Pumpkin Mice Tales (5) Stinky and the Gull

 

Pumpkin Mice Tales (5)

Stinky and the Gull

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Big Brown Mouse called the Mousekins together. ‘I have some exciting news,’ he said. ‘I’ve just had a letter from our friend Sergeant Cheeseman of the First Mousehole Artillery. He has invited us to visit him and his family in Mousehole for a weekend on the beach.’ 

Little White twitched her pretty pink nose and squeaked with delight, remembering their last holiday in Mousehole with their cousins the Fishermice. 

White Mouse, with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail (startling green and quite the longest tail ever seen in Mousedom) looked thoughtful.

‘What’s the matter, White Mouse?’ said Big Brown Mouse.

‘I was just trying to remember how to say Mousehole,’ she said, rather embarrassed.

Big Brown Mouse laughed heartily and said, ‘Mow - rhymes with how – zul. Mowzul.’

All the Mousekins giggled and chanted, ‘Mowzul, Mowzul, Mowzul.’

Small Brown said, ‘We won’t forget it now, will we?’

When they arrived the next day, Sergeant Cheeseman of the First Mousehole Artillery greeted them with a big smile and introduced them to his wife and sons, Stilton and Gloucester.

Stilton, in his smart purple trunks, and Gloucester Cheeseman

Stilton Cheeseman showed them where to stow their belongings in the pretty beach hut and then hurried them down to the water’s edge where they spent a long time paddling and building sandcastles with moats. 

Big Brown Mouse and White Mouse, with the exceedingly long and beautiful green tail (startling green and quite the longest tail ever seen in Mousedom) sat with Mrs Sergeant Cheeseman and played with Gloucester Cheeseman, who was just a baby.

Stilton Cheeseman asked if they could play with the yellow duck boat.

‘You may, but don’t go out any further than your knees,’ said his mother.

The Mousekins dragged the boat to the water’s edge and were having a splendid game of pirates, when a huge herring gull flew down and attempted to seize the yellow duck boat. Little Grey, the smallest Mousekin, who was sitting in it pretending to be shipwrecked, squealed with fear as she saw the gull’s great yellow beak coming closer. The other Mousekins shouted and screamed at the gull and threw pawfuls of sand at it to frighten it away as it struggled to lift the duck boat.

Suddenly, a huge voice boomed out, ‘Leave the boat, by command of the King.’ Sergeant Cheeseman of the First Mousehole Artillery  resplendent in his scarlet tunic, medals glittering in the sun, stood glaring at the herring gull, which abandoned its efforts to carry off Little Grey and the boat. It flew away, swearing loudly, and all the Mousekins cheered.

Mrs Sergeant Cheeseman, who had run down the beach to her husband’s side, smiled lovingly at him and said, ‘Oh, Stinky, you are brave,’ and Sergeant Cheeseman of the First Mousehole Artillery, blushing to hear his nickname spoken for all to hear, mumbled, ‘It was nothing, my dear, nothing at all.’

The rest of the weekend passed quietly, the Mousekins staying close to the adults, for, though they claimed they had not been at all frightened, they knew that discretion was the better part of valour. Anyway, there was lots of ice cream in the big ice box, and all Mousekins love ice cream.