Wiskers had been living with the David family for several years and he felt that he was really part of their family. He did pretty much as he pleased around their house. He went where he wanted when he wanted. Sometimes, he'd go way up in the attic and stay there for a while. He'd lie in a dark corner and wait and watch until something interesting happened. If he heard a scrabbling noise under the eves, he knew that it was Mrs. Mouse cleaning her house.
Wiskers would crawl across the floor on his tummy until he was just inches away from the mouse hole and he'd lie there until Mr. Mouse poked his head out the door. Wiskers and Mr. Mouse would stay where they were, eye to eye, until Mr. Mouse would give a small squeak and disappear back inside his home. Wiskers would laugh and then head back downstairs to see what other mischief he could find. Sometimes, Wiskers would hide in Billy's room all day long because Billy always had lots of interesting things to play with. He'd hung model planes from the ceiling and Wiskers loved to climb up on Billy's dresser and bat the red, blue and yellow planes around. He'd pretend that he was a pilot and he was looking for the enemy. Or, he'd sit on Billy's dump trucks and pretend that he was a truck driver. He'd turn the steering wheel this way and that and he'd press the gas pedal and off he'd go on his imaginary trip to the dump.
Wiskers loved all kinds of food and he loved to eat. On some days, he could be found in Mrs. David's kitchen where he became a chef. He'd open the utensil drawer and paw through it until he found the measuring cups and spoons. He'd look through the refrigerator and cupboards until he found the right ingredients. If he wanted to make a cake, he'd take out eggs, butter, and milk. Then, he'd put everything on the counter, open all the packages and dump the ingredients in Mrs. David's huge mixer.
Wiskers would carefully press the "slow" button and the machine would begin mixing everything together. Sometimes, Wiskers would forget and in his haste to create, he'd push the "fast" button by mistake. Food would begin flying all around the kitchen and it would be a long while before Wiskers got to "cook" again.
Sometimes, he'd sneak into Peyton's room and spend the afternoon. Peyton loved hats and she had a large collection all over her room. Wiskers would try them on and each one made him feel very different. There were sunbonnets, Easter bonnets, velvet hats, furry hats, baseball hats, big hats, small hats, all kinds of hats. Wiskers loved hats! Peyton also has a stuffed animal collection and Wiskers loved these too. He'd line all the animals up and pretend that he was the leader of the circus. He'd jump on the elephant and crack his whip and all the animals would follow them around the room. The monkeys were very mischievous and a little hard to handle so Wiskers left them pretty much alone.
When he got tired of playing with the stuffed animals, he'd wander over to Peyton's doll house and play with that for a while. Sometimes, he'd try to crawl into the doll house and he'd get stuck. When that happened, he'd have to lie there feeling very humiliated until Peyton got home from school. Peyton would laugh and scold him, "Oh, you naughty kitten! You know you are much too big to fit in my doll house." She'd pull him out and Wiskers would slink downstairs and hide in his basket in the kitchen until he felt happy again. Sometimes, Wiskers would go up to the bathroom and fill the big tub with water. Then, he'd lie in the warm water and pretend that he was the captain of a large ship. He'd hold his breath and dive under the water to look for sunken treasure. Or, he'd dump some of Peyton's bubble bath into the water and pretend that there was a huge storm coming and the bubbles were huge waves. One time he pretended that he had fallen overboard and that a big shark was chasing him! This frightened Wiskers so much that he jumped out of the bathtub and ran down the stairs as fast as he could go, leaving a trail of water on the bathroom floor and all down the stairs. Or, he'd sneak out to the back porch and lie in the sun and watch the world go by.
He'd open one eye and carefully watch Mrs. Spider weave her web in the corner. Sometimes, he'd lie on his back and try to catch flies as they buzzed over his head and landed on his pointy ears. Some days, he'd lie by the edge of the porch and wait for the mail man to deliver the mail. He'd pretend that he was a large tiger or panther and when the mail man came up the walk, Wiskers would jump out and try to scare him. Sometimes, the mail man would give Wiskers some mail and he'd spend the hold afternoon reading it over and over.
Once in a while, but not very often, Wiskers would amble down the stairs to the basement to see what was happening. He especially liked it because it was cool and very dark down there. He'd jump up on Mr. David's work bench and check out all the tools and see how they worked. He tried out every tool and he especially loved the hammer and the saws. He dreamed many wonderful dreams down in the basement. He dreamed he was a carpenter and he built a beautiful house. He used the saw, the drill, the hammer, the nails, the screwdriver and a tape measure. There wasn't one tool that he didn't use.
But there was one room in the house that Wiskers didn't go in. Well, not very often anyway. That room was Mr. David's office. Mr. David had left strict orders that he didn't want anyone touching his computer. He loved his computer. It was brand new and it could do so many wonderful things.
Wiskers used to sneak in and hide under Mr. David's desk and listen to him explain to Billy and Peyton how the computer worked. Wisker's ears perked up when he heard Mr. David mention the word "mouse." Curious, Wiskers crept up the back of the chair and watched as Billy moved the "mouse" around on a small rubber pad. It didn't look like any mouse that Wiskers had ever seen.
