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Michael Mouse lived in a mouse hole
with three other mice. The others were neat and clean. They always picked
up their clothes and put their dishes in the sink, but not Michael. He was
messy. He left his dirty socks on the floor. Sometimes the other mice
tripped on them and fell down. Michael never put his dishes in the sink.
He left them on the table for the other mice to clean up. "You’re too
messy, Michael," said Angela. "We don’t want you to live in this mouse
hole any longer. Go and find another place to live."
Michael gathered his things and
left, feeling rather sad that they’d asked him to leave. He didn’t think
he was that messy. As he walked around looking for another place to live,
he spotted a ripe, juicy apple lying in the grass. "That looks delicious!"
he said and began to nibble away at the peel. "I don’t like the peel." He
spit it out on the grass. He ate the apple until there was nothing but the
core left. "I’m still hungry, but I don’t like apple seeds." Whenever he
came to a seed, he spit it out onto the ground. Soon there was a huge pile
of black, sticky seeds. After Michael had finished eating the whole apple,
he lay down on the grass. His tummy was full and plump.
Molly Mouse came walking by. She was
Michael lying there. "What are you doing, Michael? Why aren’t you at home
in your mouse hole?"
"They won’t let me live there any
longer. They said I’m messy. Do you think I’m messy?" he asked.
Molly took one look at the pile of
seeds and the peel that Michael had spit on the grass. "Yes, I think
you’re very messy. I wouldn’t want you to live in my mouse hole either."
She ran off.
A few minutes later Martin Mouse ran
by. "Michael? What are you doing lying in the grass?"
"I have nowhere else to go. I can’t
go back to the mouse hole. They’re all so clean and neat. They think I’m
too messy."
Martin looked at the pile of sticky
black seeds and the peel on the grass. "You are messy. I don’t want you to
live in my mouse hole either," Martin said and ran off.
Michael looked at the seeds and the
peel. "Maybe I am messy. Maybe I should try to be neat like the others."
He gathered all the seeds up and buried them in a pile under the ground.
He picked up the pieces of apple skin and threw them in the bushes, under
the leaves. He took the apple core and carried it to the vegetable garden
and laid it next to a pumpkin. When he’d finished cleaning up, he lay back
down on the grass. His tummy was still full of apple. Maggie Mouse came
running by. "Hi, Michael. What are you doing lying on the grass?"
"I’m full of apple. I worked hard
cleaning up the mess after I’d finished. I’m very neat, you know," Michael
said.
Maggie looked around. She didn’t see
any seeds, or peel, or even the core. "Michael, you can come and stay in
the mouse hole with me and the others. We like neat mice that clean up
after themselves. Or do you want to go back to your own mouse hole?"
Michael sat up. He was happy. "I’d
love to come to your mouse hole. I promise to clean up after every meal."
He ran off with Maggie. From then on he never left a mess. He’d learned
it’s much better to be neat and tidy than to be sloppy and messy. |
