The Total Rodent

By Daniel S. Knowles

As everyone knows by now after reading book five, Peter is not with us any more, he died in San Francisco bay, and his body is lying there as you read this book. Although most people think that the famous rodent passed away at the now destroyed Mother Hens Rest Home, near there, his bones, now turning white rest on the bottom of the bay near the Golden Gate Bridge next to the three rocks by the Cliff House, where a group of sea lions hang out. The new stories that appear in this book are adventures that happened to Peter and his guys in earlier days of his life as described by the author, after reading the material given to him and interviewing in real life, Peter before he died and some of his friends. These stories have never been released before, and you will be the first readers to read them. Please take note that some of the stories that appear in the book are of such content that the timid readers should skip over them or seek parental guidance. The chapters will be identified as the reader turns the pages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 5, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450004053

Daniel S. Knowles

n/a

Book preview

Contents

Chapter 1   Peter Feels At Home In The Mortuary Bob Insane Asylum

Chapter 2   Throckmorton Mouse Flies His Spaceship Into A Giant Lightbulb

Chapter 3   Peter Visits A Wrecked Ship On Seaweed Reef

Chapter 4   Skunk Jones Goes Missing On Mount Elmer

Chapter 5   Handler Parrot Steals An Apple

Chapter 6   The Missing Rodents In Trout Rock Cave

Chapter 7   Peter And Catnip Carson Eat At The Culinary Inn

Chapter 8   Doctor Twinkley Eyes Loses Boo Who’s Eyeballs

Chapter 9   The Largest Shoe In The World Is In Mousetown

Chapter 10   Spinster Grandma Woot Tries To Kill Peter With A Knife

Chapter 11   The Dance Floor Falls In When The Elephants Came On Stage

Chapter 12   Termite Jones Drives His Watermelon Truck Into The Green River

Chapter 13   Broomis The Camel Gets Loose In April Crabtree’s House

Chapter 14   Bill Viper Drives His Brood Of Snakes To School Every Day

Chapter 15   The Plane That Crashed Into The Duck Pond

Chapter 16   Maspeth Onderdonk Finds A Dead Body And Charges Other Rodents Admission To View It

Chapter 17   A Large Commercial Airliner Crashes Into Peter’s Backyard

Chapter 18   Principal Pringle Encourages One Of Her Students To Be Swallowed By A Large Pet Frog In Biology Class

Chapter 19   The New Hot Chocolate Tea Pot Blows Up In Mousetown

Chapter 20   The Rodent Navy Hospital’s Twenty-Two-Story High Tower Falls

Chapter 21   The Body Of The Ship’s Captain Of The Paddle Wheel Boat Delta Pup Is Found Under The Paddle Wheel

Chapter 22   Bad Carrot Blows Up A Bank Safe In Mousetown

Chapter 23   Teacher Flossy Underduck Mouse And Her Students Attack Ridgemont High School With Rocks

Chapter 24   Sister Mary Katherine Follows A Moonshine Subject Up Into The Mountains To Make A Citizen’s Arrest

Chapter 25   Sister Mary Katherine Falls Into A Railroad Car After Falling Off The Twenty-Story Duck Bank Building

Chapter 26   Little Alfred Rodentbury Escapes From The Beer Dave Insane Asylum

Chapter 27   Janitor Ed Carrot Burns Down The Tough Mutt Junior High School In A Fit Of Rage

Chapter 28   Peter Visits The West To See Flocks Of Horned Larks And Other Denizens Of The Desert

Chapter 29   Peter And Some Of The Guys Rent A Moose To Go Up Into The Mountains

Chapter 30   Bold Soul Becomes A Mouse Of The Cloth At The Local Church

Chapter 31   The Deadly Slide Down The Mountain

Chapter 32   Father Snarl And Lady-In-Waiting Sara Watermill Fall Out Of An Airplane While Performing A Wedding Ceremony

Chapter 33   A Day At The Pond Turns Deadly For A Band Of Rodents

Chapter 34   Why Did All The Water Go Out To Sea?

