said ‘Thank you.’

That night, the night before Christmas was quiet. No creature was stirring. Not even me.