Rat's Tail

Second Place, teens' stories

Andres-Arzate |

12/17/2008 - 12/16/08

As Puck, a little mouse who lives in a Bananabees restaurant, finished tucking in his six little mice, he realized the holidays were coming, and he had nothing to give his children. He had been storing things in an old, empty tuna can, but figured they didn't express how much he loved his mice.

As Puck realized he was running out of time, he desperately looked up and down the restaurant for things that people dropped on the floor. He found a couple things, such as a fork, a couple of marbles, a cellphone, and some change — but he knew they weren't good presents. What Puck had in mind was finding some cheese. He knew his little mice loved it, and that a big cheese feast would be a great gift for the whole family.

Every day Puck ran around the restaurant, going up and down walls, under tables and chairs, and sliding through cracks here and there. He found some things, but not enough for what he wanted for his family.

Puck was running all over like crazy when all of a sudden, he saw a waiter carrying a big block of Parmesan cheese. Puck ran to see where they were going to store it. Suddenly, Puck stopped. They were taking the big cheese into the kitchen.

He began making a plan for getting into the kitchen without getting seen, or getting stomped — and especially getting his tail stomped on. Puck thought desperately for minutes, but they seemed like hours. He came up with a couple of ideas, but they were very tricky and needed practice. But Puck knew they would work.

Puck observed the waiter putting the cheese in a cupboard. He knew it was going to be tricky to get in the cupboard and get out with some cheese. He planned to get the cheese at two in the afternoon, for that was when most of the waiters went on break — and he would have less chance of getting spotted or stomped on.

He looked at the clock. It was 1:27, and he still had a long time left before he was going for the cheese. Puck was writing his will and telling his six little mice he loved them very much over and over again, because he was unsure of what was going to happen.

It was now 1:53, and Puck began getting ready to go for the cheese. He kept thinking how great it would be when he got the cheese and how delighted his six mice would be. He kept those thoughts in his mind. It was 1:58, and Puck was in his hole counting back the seconds, which felt like minutes to him; time kept feeling as if it were slowing down.

Two o'clock, time to go. Puck poked his head out of his hole and looked around to see if there were any people. A man passed. Puck stuck his head back in and then back out. No one else passed so he scurried across the floor, toward the kitchen doors. He went toward a dark corner in the wall and kept crawling up and up until he got to a vent. Puck squeezed into it and ran through it until he found an opening that led straight to the kitchen.

Puck poked his head out to see if anyone was there — there was no one but the chef — so Puck ran across the counter, went behind the cupboard, and slowly crawled on the edge, in the shadow so that no one could see him.

Puck was in front of the big hardwood cupboard. He slowly opened it up a crack and crawled in. He couldn't believe that he had actually made it this far.

Little Puck, inside the big cupboard, looked up and saw the biggest cheese in the world. He heard someone coming. He ran and hid behind the monstrous yellow cheese as the chef opened the cupboard and cut off a big chunk of the cheese. He dropped a lot of crumbs.

As he walked away, Puck saw his chance and quickly went for it. He grabbed as many cheese crumbs as he could, came out of the cupboard, and started running across the counter. He slid down a broomstick leaning on the counter and ran as fast as he could across the kitchen.

Suddenly he felt that something was coming straight at him, so he cut to the left and saw a big red tomato splat on the ground — exactly where he was! Tomato pieces flew everywhere, so Puck quickly grabbed some and kept running across the kitchen until he got to the crack under the kitchen doors.

Before squeezing through, Puck looked back and saw the big fat chef running toward him with the broom in his hand, ready to stomp it on him. Puck's heart started pounding so hard it felt as if it were going to pop out of his chest. He quickly started squeezing his way through the crack of the doors. Just before he got through, he felt a hard slam on the floor behind him, and that gave him an extra push.

Puck stood and started running, faster than he ever had in his life, to his hole. He realized that he was almost there — that he had done it — when all of a sudden a big foot appeared beside him. Puck jumped to the right and ran faster, which felt impossible, because he kept getting foot stomps beside him.

Puck was running scared. He was almost there. He could not go any faster than he was already going. He was inches away from his hole when he saw this big boot coming straight in front of him, so he threw the food, aiming for his hole, and then threw himself. The food made it, but Puck did not.

Puck was kicked and slammed into the wall. He was knocked out by the kick, but he was still alive! He stood up and felt something coming toward him again. Without any more energy, Puck felt as if this were it, so he dropped but fell in a hole. As he stood up, he looked around and realized that he had fallen in his hole! He had slammed into the bar stool and fallen down exactly in front of his hole! He quickly dragged himself to the corner and just lay there.

As Puck opened his eyes, he saw his six little mice eating the cheese he had brought them. Then he looked at himself and saw that he was all bandaged up. His six little mice had fixed him up.

One of his six little mice, Junior, came up beside him and fed him some cheese, saying, "Thanks, Dad ... this was the best present ever."