Chapter 35   Peter Saves A Statue Of Mallard Underduck From A Burning Rag Factory

Chapter 36   A Headless Mouse Is Seen Swimming Out To Sea In The Surf At Good Harbor Beach

Chapter 37   Doctor Ned Chopper Uses A Tow Truck To Pull Out His Patient’s Teeth

Chapter 38   The Big Tomato Eats Up Some Schoolchildren

Chapter 39   Trouble On Black Bear Island

Chapter 40   The Day When The Largest Snake Ever Seen Crawls Into The Mousetown Car Wash And Refuses To Leave

Chapter 41   The Return Of Wilson The Snake

Chapter 42   Lem Snout Drives A Milk Truck With A Live Cow In It To Deliver Milk To His Customers

Chapter 43   Glockenspiel Mouse Has To Get Rid Of The Body Of The Painter That Was Painting The Roachfinder’s House

Chapter 44   A Baby Mouse Is Pushed Into A Grocery Store And Then Gets Out And Destroys The Store In A Fit Of Rage

Chapter 45   Farnsworth Rugby’s Head Blows Up While Piloting A Spaceship And It Falls Into The Ocean

Chapter 46   A Ship Covered With Yellow Jackets Floats Into The Harbor In Mousetown One Day

Chapter 47   Clad Match Burns Down A Large Warehouse

Chapter 48   Pinchrump Mouse Falls Three Thousand Feet From Mount Hog Into A Clear Blue Mountain Lake And Lives

Chapter 49   A Commercial Plane Leads A Mousetown Fire Engine To A Tragic Discovery In A Desert Wash

Chapter 50   Oily Tate Mouse Attempts A Solo Nonstop Flight Crossing Of The Rodent Sea To The Teapot Islands

Chapter 51   The Haunted House

Chapter 52   Peter Saves A Cow From Being Run Over By A Train

Chapter 53   Peter Saves A Truck Driver By Cutting His Legs Off Then The Fellow, Nick Chopper, Sues Him For One Million Dollars

Chapter 54   Chumly, On His Motorcycle, Takes A Curve Too Fast And Ends Up On A Fast-Moving Train Carrying Corncobs

Chapter 55   The Mystery Of The Disappearing Body At The Onderdonk Hotel

Chapter 56   Another Fire At The Onderdonk Hotel

Chapter 57   The Dog That Waits By Its Master’s Grave For Five Years For Him To Return

Chapter 58   Why Is There A Giant Statue Of A Dog At The Mousetown Train Station?

Chapter 59   Nickodemis Mouse Jumps Onto A Spaceship To Save It When The Crew Is Found To Have Frozen Stiff And The Pilot’s Head Has Broken Off

Chapter 60   The Sea Monster Makes The Rodents’ Day

Chapter 61   Bob Grab, Peter, And Raccoon John Spend A Night At The Beach House

Chapter 62   A Programmed Robot With A Superior Brain Drives A Car Into The Mousetown Duck Pond, Releasing Hundreds Of Wild Ducks

Chapter 63   The Sad Story About The Six Fathers In A Canoe And How They Died

Chapter 64   Peter And Bill Moth Rescue A Pet Longhorn Steer On An Overturned Ship In The Mousetown Ship Channel

Chapter 65   Peter Purchases Mousetown’s First Airplane Restaurant

Chapter 66   Peter Is On Duty Inside A Large Plastic Yellow Hollow Duck Floating On Lake Loon On The Lookout For Duck Thieves

Chapter 67   Fletcher Sengheny Md Is Carried Away By A Mallard And Dropped Down A Chimney

Chapter 68   All Rodents In Mousetown Are Given A Piggy Bank By The First Rodent National Bank And Trust

Chapter 69   Alfred Roach Jr. Tries To Kill An Honor Student

Chapter 70   Peter Visits The Joint Brothers’ Orthopedic Clinic And Gets Some New Limbs, A New Tail, A New Arm, And Another Leg In One Quick Medical Procedure

Chapter 71   The Deadly Ice Cycle Hanging Over The City

Chapter 72   A Ship Carrying Unsalted Peanuts Turns Over On Its Side In Mousetown Harbor

Chapter 73   Peter And Father Dumpster Dive Into An Almost Bottomless Water-Filled Quarry To Try And Recover The Remains Of A Rodentwho Had Been Operating A Bulldozer That Fell In Many Yearsago

Chapter 74   Cherry Blossom Queen Gloria Prudence Is Found Wandering Inside The Pig Out Grocery Store, Pushing A Baby Carriage With A Skeleton In It And Also Acting Strangely

Chapter 75   Will Paw Brings A Gun To School

Chapter 76   A Super Spaceship Carrying 356 Rodents Is Out Over The Ocean Bound For Mousetown When The Three Pilots Are Found Dead In The Cockpit

Chapter 77   Mousetown Finally Gets The Moon That It Deserves After All These Years

Chapter 78   During The Play The Three Blind Mice, A Dead Rodent Is Found Hanging From A Rope Over The Stage When The Screen Goes Up

Chapter 79   A Massive Fire In A Housing Project In Mousetown Traps A Number Of Young Rodents

Chapter 80   The Mice On Good Harbor Beach Suddenly See A Low-Flying Plane Go Over Their Heads And Crash Into The Sea Lion Statue There

Chapter 81   One Thousand Skunks Visit The Mousetown Arena To Watch A Basketball Game One Night After Their Farmhouse Is Destroyed By Fire

