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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Kids
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Action
- Published: 03/22/2019
Hercules, Bubblegum and Mouse Marathon
Born 1947, M, from Zurich, Switzerland“Oh, help. There are mice running around my bedroom!” shrieked the unmistakable voice of Aunt Charlotte. She must have shrieked very loudly because her room was in the far part of the west wing, and it could be heard even down in the hotel lounge. The shrieking even woke up the toy bears Hercules and Bubblegum from their afternoon nap. As we all know it is almost impossible to wake up toy bears.
“We had better ask the Black Cat what is going on. He knows all about the goings on of all of the mice around here,” commented Hercules to Bubblegum. It is a long time since the Black Cat stopped hunting mice, even thought he was initially a hired killer to keep the mice out of the cellar. With the suggestive help of the toys bears, Mrs. Cook had been persuaded to feed the Black Cat real food, even if vegetarian. So the Black Cat had joined the army of animals around the hotel who were healthy, fit and friendly, and did not need to hunt each other.
We as mere humans have no idea of how toy bears could communicate, not just with animals but with humans too. You may scoff and say ‘How ridiculous, toy bears are just stuffed toys and of course can’t communicate!’ Nevertheless there are many reports among visitors to the hotel that ‘bear-like thoughts’ had crossed their minds, and there was no doubt that a continuous stream of hotel animals and pets of hotel guests were always passing by the ’stuffed toy bears’ as they rested on the window seat in the hotel lounge.
Quite soon, as if summoned by telepathy, the Black Cat appeared to be chatting with the toy bears. We did not hear their conversation, but it appeared as “Two young 'troublesome' mice were just doing extra exercises for the upcoming Mouse Marathon, and forgot that they were running through Aunt Charlotte’s room. They thought the Aunt was napping like everyone else and would not notice their training.”
“Well we must ensure that the runners keep to the schedule and do not appear in the rooms along the course of the Marathon at the wrong times, otherwise the Hotel Manager may call in the Fumigators,” said Bubblegum to the Black Cat. “Yes, the Fumigators think insect spray will kill any unwanted life, or perhaps they just pretend that to the Hotel Manager,” commented Hercules to the others. “Well we must avoid any spraying, because the stuff that they use is intoxicating for mice. Last time it happened the two young 'troublesome' mice said it was just like sniffing glue – ‘or so they had heard!’ “Even worse if the Animal Olympic Committee hear of any potential doping scandals, they will stop the Mouse Marathon before it starts”, concluded the Black Cat.
It was the middle of winter in the hotel in the hills where Hercules and Bubblegum, the famous toy bears, lived on the window seat in the lounge.
Aunts Charlotte and Emily liked to visit the Hotel in the middle of winter, not just because of the beautiful snowscapes all around. The Aunts had asked the Hotel Manager to inform them of when certain guests were definitely not visiting the Hotel, particular the Terrible Twins - Tammy and Tommy. The aunts had experienced more than one terror visit of the Terrible Twins. At the last visit the Aunts remembered how the poor parents of the Terrible Twins needed to be treated by a Trauma Team towards the end of their stay.
Winter was also the reason that the Mouse Marathon was not being staged out in the hills where it belonged, and why the mice teams were training inside the buildings. The mice out in the fields were now all in the hibernation sleep, and would not wake until spring. They would then go into immediate training for the Summer Mouse Marathon - as part of the Summer Animal Olympics. The Winter Mouse Marathon was for those animals which had become used to living inside buildings around humans. The Animal Council had thought it a good idea to keep all housebound animals somewhat active during winter so that they did not suffer the same fate as many humans – overeating, gaining weight and becoming generally unhealthy over the long winter months with no exercise. Furthermore it is too easy for young animals to become waylaid by the indulgences of life – for example the two young 'troublesome' mice had just been weaned off cigarette smoking. ‘Fitness to save the Animal Kingdom’ had become the motto of the Animal Council. The Animal Council had dropped the slogan ‘Make Animals Great Again’ because they had seen confusion among humans using a similar slogan - who could not understand the reference to ‘Again?’
Hercules and Bubblegum helped the Black Cat to supervise the mice teams so that the runners did enough training in the cellars by night, and in the attics during meal times - when the hotel guests would not be disturbed by scampering of small mouse feet across the ceilings of the bedrooms.