Night after night, when all their homework was done, Billy and Peyton would join their father in his office and he'd teach them other things about operating the computer. Pretty soon, Billy and Peyton, with their father's permission, would go into the den and use the computer all by themselves.
They used it for their homework and to play games on too. But Wiskers was most interested in the games and he paid close attention when Billy turned to that part of the program. Billy could make the planes zoom and fly just like they were right there in the room with them. The monitor screen would light up and a flashing light would ask Billy if he wanted continue or not. If it was getting late, Billy sometimes turned off the game before it was finished. Wiskers didn't like that at all.
One dreary day, Wiskers didn't know what to do with himself. He wandered up to the attic but Mr. and Mrs. Mouse were away. He went to visit the animals in Peyton's room but they were all too sleepy to play. Then, he went to the bathroom but the water was too cold for a swim. Next, he went to Billy's room to fly for a while but some how, the planes were all tangled up.
He ambled down the stairs to the front porch but there wasn't a single ray of sunshine and it looked as if it were going to rain. "What to do? What to do?" he asked himself. The next thing Wiskers knew, he was standing in front of Mr. David's office. Wiskers looked this way and that and then he gave the door a teeny, tiny push with his nose and the next thing he knew, the door swung open with a creaking sound.
Wiskers walked over to Mr. David's chair and quickly jumped up into the seat. He sat there for the longest time just looking at the magical machine. He knew that if Mr. David came home and found him in his office, he'd be in big trouble. Wiskers looked at the clock on the wall and it said two fifteen. "Well," thought Wiskers, "I have lots of time. I'll just push a few buttons and see what happens."
Wiskers reached up and pushed the "on" button and the machine hummed and the monitor began to blink. "What do I do next?" Wiskers asked himself. He thought and thought. "Now I remember. I need to use the mouse." He stood up on his two hind feet and pushed the muse with his paw until the little blinking light on the monitor screen rested on "start program."
Wiskers pushed the mouse button until he heard a click and the screen lit up with a complete list of programs. Wiskers scanned the program list until he found "games."
"That's it!" Wiskers exclaimed excitedly. "I've found it!" He clicked the mouse and the computer hummed and suddenly the screen changed. It was the same game that Billy was always playing. Wiskers was so excited and happy. He swung round and round in Mr. David's chair until he was very dizzy. Wiskers sat still until his head stopped spinning and then he jumped up. "I'm going to play this game!" He said to himself. "I'm going to fly those planes!" "I'm going to be a pilot!" Wiskers grabbed the control lever and leaned back in the chair just like Billy did. He pushed the lever back and forth, and the planes began flying all over the screen. Wiskers leaned right and left and upside down as he tried to shoot down the enemy plane. He shot left and he shot right, he shot up and he shot down. He was having so much fun! Suddenly, he looked at the bottom of the screen and he saw the little clock that showed the time. It read four thirty-five! "Oh me, oh my! What am I going to do?" Wiskers thought to himself.
It was then that Wiskers realized that he was all tangled up in the control and mouse wires. Try as he might, he couldn't get out of the tangled mess. "I'll just have to lie here and take my punishment," Wiskers thought to himself. After all, he was used to being humiliated, wasn't he? Wiskers lay his head down on his two front paws and fell asleep. He was all tired out from all that flying and fighting. After what seemed a very long time, Wiskers detected the sound of the front door opening and closing. He listened carefully and he heard Billy's footsteps in the hall. "I'm saved!" Wiskers thought happily to himself. He jumped up on the arm of the chair and let out a huge meow! He stopped and listened.
"Wiskers, oh Wiskers, where are you?" called Billy. Wiskers drew in all his breath and meoooooooooowed with all his might. Suddenly the office door opened and Billy poked his head through the door. "Wiskers. What are you doing here?" Billy asked. Wiskers meowed again and Billy came closer. It was then that Billy saw what was the matter with Wiskers. There were wires going in every direction and most of them were in Wiskers direction. The mouse was dangling off the desk and the monitor screen was flashing off and on.
"Oh Wiskers, you have been a naughty, naughty kitten." Billy exclaimed. "Dad is going to be very angry with you. You know that you aren't supposed to touch Dad's computer." scolded Billy. Wiskers blinked his gray eyes and hung his head as Billy began untangling all the wires.
"I'll have to work fast Wiskers because Dad should be home any minute." Billy said. "Wiskers, lift your paw! Move your ears! Uncurl your tail!" Wiskers did as he was told and soon he was free. Wiskers jumped up on Billy and licked his face to say thank you. Billy turned the computer off and Wiskers scampered off to find a nice, quiet spot to hide. He was tired of computers, games and mouses. For this day anyway.
Martha Stevens-David
Martha Stevens-David Column Magic City
Email: lmdmsd@megalink.net
Childrens Stories include:
See also Vengeance is Mine a short mystery novel published at Magic City over 4 days.
All works by Martha Stevens-David published at Magic City Morning Star News are her copyright property and may not be reproduced without her permission.
