The family is away for the evening leaving 
Peter Parakeet alone in the house.   Kittypaw 
is hunting in the meadow.  Peter's cage door 
is open and a small light near his cage is burning.  

The supper dishes are still on the table. 
Peter sees two pieces of cheese and a slice of bread.  
The sugar bowl is uncovered and the butter dish 
still holds a butter knife.  Peter does not like the 
table left in this manner, so he is talking 
and scolding rather loudly,  "Tchtchtch,  (whistle)  
Tchtch---Gonna get ya--Tchtchtch--
Peter good boy--Tchtchtch--help help--tchtch  (whistle)"

Flying out of his cage he lands on the table 
and struts among the odds and ends so deftly 
decorating the top.   He pecks at the butter.  
It is greasy ad he wipes his curved bill on the 
table cloth.   He tastes the sugar,  He likes 
it  but it is grainy.  "Tchtch--(whistle)--glad 
to see ya," he mimicries shaking the loose 
grains off his bill.   He pecks at the cheese.  
It is rubbery and smells moldy.  The bread is 
dry and he jumps at the unaccustomed rasp as 
his bill cuts off a crumb.

He flies back to his cage and eats some seeds.
While he is concentrating on his seeds, a head 
with two big ears, two round ogly eyes and a 
sleek grey-furred body creeps to the top of the 
table, snatches a piece of cheese and disappears 
through a knot hole in the smooth plank floor.   
All Peter sees when he looks back at the table 
is one piece of cheese where two had been.

Peter can't count but he knows something is wrong 
so he flies quickly to the table and examines 
the remaining piece of cheese.
    
"Come again Missy Peach!  You come again, Missy 
Peach--Tchtch!"  Peter scolds cocking his head so 
one bright eye focuses on the spot that so recently 
held the other piece of cheese.
 
Mrs. Peach is a neighbor lady and would definitely 
not appreciate Peter using her name in connection 
with "who stole the cheese", but she 
isn't here to hear him.
 
Peter's continuous scolding makes him thirsty.  
Not a drop of liquid is in any of the dishes 
so he flies back to his cage for a drink.  If his 
drinking cup hadn't been so nearly empty he would 
have seen the same round ogly eyes, the same 
great ears, the same sleek grey-furred body  creep 
back on the table and quickly steal the other 
piece of cheese.  When Peter finishes his drinking  
he glances at the table he sees----NO CHEESE!

Indignantly, he flies to the table.  "Tchtchtch--
come, Peter, upsadaisy--Peter, come again,  
Missy Peach---Tchtchtch!" he scolds, pacing up 
and down among the food dishes.  He inspects 
everything but nothing else is missing and nothing 
happens so he finally flies back to his cage, 
sits on his perch and carefully watches the top 
of the table.   He doesn't have to wait.   Over 
the edge of the table two round ears appear, then 
two bright ogly eyes followed by two wee front 
feet and, last of all, a long tail.  The intruder 
sits warily on the table.  Peter doesn't move.  

You and I know this intruder is a mouse, but 
Peter has never seen a mouse.  To Peter this mouse 
is a terrible moon monster.  He stands perfectly still.  
Seeing no movement the mouse bravely carries off the 
dry bread.  He returns for the crumbs and is searching 
for anything he might have missed when the family enters 
the front door.   
The mouse takes final refuge through the knot in the floor.

With the family home, Petter bravely perches on 
the rim of the sugar bowl.   "Peter wants a 
cracker--Tchtch!" he cries hopping onto the table 
cloth to prance around the cheese place.    
    
"Oh look!" Davy shouts.  "Peter has eaten the cheese 
and the bread is gone and now he wants a cracker!"

"Peter--come again. Miss Peach--Tchtchtch--Peter good boy!"

"How could such a little bird hold so much?"  Ally asks.

"Peter, good boy! Peter whistles and flies to the 
knot hole in the floor.

"Peter didn't eat the  cheese," Mother exclaims.  
"He's trying to tell you a mouse did it.  Your father 
was gonna fix that mouse hole in the floor 
two months ago.  A mouse ate it!"

"Mouse ate it-Tchtchtch!" Peter mimics and everyone 
laughs.  Of course, parakeets only have the power of 
mimicry and Peter doesn't know what he is 
saying.  If he knew he would insist it was a 
moon monster.
 
    




HOMEPAGE

Peter Parakeet's Mystery (book 10)