The Squeakle family lived in the forgotten basement of the quaint little cottage of Mrs. Fluffenmutter—an elderly white-haired lady whose eyesight and hearing weren’t quite what they used to be. The Squeakles were a bustling clan of mice, comprising Mama Squeakle and her seven spirited pups named Nibbles, Kibbles, Bibbles, Fluffy, Buffy, Stuffy, and the runt of the litter, Pip. Pups, of course, is the name for children who are mice.
After they were weaned, the pups spent their days sleeping and playing games like hide-and-seek and tag. Mama spent most of her day scavenging crumbs in the kitchen upstairs to keep them fed because they were hungry most of the time. Mama didn’t know it, but Mrs. Fluffenmutter dropped crumbs on the floor because she secretly liked mice.
Mama was a single parent. Papa Squeakle had mysteriously disappeared a few days ago, about the same time a new resident came into the house. Mama called him Mr. Cheesepuff, a cat so named because he was large, furry, and orange, and purred as loud as thunder when he was happy—which wasn’t often.
Mama couldn’t guess where Papa went, and she had little time to wonder. The nearly full-time job of feeding her family now fell solely to her, and she would not shirk her duty. She had so far avoided the chubby tabby, who slept most of the day, but lately, she’d seen him prowling by day too, making food searches risky anytime.
One day, as the cat snored in the next room, she darted across the kitchen, gleaning morsels and crumbs from the floor to and from her basement nest. She placed the crumbs in her little makeshift pantry, a cardboard matchbox perfect for food storage.
On her fourth trip up top, she spied a chunk of cheese in a corner she had missed before. She swallowed the crumbs she had already gathered because mama mice need to eat too. She gave the cheese a sniff and put it in her mouth to carry back to her nest. Mama was so focused on her task that she didn’t hear the cat sneak up behind her.
She heard something rustle and whirled around to see Mr. Cheesepuff crouching, a sly grin on his face. Mama froze like a statue, unable to move.
He pounced. She squeaked in fright and dashed towards the tiny hole in the baseboard, the cat mere inches behind. She reached the opening as he took a swipe at her. Although he missed, she felt his claws scrape her back. She ran to her children in the basement, blissfully asleep in their beds and unaware of her death-defying close call.
“Too close,” Mama gasped, her heart pounding faster than a chasing house cat. She knew it was time to address the troublesome tabby that now lived in this house and threatened their survival.
“Family Meeting!” she called, in the loudest Mama-mouse voice she could muster. “Wake up, little pups.” The young mice stirred, rubbed their eyes, then quickly gathered in a huddle around Mama, their noses twitching and ears alert.
“Listen, dear children,” she began, her voice steady despite her close call moments before. “We have a problem.”
“What kind of problem, Mama?” chirped Pip, the smallest and bravest of all the sibling mice.
“A big, furry, orange problem,” said Mama. “Mr. Cheesepuff. He’s not being a good neighbor. He wants to eat us.”
The little mice trembled at the thought of becoming a snack for the cat.
“What can we do?” asked Buffy, the most fearful of the pups. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m scared. We are so small and Mr. Cheesepuff is so big.”
“That is true,” answered Mama, “but you’re big enough to help me now. We must find a way to get rid of this orange menace.”
“Let’s set a trap,” suggested Kibbles, the most impulsive of her siblings. “Papa used to tell us to watch out for the mousetraps. What if we could make a cat trap? We will catch him and tell him that chasing mice is not very nice.”
“Good idea,” Mama answered. “You are all such smart pups. But I think it’s too dangerous. What if we catch him and he gets loose and catches us instead? He will be very angry. And he is bigger, stronger, and faster than us.”
“But not smarter…right Mama?” said Bibbles, the brightest of the siblings.
“No, Mr. Cheesepuff is not smarter than us,” Mama reassured him. “We are far smarter than he is.”
“Then we need to outsmart him,” volunteered Nibbles, always the hungriest of the pups.
Fluffy, whose fur was thick and soft, spoke. “Let’s tell Mrs. Fluffenmutter that he is a mean cat. She will tell him to stop.”
“Hmm…” said Mama, “I don’t think Mrs. Fluffenmutter will understand us. She doesn’t speak mouse.”
Mama noticed the crestfallen look on Fluffy’s face, and she patted her on the head. “It’s a good idea, but this is a really big problem that needs a really big answer. Not all good ideas will work.”
“We need a distraction,” piped up Pip.
“What kind of distraction, son?”
“I don’t know Mama. I haven’t been out in the world to learn many things yet.”
“But I have,” Mama answered, a sparkle of mischief in her eye. “And I know the perfect distraction for a big mean cat like Mr. Cheesepuff.”
“Tell us, Mama!” clamored the little mice as they jumped up and down, tails flicking and whiskers twitching.
“Okay dears, here’s my idea. Catnip. All cats love catnip.”
“What’s catnip?” Nibbles asked, his empty tummy growling.
“It’s a magical plant that smells like green sunshine. Cats are crazy about it,” Mama explained.
“If we give catnip to Mr. Cheesepuff, he will lose interest in us. Then we’ll get all the food we want without him chasing us around the house. I know where to get some, but I need your help.”
