Shaky

    Once upon a time there lived a mouse.  He lived in the wall with his family who called him “Shaky”.  He was a nervous little guy who loved to read and dream of being a hero.  His family was always frustrated with him because he was never much help at all in going to the kitchen and getting cheese.  He would always chicken out and stay in the hole.  Shaky felt guilty and rarely took his full share from the cheese, because he didn’t feel that he deserved it, not having worked to get it. 

    One day, while his family was out getting lunch, he sat down and picked up a book.  Upon opening it up he found that the pages were blank.  “This is odd,” Shaky said to himself, he had never encountered an empty book before.  He thumbed through the pages and found when he did, a little slip of paper fell out.  He picked it up and read what it said, “This book is yours to fill with whatever you might, be it personal or historical, something to share, or something to keep, make it yours."  This command perplexed Shaky, he didn’t know if it was for him, and if it was, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

    Therefore, it wasn’t until some days later, when his family was back out getting dinner, he got inspired and decided to pick up the book again.  He found a chunk of lead from a pencil the house owner had broken, and sat down near the door to his hole.  Shaky began to write everything that was on his mind.  It was a big book and he was a little mouse so he had plenty of space.  He wrote of his worries for the safety of his family, his shame of not being able to join them to help get food, but also of his genuine fear for the cat that he'd seen roaming the halls.

    Eventually his thoughts melded into a story following the patterns of all those he had read.  It had adventure and excitement, a captivating hero and a crude villain, and everything was just coming to a climax when Shaky’s family came back with the food.  Slightly unsure of himself and embarrassed of his new hobby, Shaky hid his book under his pillow and waited patiently for his portion of the cheese.  He ate all his portion this time because he was so exhausted from writing.  The next day, when his family left again, he quickly took up his writing, intent on finishing it. 

    When his family arrived that night they found Shaky asleep on his book.  They let him sleep through dinner so that he awoke near midnight very hungry.  He looked at his book, proud, but also confused and a bit surprised.  He knew the story, but he didn’t know where it had come from.  It was as though he didn’t make it up himself; like it was already there and he just helped it onto the pages.  The oddest part of the tale was that the main character was a cat!  Suddenly Shaky was gripped by curiosity as to what the cat of the house would think about the story he had written, after all, Shaky made the cat out to be quite a wonderful character.  Driven by this curiosity and his hunger, Shaky ventured forth from his hole in the dead of night.

    He stole away to the kitchen and quickly grabbed himself a slice of cheese.  On his way back to the hole, still clutching cheese and book, Shaky saw the slowly twitching tail of the sleeping cat around the corner.  Shaky plucked up his courage with a few bites of cheese and snuck over to the cat, around the tail and to the front.  As quietly as he could, he laid the book such that the cat would see it when he woke.  His task complete, Shaky went triumphantly back to bed.  The next morning he woke up and life continued as normal.  His family went out and he stayed in, not so much for fear anymore, but he had some reading to catch up on after all the writing he had done.  Startled from the middle of one of his books by scratching and meowing at the door, Shaky proceeded warily toward the sound and found the cat resting calmly outside. 

    “I was very impressed with your story little mouse,” the cat said conversationally, “so much so, in fact, that I intend to live up to your character’s heroism and grant you and your family freedom in my kingdom, with access to as much cheese and goodies as you would like!”  Shaky stood completely in awe of the large, graceful creature and what he was proposing.  “I will make my human understand that you are to be treated respectfully and given what you want.  My only request is that you give the cat in your story a name.  The one he has is good, but not very descriptive, especially as few of us cats wear boots.  I would love to have him named after myself.”

    After a moment pause of disbelief, Shaky composed himself and said, “It would be an honor for my character to bear your name, but I have no way to change it because I wrote it by hand.”  Fortunately, the cat was pleased enough with the story to accept this explanation and the couple continued their conversation about other books they had both read.

And so, after making an agreement with the cat of the house, Shaky was found by his parents on their return, sitting outside the hole with the cat discussing literature over milk and cheese.

    Shaky's family never went hungry or had to sneak around the house again and he never forgot their faces when they saw him that first time with the cat.  Eventually, the cat’s human found Shaky’s story and had it published.  It was very well received which made Shaky very happy, even though he never received credit.