Mouse Code

Xander cocked the spring trigger on the gates that released the rats into the maze. He had become intrigued by the behavior of one of the rats - number 6725 - whose run through the maze was becoming slower and less predictable every day. This rat always stopped at the first turn and then, strangely, he would bang his head against the maze wall. He then hesitated for a moment before resuming the maze run. Each day the rat waited a little longer before going on to finish the maze that all of the specimens had learned by heart within a few tries.

“So, which one is the dumb one?” Sebastian, the lab assistant, was peering into the maze, waiting to watch and take notes once the rats began their run.

“It’s this one, “ Xander pointed to 6725. “But he’s not dumb. He knows his way through the twists and turns. He just insists on this weird, ritual head-banging first.”

“Heh, maybe he’s got an AC/DC song stuck in his head,” Sebastian suggested, then laughed at his own joke when it became apparent that Xander wasn’t amused by it. “Hey, is this what you mean?”

Xander had released the rats into the maze and there was 6725, banging his head on the divider as usual.

“Yeah, that’s what he does every time. And there, he’s off again. He has no trouble at all running to the end. No idea what this is about.”

“Oh, I can tell you what it’s about,” Sebastian said. “He’s trying to tell you something.”

“Sure Seb, the rat is trying to tell me something,” Xander sneered. "Like what kind of cheese he wants for dinner?”

“No dummy. It’s his head banging. It’s Morse code.”

“What was it, an SOS?”

“Nope. He said - ‘here we go again’.”

Word Count: 299