During one pause where both the Animal World and the Human World were sleeping, Hercules remarked to Bubblegum, ”I overheard Aunt Charlotte discussing with Aunt Emily about their writing columns. Apparently Aunt Charlotte frequently writes instead for the erudite Literary Criticism Magazine that Aunt Emily normally contributes to. Aunt Charlotte said that she was trying to humanize the magazine which usually rubbished the writings of simple writers - who did not need to think they were Literature Prize Winners.”
“Yes indeed,” replied Bubblegum, “I heard Aunt Emily say it was a great pleasure for her to contribute to the trivia columns, even though unknown under the name of Charlotte, that simple writers write.” “Well I am glad,” said Hercules,” That we as toy bears don’t need to be part of the negative side of the human world where one ego enjoys to destroy another!” Bubblegum added, “Do you think we can persuade Aunt Charlotte to write about the Mouse Marathon in her next magazine column?”
The Mouse Marathon was underway. All of the supervisory animals were at their stations preparing for the great event. The pets of the guests were also helping by keeping their owners distracted when one wave of mice runners neared a critical part of the race track though open parts of the hotel. The mice runners were each decorated with designer T-shirts with distinctive marks on each. The course was not the 42 km from Marathon to Athens, but long enough for mice nevertheless.
Aunts Emily and Charlotte were sitting in the corner of the lounge just within view of where the cellar stairs were closest to the staff staircase. They were both distracted by the regular scuttling sounds and brief flashes of color near the floor. “Looks like hordes of mice in designer T-shirts running by”, laughed Charlotte. “I have been watching for several minutes,” replied Emily, “and that’s exactly what it is!” “Furthermore,” continued Emily,” if you ask me I would say those two toy bears sitting on the window seat seem to be timing the whole operation”. “Do you think we are going dotty in our old age Emily?” asked Charlotte. “Of course, probably, and why not?” joked Emily.
“You may think it silly Emily,” continued Charlotte, “But I have just had this crazy idea. Do you think I should write a story for your magazine about the Mouse Marathon?”
“Absolutely,” replied Emily, “such a story would shake up the stuffy members of the Literary Society - who think that only Marlowe or Moliere are the only literature.” Charlotte added,” I think Marlow and Moliere were not stuffy personalities, they themselves probably would have loved stories about organized Mouse Marathons in country hotels.” “Especially if we add that the idea was telepathically suggested by two toy bears sitting on the window seat!” finalized Aunt Emily.
Hercules, Bubblegum and Mouse Marathon(Alan Bruce)
“Oh, help. There are mice running around my bedroom!” shrieked the unmistakable voice of Aunt Charlotte. She must have shrieked very loudly because her room was in the far part of the west wing, and it could be heard even down in the hotel lounge. The shrieking even woke up the toy bears Hercules and Bubblegum from their afternoon nap. As we all know it is almost impossible to wake up toy bears.
“We had better ask the Black Cat what is going on. He knows all about the goings on of all of the mice around here,” commented Hercules to Bubblegum. It is a long time since the Black Cat stopped hunting mice, even thought he was initially a hired killer to keep the mice out of the cellar. With the suggestive help of the toys bears, Mrs. Cook had been persuaded to feed the Black Cat real food, even if vegetarian. So the Black Cat had joined the army of animals around the hotel who were healthy, fit and friendly, and did not need to hunt each other.
We as mere humans have no idea of how toy bears could communicate, not just with animals but with humans too. You may scoff and say ‘How ridiculous, toy bears are just stuffed toys and of course can’t communicate!’ Nevertheless there are many reports among visitors to the hotel that ‘bear-like thoughts’ had crossed their minds, and there was no doubt that a continuous stream of hotel animals and pets of hotel guests were always passing by the ’stuffed toy bears’ as they rested on the window seat in the hotel lounge.
Quite soon, as if summoned by telepathy, the Black Cat appeared to be chatting with the toy bears. We did not hear their conversation, but it appeared as “Two young 'troublesome' mice were just doing extra exercises for the upcoming Mouse Marathon, and forgot that they were running through Aunt Charlotte’s room. They thought the Aunt was napping like everyone else and would not notice their training.”
“Well we must ensure that the runners keep to the schedule and do not appear in the rooms along the course of the Marathon at the wrong times, otherwise the Hotel Manager may call in the Fumigators,” said Bubblegum to the Black Cat. “Yes, the Fumigators think insect spray will kill any unwanted life, or perhaps they just pretend that to the Hotel Manager,” commented Hercules to the others. “Well we must avoid any spraying, because the stuff that they use is intoxicating for mice. Last time it happened the two young 'troublesome' mice said it was just like sniffing glue – ‘or so they had heard!’ “Even worse if the Animal Olympic Committee hear of any potential doping scandals, they will stop the Mouse Marathon before it starts”, concluded the Black Cat.