Chapter 82   A Bee’s Nest, Four Stories High, Rolls Into Mousetown

Chapter 83   Mousetown’s Highest TV Tower Building Falls Into The Cheese River

Chapter 84   A Homing Pigeon Saves A Group Of Rodents On A Raft In The Middle Of The Ocean

Chapter 85   When An Earthquake Hits Mousetown, An Elevator With Doctor Boofer In It Plunges Down 107 Floors

Chapter 86   Harold Hemp Shows Off His Live Hundred-Foot Long Pet Snake In Front of Woot’s Department Store And Dares Passing Rodents To Pet It

Chapter 87   Peter Performs A Spectacular Rescue When The Rodent Narrows Bridge Collapses Into The Waves Of The Friendly Rabbit Bay

Chapter 88   The Mouse Who Had An Eye On The Back Of His Head

Chapter 89   An Iceberg From Up North Breaks Off And Visits Mousetown And Destroys The Waterfront, Killing The Mayor

Chapter 90   A Tame Giraffe Visits Cheesepaw Middle School And Eats One Of The Youngsters That It Thinks Is A Meal

Chapter 91   Drew Greenback Wins A Million Dollars In The Mousetown Lottery

Chapter 92   Biff Hooper, While Playing With Some Dynamite Caps, Blows His Tail Off And A Bird Carries It Away

Chapter 93   Peter, While Delivering Newspapers As A Kid, Finds Three Rodents Hanging In A Maple Tree, And Foul Play Is Suspected

Chapter 94   Mousetown Needs A Large Device To Fight Warehouse And Other Monster Fires And They Find It In The Desert

Chapter 95   Father Anno Domini And Homer Dud Sneak Out Of Their Parents’ Houses To Look For A Swarm Of Snakes In The Woods By The Old Car

Chapter 96   A Second Attempt To Get A Hot Sun Over Mousetown Fails Again And The Sun Falls Behind The City Hall

Chapter 97   A Floating Replica Of A Giant Loon Full Of Tourist Runs Into A Sea Creature On Lake Loon

Chapter 98   Peter’s Dog Fairmont Saves His Master From A Charging Enraged Buffalo

Chapter 99   Three Ninety-Eight-Year-Old Spinsters And A Dog Save Three Large, Muscular Weight Lifters From A Watery Grave When Their Souped-Up Sports Car Speeds Through A Gated Community At Over 150 Miles An Hour And Crashes Into A Duck Pond

Chapter 100   Scoutmaster Sneerson Takes His Lads On A Cruise Ship To See A Giant Fish In The Ocean

Chapter 101   Tyler Bone Is Swallowed By A Large Black Water Snake He Meets While Swimming In An Old Water-Filled Quarry

Chapter 102   Several Bad Guys, Kevin Mouse, And Black Belt Jones Meet At High Noon To Settle Their Differences

Chapter 103   Peter As A Young Lad, While Delivering Newspapers, Watches As An Airplane Falls Out Of The Sky

Chapter 104   Whatever Happened To Adam Duclaw

Who Disappeared From His Mousetown Neighborhood Fifty Years Ago

Chapter 105   Samwell Mouse Has A Problem When A Well-Known Escapee From A Local Insane Asylum Finds Him While He Is Out Walking His Dog Thermopolis

Chapter 106   Peter’s Fire Truck Is Given An Award For Being Crushed By An Out-Of-Control Navy Aircraft Carrier

Chapter 107   Mosque Widerump Goes Undercover And Is Dressed Like A Boulder As He Investigates A Series Of Murders Around The Cripple Creek Gorge

Chapter 108   A Salvage Tug Goes Out To The Moon, Which Is Floating On Top Of The Water In The Rodent Sea, Full Of Worms

Chapter 109   A Near Riot Erupts At The Homeless Rodent Society Convention At The Grudge Center In Mousetown

Chapter 110   Doubting Thomas Hides In A Hollowed Out Plastic Duck To Catch Duck Thieves On Mallard Lake

Chapter 111   Peter Has To Burn His House Down To Save Himself From A Hideous Green Serpent That He Found In His Bed

Chapter 112   Blind Pugh, A Blind Rodent, Saves Some Young Rodents When Their School Bus Falls Off A Bridge Into The Sacramonious River

Chapter 113   Lifeguards Drew Cribbage And Kim Pea Cut Open A Dead Shark Lying On The Beach To Save A Fellow Rodent Inside

Chapter 114   Hodo Mouse Routinely Swims In His Swimming Pool, Which Is Always Full Of Water Moccasins And Cottonmouth Vipers Until One Day

