Mr. Garret's House

Mr. Garret’s House

Now allowed to explore alone, the kids decided to explore the whole wood by summer’s end. Today they’d discovered an old abandoned house.

“Did you hear that?” Jenny said, suddenly.

“No, what?” Ted asked.

“Let’s find out!” she yelled, running toward the house.

“Be careful!” Ted yelled.

The house was rickety, but as they carefully climbed the porch steps, they heard the noise again. A tiny squeak from inside.

Jenny bolted in. “Be careful!” Ted yelled, again, as he heard boards creaking under her feet.

In the front room they quickly zoomed in on the noise, coming from a broken wall board. Peeking in with her flashlight, Jenny saw a baby mouse, who had apparently fallen in. Turning to tell Ted, she caught sight of a bigger mouse, probably its mother hovering nearby.

“Oh dear! The baby is trapped! Help me get it out!” They spent the next ten minutes rigging a makeshift “ladder” and trying to coax the baby up, to no avail.

“The mother’s going to need to help,” Jenny said, “If we go outside, she can come and show the little guy how to get up.” They went outside, hovering at the edge of the clearing. After a few minutes the mother mouse and her baby came out on the porch. They seemed to look right at them, before scampering back in.

“It’s like they were saying thank you!” Jenny said, happily. “Let’s come back tomorrow and explore the house some more!” Off they went.

“Thank you for getting them to come in,” the mother mouse said, “I never could have gotten Junior out on my own.”

‘No problem my friend,” said Mr. Garret’s ghost, smiling as he watched Ted and Jenny go, “and you know, I think I’m ready to have some people around again.”