It was the middle of winter in the hotel in the hills where Hercules and Bubblegum, the famous toy bears, lived on the window seat in the lounge.
Aunts Charlotte and Emily liked to visit the Hotel in the middle of winter, not just because of the beautiful snowscapes all around. The Aunts had asked the Hotel Manager to inform them of when certain guests were definitely not visiting the Hotel, particular the Terrible Twins - Tammy and Tommy. The aunts had experienced more than one terror visit of the Terrible Twins. At the last visit the Aunts remembered how the poor parents of the Terrible Twins needed to be treated by a Trauma Team towards the end of their stay.
Winter was also the reason that the Mouse Marathon was not being staged out in the hills where it belonged, and why the mice teams were training inside the buildings. The mice out in the fields were now all in the hibernation sleep, and would not wake until spring. They would then go into immediate training for the Summer Mouse Marathon - as part of the Summer Animal Olympics. The Winter Mouse Marathon was for those animals which had become used to living inside buildings around humans. The Animal Council had thought it a good idea to keep all housebound animals somewhat active during winter so that they did not suffer the same fate as many humans – overeating, gaining weight and becoming generally unhealthy over the long winter months with no exercise. Furthermore it is too easy for young animals to become waylaid by the indulgences of life – for example the two young 'troublesome' mice had just been weaned off cigarette smoking. ‘Fitness to save the Animal Kingdom’ had become the motto of the Animal Council. The Animal Council had dropped the slogan ‘Make Animals Great Again’ because they had seen confusion among humans using a similar slogan - who could not understand the reference to ‘Again?’
Hercules and Bubblegum helped the Black Cat to supervise the mice teams so that the runners did enough training in the cellars by night, and in the attics during meal times - when the hotel guests would not be disturbed by scampering of small mouse feet across the ceilings of the bedrooms.
During one pause where both the Animal World and the Human World were sleeping, Hercules remarked to Bubblegum, ”I overheard Aunt Charlotte discussing with Aunt Emily about their writing columns. Apparently Aunt Charlotte frequently writes instead for the erudite Literary Criticism Magazine that Aunt Emily normally contributes to. Aunt Charlotte said that she was trying to humanize the magazine which usually rubbished the writings of simple writers - who did not need to think they were Literature Prize Winners.”
“Yes indeed,” replied Bubblegum, “I heard Aunt Emily say it was a great pleasure for her to contribute to the trivia columns, even though unknown under the name of Charlotte, that simple writers write.” “Well I am glad,” said Hercules,” That we as toy bears don’t need to be part of the negative side of the human world where one ego enjoys to destroy another!” Bubblegum added, “Do you think we can persuade Aunt Charlotte to write about the Mouse Marathon in her next magazine column?”
The Mouse Marathon was underway. All of the supervisory animals were at their stations preparing for the great event. The pets of the guests were also helping by keeping their owners distracted when one wave of mice runners neared a critical part of the race track though open parts of the hotel. The mice runners were each decorated with designer T-shirts with distinctive marks on each. The course was not the 42 km from Marathon to Athens, but long enough for mice nevertheless.
Aunts Emily and Charlotte were sitting in the corner of the lounge just within view of where the cellar stairs were closest to the staff staircase. They were both distracted by the regular scuttling sounds and brief flashes of color near the floor. “Looks like hordes of mice in designer T-shirts running by”, laughed Charlotte. “I have been watching for several minutes,” replied Emily, “and that’s exactly what it is!” “Furthermore,” continued Emily,” if you ask me I would say those two toy bears sitting on the window seat seem to be timing the whole operation”. “Do you think we are going dotty in our old age Emily?” asked Charlotte. “Of course, probably, and why not?” joked Emily.
“You may think it silly Emily,” continued Charlotte, “But I have just had this crazy idea. Do you think I should write a story for your magazine about the Mouse Marathon?”
“Absolutely,” replied Emily, “such a story would shake up the stuffy members of the Literary Society - who think that only Marlowe or Moliere are the only literature.” Charlotte added,” I think Marlow and Moliere were not stuffy personalities, they themselves probably would have loved stories about organized Mouse Marathons in country hotels.” “Especially if we add that the idea was telepathically suggested by two toy bears sitting on the window seat!” finalized Aunt Emily.
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