Chapter 115   Peter Rescues Plaquemine Mouse From His Burning Home

Chapter 116   It Is Time To Go To The Old Water-Filled Rock Quarry In Mousetown And Try To Raise The Plane That Is At The Bottom After Falling From The Sky Some Twenty Years Earlier And To Locate The Remains Of The Pilot Sprawl Bowink

Chapter 117   A Small Plane Crash Lands On Top Of Peter’s House

Chapter 118   Unscheduled Stop At Blueberry Hill

Chapter 119   The One Spot Flee Cleaner Building Is The Place Where The Rodents Of Mousetown Take Their Pet Dogs

Chapter 120   The Ore-Carrier Ship The Sea Breeze Comes Back To Mousetown Completely Encased In Ice Along With Its Thirty-Three-Mouse Crew

Chapter 121   Cody, JD, And Andy Hide Under A Bridge On The Interstate To Escape An F5 Tornado That Is Coming Down Toward Them

Chapter 122   Oxnard Mouse And Father Gropian Climb A Four-Hundred-Foot Radio And Tv Tower To Rescue A Bald Eagle That Is Trapped After Hitting An Airplane And Falling Into The Tall Structure

Chapter 123   One Customer Goes Missing When Bears Start Working At The Drive-In Restaurant In Mousetown

Chapter 124   Peter And Joe Sohism Are Out On The Vast Wastelands Known As The Moors To Gather Stones When They Come Across The Long-Missing Remains Of Ghats Botkins, The Noted Serial Killer

Chapter 125   Greenworm Johnson’s Ashes Are Buried At Sea By Ogopete Reolopete Who Also Falls From The Plane While Performing His Task Over The Rodent Sea In An Unfortunate Set Of Circumstances

OTHER MOUSE BOOKS BY AUTHOR DANIEL KNOWLES

PASSAGE TO THE EARTH’S SURFACE

RETURN TO MOUSETOWN

MOUSETOWN 100 SHORT STORIES

MORE ADVENTURES FROM MOUSETOWN

MORE ADVENTURES FROM MOUSETOWN 11

THE TOTAL RODENT

RODENT

RODENTS ON THE PROWL

Preface

MANY OF YOU, MOUSE ENTHUSIASTS OF ALL AGES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD, HAVE WRITTEN OR CALLED, EXPRESSING INTEREST IN SEEING SOME OF THE OLD MOUSE STORIES THAT APPEARED IN THE LAST FIVE MOUSE BOOKS AGAIN IN PRINT IN A NEW BOOK BUT WITH DIFFERENT ENDINGS TO THE STORY. SEVERAL PERSONS WERE SO DISTRAUGHT WITH THE WAY SOME OF THE STORIES ENDED THAT THEY HAVE HAD HEART ATTACKS, AND OTHER AILMENTS BOTH MILD AND SEVERE. SOME READERS HAVE HAD NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS. THERE WAS ONE REPORT OF AN ELDERLY GENTLEMAN IN HIS NINETIES WHO WAS SO TRAUMATIZED FROM READING ONE OF THE STORIES THAT HE CLIMBED UP A 430-FOOT RADIO TOWER AND SAT ON THE RED BLINKING LIGHT AT THE TOP TO FINISH READING THE CHAPTER HE WAS ON. WHEN HE REACHED THE TOP, UNFORTUNATELY, HIS ALZHEIMER’S KICKED IN; AND HE FORGOT WHY HE HAD CLIMBED THE TOWER, AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT HAD TO BE CALLED TO RESCUE HIM. ON THE WAY DOWN, ONE OF THE FIREMEN, AFTER NOTICING THE BOOK THAT THE ELDERLY RODENT HAD BEEN READING, GLANCED AT SOME OF THE PAGES HIMSELF AND BECAME SO INTRIGUED WITH SEVERAL OF THE LINES FROM THE STORY THAT HE LET GO OF ONE OF THE LEGS OF THE ELDERLY FELLOW THAT HE HAD HAD BEEN HOLDING. AND THE POOR MOUSE FELL AND WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED HAD NOT ANOTHER FELLOW FIREFIGHTER BEEN THERE TO LEND A PAW. FIREFIGHTER ELWOOD TREE, IN THE NICK OF TIME, QUICKLY REACTED AND THE ELDERLY FELLOW WAS SAVED.

