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Jingle jingle jingle!
The box was filled with dozens of small gold, silver,
red, and green bells. Katie carried the cardboard box over to the tree.
She had a long piece of white cord and started stringing the bells onto
it. She put a green one on first, then a red one, a silver one and a gold
one. Katie used all the bells in the box; all but one – Melody. There
wasn’t room on the string for any more bells. The little silver bell sat
alone in the box. Katie, anxious to put the chain of bells up on her
Christmas tree, tossed the almost empty box across the room.
Jingle jingle jingle!
The bells dangling across the tree giggled and jingled
merrily as they hung among the brightly colored red, blue, orange, green,
yellow and purple lights, the glass ornaments, the shimmering tinsel, and
fragrant popcorn and cranberry ropes.
Melody rolled out of the box and
went bumpety-bump across the wooden floor. She rolled, and rolled, and
rolled, and went right down the heater vent. She slid down, down, down and
fell onto the cold, cement floor in the basement. She rolled, and rolled,
and rolled some more and stopped right outside a mouse hole, giving a
little jingle. Melody opened her eyes, feeling rather dizzy. She
looked around the dark room. There were cobwebs and piles of moldy
newspapers, and it smelled damp.
Martin, the mouse, woke up when he
heard the jingling sounds coming from outside his hole. He yawned,
stretched, and got out of bed. Brrrrr, it was cold. Rubbing his furry
arms, he walked towards the hole. He saw a small silver bell lying on the
floor. Curious, he picked it up, using two hands, and carried it inside
his hole. He noticed how shiny it was. He shook it. Jingle jingle
jingle! Martin started to laugh. He shook it again.
Jingle jingle jingle!
"Stop that! You’re making me dizzy!"
Melody said. Martin dropped the bell. He was so surprised to hear it talk.
He looked at the silver bell and noticed it had big green eyes and a
cheerful smile. "Hi! My name is Melody. I’m a jingle bell."
"How did you end up outside my mouse
hole?" Martin asked.
"I rolled down the heater vent and
then across the floor, which, by the way, is very cold. What’s your name?"
asked Melody.
"Martin," the mouse replied. He
walked over to her, picked her up and put her on his bed. He looked at her
and saw his reflection. "Hee hee hee," he giggled.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I can see myself. You are so shiny.
My nose is cute," Martin said, grinning.
"It’s cold down here, Martin. Why
don’t you move upstairs where it’s warmer?"
"I can’t do that. There’s a C-A-T up
there. He’ll eat me."
"What’s a C-A-T?" Melody asked,
giving a little jingle as she moved.
"A cat! There’s a big, fluffy,
meowing cat that lives upstairs. If I go up there, he’ll gobble me up. I
have to stay in the basement. It is too cold down here for the cat.
Sometimes I get hungry, especially when I smell food cooking."
Melody looked at Martin. He was a
skinny mouse. His nose was long and his eyes were bulgy and dirty brown.
"Martin, I can help you. If you take me back upstairs, I will help you
find a way to stop the cat from eating you."
Martin got excited. "You can? Okay.
Let’s do it. I’ll carry you upstairs." Martin picked Melody up and carried
her up each step to the top, which wasn’t easy, as he was a little mouse.
They squeezed under the closed door. "Now what?" he asked, "where’s the
cat?"
"Shhhhh," Melody whispered. Both of
them could smell gingerbread baking. "Follow me," she urged. She rolled
across the floor toward the living room. Martin followed, looking behind
him and all around for the cat. "Look at the tree," she told him. The two
stood silently, gazing up at the huge Christmas tree. It was beautiful.
"There wasn’t enough room on the string for me. See all the other bells?"
Melody sighed and felt sad. Katie was sitting on the carpeted floor,
looking at all the packages under the tree.
"Uh, Melody. What about the cat?"
Martin whispered, terrified.
"Oh yes, the cat. Here’s what we do.
Let’s go back into the kitchen and find the plate of chocolate fudge on
the table. I’ve got an idea." She rolled onto the linoleum floor and
Martin stayed close to her. He helped her up to the table and they stood
in front of the plate of fudge. It was dark brown and had nuts in it and
smelled so chocolaty. "Delicious," said Melody.
Martin sniffed it. "Mmmm, it does
smell good." He took a finger and pulled a piece off and ate it. "It is
delicious," he said, reaching for more.
"Don’t, Martin. We need it. Help
me," Melody said. They gathered all the fudge and started shaping it.
After a while they stood back. Martin licked his fingers. They had made a
giant, chocolate fudge mouse. It had a pointed nose like Martins and a
long fudge tail.
"Wow! It’s me!" said Martin. His
eyes bulged out even further.
"Let’s hide over there, behind that
plate of peppermint sticks," she told Martin. "Be very quiet." She started
calling the cat. "Here kitty. Here kitty. Here kitty."
"Yikes! What are you doing?" Martin
asked. "Why are you calling the cat?"
"Shhhh. Just watch."
The cat came strutting into the
kitchen. He looked up and saw the fudge mouse. "Meow," it went, thinking
it was a real mouse. It pounced onto the table, nearly crunching Melody.
It started eating the fudge. It ate, and ate, and ate, until there was
none left. When it had finished, the cat sat on the table feeling very
sick. That was a lot of fudge and nuts that it had eaten.
Melody rolled over to Martin. "Jump
out and start yelling at the cat. Tell him that you want him to eat you
too!"
"What?" Martin gulped. "What if he
does eat me?"
"Trust me. He won’t."
"Okay," Martin said. He jumped out
from behind the peppermints and ran up to the cat. He started shouting,
"Eat me. Eat me too. One mouse isn’t enough. Eat me!"
The cat looked at Martin. He was so
full of ‘mouse’ that the thought of eating another one made him feel very
sick. "No! No! No! I never want to eat another mouse again in my life."
The cat jumped off the table and ran into the other room.
Martin smiled. "There now, Martin,
the cat will never bother you again," Melody assured him. Martin went down
to the basement and gathered all his belongings and brought them upstairs
to a mouse hole near the Christmas tree. Melody, not having anywhere else
to go, moved in with him. Every night they enjoyed listening to the bells
jingle, watching the lights glowing, and smelling the popcorn and
cranberries. It was going to be a merry Christmas for both of them. |
