Bless this Mouse by Lois Lowry Read Free Book Online Page B

means."
    "I know. We need to be near the furnace." Hildegarde turned and parted the ferns to reveal her sleeping nest. Oh, lord—Roderick was still snoring! "Well, I'm going to lie down for a while. I'll try to figure out some survival methods to put into place for our return."
    "If you don't, Lucretia will. Take my word for it."
    "Thanks, Ignatious." Hildegarde plodded away.
    He called after her. "And then cats! On Sunday: cats!"
    As if she weren't already aware of it! Hildegarde waved one paw at him and went to lie down. She had a headache all of a sudden.

Chapter 9
Brave Volunteers Needed!

    Two days passed. There were a few squabbles, and one crisis when several of Millicent's mouselets got lost and squealed loudly until they were located and returned to her, but on the whole it was an uneventful time. Hildegarde even noted with satisfaction that several friendships had been formed with some field mice who were already residents of the cemetery. Field mice were a lesser species, of course—not very smart and with unappealingly small ears. But she thought that it was quite benevolent and generous of her clan to befriend them. It crossed her mind that perhaps they could plan, at Christmastime, to distribute small gifts somehow to the needy but worthy population of field mice.
    But mostly, her mind was on their return to Saint Bartholemew's. It was Friday evening, October second, and they had been in the cemetery long enough. She was planning to speak from the fountain once again, to give directions for the reentry that night. But she was very nervous.
    "I was wondering, Hildegarde, if you would like..."
    The voice startled her, and she looked up from her troubled thoughts. Oh, good lord:
Lucretia.
    "If I would like
what?
" she asked in a tense voice.
    "Perhaps you'd like me to take over, make a speech, give instructions? You seem somewhat uncertain." Lucretia had a sly, malevolent look.
    Hildegarde stared at her coldly. "I am never uncertain," she replied. "And at the moment, I am very certain that I would like you to return to your nest and wait there until I give the signal to gather."
    Lucretia smirked. "Your wish is my command, Mouse Mistress," she said sarcastically. Then she turned and flounced away, her tail contemptuously erect.
    ***
    "Ignatious," Hildegarde said, "I really don't know quite what to tell them. There will be such dangers to face. We can describe the poison, assuming it will be there—"
    "It will be there. We can be sure of it."
    "And order them to eat nothing at all but their regular fare. Cookie crumbs, pizza crust, wedding cake remains, prayer book bindings..."
    "Candles and crayons."
    "Oh, lord, yes—some of them like that waxy stuff."
    "Splenda packets. Those are safe."

    "And gumdrops," Hildegarde added, "though I think I'm the only one who knows where he hides them."
    "I sometimes eat soap," Ignatious confessed, blushing.
    "You do?" She looked at him in surprise.
    He nodded. "It makes me burp bubbles," he said, with an embarrassed laugh.
    "Well, soap's safe, at least. Shall I just tell them
absolutely nothing unfamiliar, no matter how tempting?
"
    "Yes. And mothers must keep an eye on their mouselets. Supervise their eating."
    "All right. I'll give that order. But what on earth are we to do about the glue traps, Ignatious? If the Great X has used those? In the dark, when the church mice are scurrying, thinking about food—"
    "I shudder to think of it, Hildegarde."
    "I can just hear the cries, Ignatious! All of my population, stuck, their little paws glued—"
    "Sometimes," he said ominously, "mice lean down to sniff, and then their
nose
becomes glued!"
    Hildegarde shuddered. "How do they breathe, then?"
    "That's the
point,
Hildegarde. They can't."
    She gasped in horror.
    "There is a way of getting them loose, once they're trapped," Ignatious said. "But it's very, very difficult and time-consuming. We could perhaps manage to release
one
—but if dozens are caught,