SO WITH THIS IN MIND, THE LONG, TEDIOUS PROCESS OF EDITING AND DUE CONSIDERATION HAS BEEN CONSIDERED AND HAS BEEN COMPLETED WITH THIS BOOK AFTER MUCH DISCUSSIONS WITH HIGHLY KNOWLEDGEABLE PROFESSORS AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL MICE AND HUMAN INPUT ALL OVER THE WORLD AND BEYOND. THE STORIES HAVE BEEN POLISHED UP A BIT AND CHECKED AND APPROVED BY SEVERAL OTHER NOTED DOCTORS FROM LOCAL INSANE ASYLUMS INCLUDING THE WORLD FAMOUS DOCTOR YOSEMITE FARNSWORTH. MANY OF THE STORIES ARE NEW, BUT THE OTHERS THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN OUT OF THE MOUSE BOOKS 2, 3, 4, AND 5 HAVE BEEN REVISED AND CHANGED IN HOPES THAT MOUSE FOLLOWERS EVERYWHERE WILL BE MORE AT EASE AND RELAXED AS THEY PURR THROUGH THE PRINT AND MARVEL AT THE PICTURES OF THEIR HEROES IN ACTION. FINAL APPROVAL FOR THE BOOK WAS GIVEN BY THE PANEL OF RODENT MATTERS AND ISSUES BY THE THREE FOUNDING MEMBERS DOCTOR STEP HOOFER, FACTUAL MOUSE, AND HINDQUARTER HILTON MOUSE. THE STORY THAT HAS GLEANED THE MOST CRITICISM AND RESPONSE FROM AVID MOUSE LOVERS WAS THE STORY ABOUT THE ELDERLY LADY ON ALLIGATOR ALLEY IN FLORIDA. THE ELDERLY GRANDMA RAN OUT OF GAS ON THE INTERSTATE IN THE BIG CYPRESS AREA AND WAS EATEN UP BY HUNGRY ALLIGATORS OUT FOR A STROLL, WITHOUT SHOWING ANY REMORSE OR REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE. AFTER THE DEED WAS DONE, THEY SLUNK OFF INTO THE SWAMPS AND DISAPPEARED. READERS DEMANDED A MORE HUMANE ENDING TO THIS STORY, AND THIS HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED IN BOOK 5. THE CREATOR OF THIS STORY BASED ON TRUE EVENTS WAS SO AFFECTED BY HIS CALAIS WAY OF THINKING THAT HE NOW LIVES IN A STATE OF CONFUSION AND TURMOIL AND WALKS THE STREETS AND TURNS THE CORNERS OF THE CITY WHERE HE NOW RESIDES, CONSTANTLY WEEPING AND TALKING TO HIMSELF. LET’S HOPE THAT HE, THE ONCE FAMOUS BUT NOW SHUNNED DOCTOR BIRMINGHAM SR., MAKES A FULL RECOVERY SOMEDAY AND IS ALLOWED BACK INTO SOCIETY, AND CAN LIVE A NORMAL LIFE AGAIN AND BECOME A CLEARER THINKER AND BE A MORE UNDERSTANDING MOUSE, A MOUSE THAT OTHER MICE CAN BE PROUD OF AND LOOK UP TO EVEN IF THEY HAVE TO STAND ON A LADDER.

AS EVERYONE KNOWS BY NOW, AFTER READING BOOK 5, PETER IS NOT WITH US ANYMORE. HE DIED IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY, AND HIS BODY IS LYING THERE, ROTTING AWAY AS YOU READ THIS BOOK. ALTHOUGH MOST PEOPLE THINK THAT THE FAMOUS RODENT PASSED AWAY AT THE NOW-DESTROYED MOTHER HEN’S REST HOME, NEAR THERE, HIS BONES, NOW TURNING WHITE, REST ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BAY NEAR THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE NEXT TO THE THREE ROCKS BY THE SEA HOUSE, WHERE A GROUP OF SEA LIONS HANG OUT ON. THE NEW STORIES THAT APPEAR IN THIS BOOKS ARE SIMPLY OF THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO PETER AND HIS GUYS IN EARLIER DAYS OF HIS LIFE DESCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. AFTER READING MATERIAL GIVEN TO HIM AND INTERVIEWING IN REAL LIFE PETER BEFORE HE DIED AND SOME OF HIS FRIENDS AND ALSO AT THE MAYO CLINIC DOCTOR ROBERT ODORINTOLOGIST, WHO WAS FULL OF INFORMATION THAT HE HAD GLEANED FROM YEARS OF RESEARCH AND FROM RUNNING AROUND WITH THE LADS, OTHER KNOWLEDGE WAS OBTAINED BOTH IN THE UNDERGROUND WORLD AND ALSO FROM WHEN THE LADS WERE GALLIVANTING AROUND IN THE OUTER WORLD AFTER COMING OUT OF THE EARTH IN THE GRAND CANYON. THESE STORIES HAVE NEVER BEEN RELEASED BEFORE, AND YOU WILL BE THE FIRST READERS TO READ THEM. PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT SOME OF THE STORIES THAT APPEAR IN THE BOOK ARE OF SUCH CONTENT THAT THE READER SHOULD JUST SKIP OVER THEM OR SEEK PARENTAL GUIDANCE. THESE CHAPTERS WILL BE IDENTIFIED AS THE READER TURNS THE PAGES. SEE YOU IN THE NEXT BOOK, BOOK 7.