“Me, me, me!” shouted the mice in chorus.
Mama raised her front paws in a gesture of silence. “I will need everyone’s help.”
“Pip, you will help me first because you are the smallest. Mrs. Fluffenmutter grows a catnip plant in the window box. It’s closed off with a clear door so the cat can’t reach it. But there’s a tiny space under the door, and a small mouse can squeeze in and get some leaves. Only you are small enough to get inside, Pip.”
“We’ll do it tomorrow,” Mama continued. “But we must be careful. He prowls around at night and sleeps most of the day. Sometimes he’s awake during the day too, so we never know. Cats are strange creatures.”
“In the meantime, let’s eat! A hunk of cheese, and enough for all.” They all ate to their hearts’ delight, and with tummies full, soon fell fast asleep.
The next morning, after a good night’s sleep, Mama woke her pups. “Here’s the plan,” she said. “Pip will go with me to get the leaves, then bring it back here where it’s safe. You will all shred the leaves into tiny pieces and mix them with crumbs.
“He will love it and be too busy enjoying himself to chase us. While he enjoys his treat, we will gather crumbs. If we are fast, we will find enough for a few days. When we are out of food, we will do it again.”
Mama and Pip went upstairs and peeked out of the mouse hole. No cat, no Mrs. Fluffenmutter, nothing stirring at all. They tiptoed into the kitchen as quiet as mice, which was easy considering they were mice. They hopped up to the sink counter and spotted the green potted plant centered in the window box.
The sunlight streamed through the window box, providing plenty of light to do their task. Mr. Cheesepuff was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was in another room or with Mrs. Fluffenmutter. Perfect.
Mama watched as Pip scampered onto the sill of the window box and squeezed himself through the tiny space under the door. By sucking in his breath, he made it in, but it was tight. His nose twitched as he sniffed the plant. Mmm… green sunshine. He plucked a handful of leaves and squeezed back under the door, and he and Mama scurried down to the floor.
They heard a noise, slight but unmistakable. It was Mr. Cheesepuff, crouching in the doorway, purring.
“Run!” Mama shouted. The cat leaped towards them, and they ran as if their lives depended on it, because it did. They zigged and zagged around the table and chairs. The cat lunged, crashing into Mama, knocking them both sprawling across the floor.
As the cat and mouse regained their balance, Pip slipped into the mouse hole. “Mama!” cried Pip. The outcry distracted Mr. Cheesepuff for a nanosecond—just long enough for Mama to make her move. Mama feinted to the side as the cat pounced, missing her by a whisker. She rocketed across the floor, the cat’s hot breath on her heels, his paw grazing her tail as she hurled herself into the safety of the hole.
The rest of the Squeakle clan was waiting, and they shared hugs and kisses and cried tears of joy. “We did it!” exclaimed Pip, waving the catnip leaves over his head. “Green sunshine!”
“That was too close,” panted Mama as she caught her breath. “That furry orange beast will be the end of us.”
The family got busy shredding the catnip leaves into tiny pieces, mixing them with crumbs, until the basement smelled fresh and minty. Mama beamed. “I’m so proud of you all. You are the best pups a mother could ever have.”
“Now, let’s see if Mr. Cheesepuff likes his special treat. Who wants to spy on him?”
“I do!” shouted several voices, but Buffy, the most fearful of the pups, shouted the loudest, waving her front paws over her head. “Please, Mama, I want to do it. I want to be as brave as you.”
Mama nodded, a tear falling from her eyes. “Yes, honey, you can do it. I believe in you.”
Buffy darted upstairs to spy on the cat, and moments later scampered back, her grin stretched from ear to ear. “Cat’s in the cradle,” she said, “snoring like a buzz-saw. I think it’s safe.”
Nibbles and Stuffy volunteered to spike the food. There was no telling when he might wake, so they had to do it fast. Within a couple of minutes they had sprinkled the mixture in his bowl, and were soon safely back in the nest.
Not long afterward, they heard Mr. Cheesepuff meowing upstairs. They rushed up to the hole and peeked out. The big orange cat sniffed curiously at his bowl, licked it, took a cautious nibble, then a few bites. Suddenly, he rolled over on his side, purring and swatting the air at invisible objects.
They cheered and jumped and high-fived each other all around. Now that they knew how to keep him occupied, whenever they needed to go upstairs to get food, they could use the same clever trick again.
For the first time since Papa Squeakle had disappeared, Mama Squeakle felt a sense of relief and pride. Her family had faced danger together and outsmarted a terrifying foe through their teamwork and courage.
From that day on, the Squeakle family lived in peace, as Mr. Cheesepuff, blissfully occupied with the catnip supplied by the mice, lost all interest in hunting them. They roamed the house at will, gathering crumbs and playing games without fear.
Seasons changed, and the pups soon grew up and started their own families as the circle of life continued. For the rest of her days, Mama smiled as she watched her grandpups play hide-and-seek and all the other mice games, without fear of the big orange cat.
And all the while, Mr. Cheesepuff purred like thunder in his private paradise, captured by the strange magic of catnip.
