Small Beginnings

Flash Fiction

Small Beginnings

“It’s happening again.”

“What?” Jane asked, still looking at the TV.

“That noise. That noise I keep hearing…”

“I haven’t heard anything…”

“Of course not, you’re glued to TV…”

“I can still hear. What did the sound sound like?”

“A bubbly, grumbly sort of sound…”

“What does bubbly grumbly sound like…” Jane asked, holding back a laugh.

“Make fun of me if you want, it’s still true!” Jake snapped back.

Jane looked at her brother, now she could see that it wasn’t a joke after all. His face showed that he really believed he’d heard something. Reluctantly she shut off the TV.

“Tell me again,” she said.

Jake sat down quickly and practically whispered the sound again.

“So, you think it’s in the house?” Jane whispered back, “in the dining room?”

“That’s where I heard it. I looked around and didn’t see anything so I came in here but then I heard it again, still in there. I must have scared it walking through.”

“I bet it’s a mouse!” Jane said, suddenly excited!

“Why?

“I dropped that hunk of cheese on the floor at supper and was supposed to get it, but I forgot. The mouse must have smelled it.”

“Where was the mouse before that? Does he live in our dining room?”

“No, Dad says we get them down cellar sometimes. Then he puts traps out and catches them.”

“Does he kill them?” Jake said, upset.

“No! He takes them to the park.”

“Can we do that?” Jake sounded excited!

“I guess so… I think I know where the traps are. They’re like little cages.”

It worked. They caught the mouse and Dad drove them to the park to let it go.

In their twenties, they opened a pet shop in town together. Mice included, of course.