A Stiff Wind Blows In From The Sea

And With It A Whole Lot Of Snakes, Thousands

Of Them, Wanting To Sun Themselves On

The City Docks In Mousetown

It was morning in Mousetown and most of the rodents were still asleep. Those who were awake were the fire mice and police mice and some of the rodents down on the waterfront, who worked on the fishing boats. When one of the mice of the sea, Slim Fish, down on the docks, came out of a seafood establishment, the Snake Grill reading a newspaper, he stumbled over a sleeping reptile and fell onto the wooden deck bruising his snout. The sleeping snake didn’t budge other then open one of its eyes and stare at the fallen mouse for a short time. If the snake had wanted to, it could have swallowed the rodent with a single gulp because the viper was a large fellow, fully thirty feet long, and was very round, but the snake continued to sleep on the dock along with some other vipers that had come in from the sea. It was later determined that a stiff wind had bought the snakes in along with many other creatures of the sea, thousands of them. There were vipers and snakes everywhere, all over the city docks and all the wharves, even on some of the fishing boats docked in the harbor. there were snakes everywhere you looked, all sleeping.

Dude Fetish stepped out of his fishing boat and gingerly stepped over some of the sleeping snakes. He made his way along the dock, trying not to awaken any of the reptiles. He marveled at some of the reptiles. He just loved their colors. He had never been so close to a whole lot of snakes before and hoped that they would not swallow him.

The mayor arrived, and while he hid behind a tree, he assessed the situation and peered through his spyglass. He saw all the snakes and determined that they should be all washed back out to sea so he called the fire department, and fire engines throughout the city responded to the waterfront and set up all their paw lines and aerial guns and all other heavy duty devices and, with high-powered master streams, washed all the snakes back into the Mousetown Harbor where the reptiles slithered back out to sea after enjoying their brief snooze.

After the last viper was gone, all the church bells in the city rang to let all the rodent’s know that it was safe to come out of their homes and to come down to the waterfront.

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Chapter 1

Peter Feels At Home In The Mortuary Bob

Insane Asylum

Peter was home in front of the fireplace with his paws up on top of his sleeping hound, Basset, reading the Rodent Times. He had been reading about the disappearance of the spaceship that had vanished a few days earlier over a wooded area north of Mousetown near the Mortuary Bob Insane Asylum. Peter knew several rodents there. The article in the paper told about a famous, well-healed mouse (rich) who took his spaceship up for a spin and never came back. The news had been all over the radio and TV for days. I will keep an eye open, said Peter to himself. I have to take a spin over to see Hans at the asylum.

Peter jumped into his new car and adjusted the shades on his eyes. He wore the shades so that he would at times look cool, not because of the bright sun overhead because there was no sun in the sky. Mousetown unfortunately did not have a sun, not even a moon. Peter gunned the engine and soon was on his way over to see his used-to-be-close-friend Hans at the Insane Asylum, near Loon Woods.

Hans used to be a close friend of Peters but now was only a friend. Hans had tried to kill a mutual friend of both of them, a fellow who went by the name of Wild Bill Totem, by feeding him some highly potent and poisonous mushrooms in a birthday cake. It was Wild Bill’s birthday when the police and EMS had arrived. Hans was running around the house, banging his head against the walls, screaming and jumping up and down and claiming that the devil made him do it, and that he believed in trees. The deranged mouse was put in the institution that Peter was bound for now. Peter was well aware that now he had not a close friend in the Insane Asylum but only a friend in Hans, and it bought tears to his eyes and he reached for a tissue. He was on the way to see the former close friend and sped along the road at a high rate of speed. You just never know when old Hans might try to kill me, thought Peter. He seems to enjoy killing mice. I think that he might have a mental problem, ’deed I do.

The mice in Mousetown knew that Hans had killed other mice also and had been suspected of possibly killing another several dozen others. There was just not enough proof. Peter pulled up in front of the administration building. Several hundred patients watched and waved at the rodent as he made his way to the front door and went to the large room where the patients were brought out to see visitors. On the ride up the driveway, the rodent had noticed the hundreds of patients milling about, seemingly in a trance. Many of them were moaning and looking at the ground. Several of them carried stuffed animals and dolls in their arms. Many of the women and young lady mice thought that they were their babies. One elderly lady wearing some fake antlers on her head was pushing a wheelbarrow around with a stuffed rat in it. Another old lady threw her stuffed pig through Peter’s open window as he passed, and he caught it and tenderly gave it back to her with his paw. Another patient, which Peter recognized as Psycho Bob, who had chased the Mayor one day with a pitchfork, threw a large pebble at Peter’s car putting a dent in the brand-new, shiny blue car. Peter grinned and drove on by. Some weird ducks here, thought Peter as he strutted through the front door of the building and signed the visitor’s book under the watchful eye of a heavily armed mouse sporting a machine gun slung over one of his shoulders. As Peter walked down the hall, a knife suddenly appeared in the wall next to him, knocking plaster onto the floor. Someone had thrown the knife at Peter and had just missed the rodent by inches. Peter glanced across the hall and noticed that a patient who went by the name of Ogopete Reolobogus was leaning against the opposite wall about twenty feet away, grinning at him. Peter did not bat an eye and grinned back and gave the fellow a paws up and opened the door to the living room where he was heading for. Peter went into the room that was officially called a reception room and jumped up on top of a expensive recently polished grand piano and started jumping up and down and running up and down on top of the piano keys, creating music. This was the custom that he and his friend, although no longer a close friend, Hans were used to. And when minutes later Hans was led into the room, he also leaped onto the piano and started running on the keys, creating music. The two rodents performed for several minutes, and when they were through creating the beautiful tunes, gathered attendants and other visitors in the room or in the outer hall clapped their paws and cheered at the music created by the two creative rodents. The two ran around on top of the piano for several more minutes because of all the attention before finally finishing. When they grew tired, the friends sat down in a well-cushioned chaise lounge and rested. The two, now only as previously mentioned—friends and not close friends, bantered and giggled and threw popcorn on the floor. They had been eating some of the Insane Asylum issued popcorn popped strictly by the patients to take away some of the tension in the facility.

Hans winked at Peter and opened a paper bag that he had been carrying, after peering around to make sure that no one was looking. There was a ripple of paper and Hans pulled out a long tail belonging to a mouse that the bag had contained. Peter jumped up in surprise when he saw the tail and asked his friend where he obtained the tail. Hans stated that he had obtained the blood-stained tail on a day trip. Hans was allowed to go on field trips, also known as day trips on the grounds of the asylum in an effort to cure him. The doctors thought that Hans was suited to go by himself once a day. He was allowed to go by himself and to try and get back to nature while out walking. He was required to talk out loud and repeat the words several hundred times that I will not kill anyone anymore and that I will be a good and a kind rodent and a decent fellow at all times.

It was in the woods one day when Hans heard a noise in the sky and, a few minutes later, came across the remains of a spacecraft that had just crashed but did not catch fire. Hans found the head of the pilot lying on the ground with some squirrels sniffing it and shooed them away and covered it with leaves. No one knew about the crash except him and he was not going to tell anyone about it. It was going to be Han’s own little secret. Tee-hee. He had wandered around the area all day, giggling and ogling at the wreckage. He had found the body of the pilot and noticed that his tail was hanging in a tree. Hans climbed up and grabbed it with his paw and put it in his pocket. He told Peter that he was the only rodent who knew where the wreckage was.

Peter realized that this spaceship that Hans spoke of had to be the same one that had been on the radio and TV the last several days. He must find the location and report it to the proper authorities as soon as he could find the location. Hans swung the tail over his head and did a spot of jump roping and then laid the tail up on top of the piano keys boldly and proudly for all to see. Hans shut the lid on the piano keys, covering up the tail, and then the boys walked out of the room. Hans wanted to show Peter some of the guys at the institution. The fellows came to one of the rooms and they looked through the glass in the window of the room and saw a mouse who though that he was a dog sitting on the floor, which was strewn with newspapers. A friendly tour guide who worked part-time at the asylum came up and told the rodents that the mouse inside the room thought that he was a dog named Butt. The guide told the mice that the mouse named Butch used to be known as Fletcher Rabbit. That was his given name, but he had gone to court and had the name changed. The patient was now a ward of the town. He was given dog bones and dog food on a regular basis. Peter was shown another patient that thought that he was a cow, a young heifer, and he went around mooing all day long, carrying a pail of milk and wore a cowbell around his neck. Peter saw nearly a hundred patients in the next several hours, including a fellow by the name of Stump Cribbage. Stump would dive into the swimming pool at the asylum a hundreds times a day. The only problem, however, was that there was no water in the pool, and Stump kept breaking bones and was covered in casts most of the time. These are some strange ducks here, said Peter as the two rodents left the building and entered the dark and forbidding woods surrounding the asylum with Hans leading the way, smirking. Hans was warned by the attendants not to kill anyone, or it would look bad on his record, and he growled back in his usually friendly fashion, putting everyone at ease.

After a fifteen-minute walk, the fellow rodents reached a clearing, and Peter saw the wreckage of the spacecraft that had crashed a few days earlier into a clump of trees, and no one except Hans had known about it. The body of the dead mouse was still inside the mangled craft minus his tail, which now lay on top of the piano keys in the grand piano in the administration building. Peter would have to report the incident as soon as he got back to Mousetown. He looked around and saw that Hans was missing. Where was Hans? Peter called out his friend’s name several times, but there was no answer, only an eerie silence. What had happened to Hans? Peter started to feel a bit uneasy and peered around. Was he in any danger? The rodent ran out of the woods and found that Hans had not come back to the Insane Asylum. He rushed inside the building to get the tail that Hans had put inside the piano and found that some youngsters had found it and were skipping rope with it. Peter grabbed it and made his way to his car. He had been warned by the staff at the institution to be very careful at night because Hans was a killer at heart and would kill again. If I was youse, said one of the help, I would keep a knife under me pillow, ’deed I would. That dude is a killer. Peter was sad that his friend had gone in the wrong direction and was a killer now. Maybe the pressure was just to much on the poor mouse. Maybe it was true that Hans was mentally disturbed and had some issues and was a killer at heart. Sniff sniff. For whatever reason, Peter never saw Hans again, or did he? Let’s look a little closer to the events that would happen in the next several hours that was not covered in the first story.

Peter raced home and reported the discovery of the spacecraft in the woods to the Mousetown State Police and told the officer that he was talking to over the phone, a Corporal Bucket Head, about the recovery of the tail belonging to the now-deceased pilot who still lay in the demolished spacecraft or what was now left of him. Peter told the officer that he would send the tail by priority mail the next day for evaluation, paw prints, and other police matters. The police officer thanked Peter for his help and mentioned the fact that a police car would come by Peter’s house during the night to pick up the tail so that it could go with the rest of the body of the dead pilot when it was recovered. Just hang the fellow’s tail on your front door, said officer Bucket Head. We will deal with that. Peter took the tail outside and shook the trail dust off it and hung it on the front door where he usually hung his dry cleaning on for pickup by the dry cleaning mouse, who came by every other day to pick things up. Peter went back inside and shut the door. No sooner had the door shut, several cats, lurking behind some bushes, leaped up and pulled the tail down and dragged it down the street and disappeared. Peter was tired and went to bed and fell asleep content to know that police would take care of business as usual.

At three o’clock in the morning, the clock in the living room chimed three times, and Peter’s pet dog Hermit Crab stirred and turned over and fell asleep again and dreamed of counting pigs. Peter turned over in his bed. He blinked a little in one eye and then opened the other just for a second and saw something. What is that? he thought. Peter sat upright in bed and saw something flashing in front of him. The rodent fell out of bed just as a knife plunged into his mattress to the hilt. Peter was wide awake now and realized that someone was with him in his bedroom, apparently trying to kill him. He had seen the flash of steel in the little light that came from the night light that was plugged into his wall by the bed, the little duck light that someone had given to him last Christmas. Something landed on the floor, and Peter managed to take his shoe and swing it at something in front of him. There was a scream and then some barking as Peter’s dog ran into the room and attacked someone or something. Peter knew that he had a shotgun under his bed and reached for it. He pulled it out and found the trigger with one of his paws and fired, not bothering to aim the weapon. There was a loud explosion, and the part of the ceiling over his bed fell down onto the bed and the floor. He was covered with falling plaster. As he stood up, he saw something in front of him and he yelled. He pointed the shotgun and fired again. There was the sound of breaking glass, and part of the wall was blown out, falling onto the ground outside. Peter rolled under the bed and felt a box of shotgun shells, all the time growling and loading the gun again as fast as he could and cocked it. All was quiet except for the barking of Hermit. The rodent peered from under the bed and saw that who or whatever that had been in his room was gone. He jumped up and, clutching the weapon, ran to the hole in the wall that was now highly visible and as wide as a truck and looked out. There lying on the ground on top of a sea of smoking debris from the wall of Peter’s house was the body of a dead mouse with its head blown off. The whole one wall, including the entire window of Peter’s bedroom, had blown out when the rodent fired the weapon. Blood was everywhere. Peter aimed the shotgun up in the air and fired to warn all the neighbors that it was dangerous to come near Peter’s house and then listened as bird shot and other pieces of metal landed on tin roofs all over the neighborhood with a deafening sound. Then the rodent screamed as loud as he could the words fire in the hole, then he pointed the gun at what was left of the dead mouse and blew the rest of him to pieces as startled area residents ran up to see what was up. Doubting Thomas Jr., an electrical contractor, ran up and, when he saw what was going on, fainted and landed in a bush filled with hornets, stirring them up. An investigation later revealed the head of the intruder had