A Mouse with a Mission

A Christmas Story for the young at heart: Part 1/5

Thud. Thud. Thud. It was the sound of the heavy book being dragged against the floor that he carried around wherever he went. Meet Sundelli, a dark brown one-year-old mouse. He had a sharp and pointed nose and was very sensitive to smell, especially white cheese, his favourite. His furry round body, large pointed ears and long tail felt like he looked like anyone else in his village community, but if you look close enough, he was quite different from the rest. 

It is interesting to know that in his village, everyone was called Sundelli. To make it easier for parents to call their children’s names, they started naming them with numbers.  They would be called Sundelli-1, Sundelli-2, and so on.  His mother called him, Sundelli-53, which was easier for her to remember. 

The mystery book that Sundelli carried with him was his diary. Sundelli was a traveller. He loved adventure. He climbed over bridges, walked through dirty canals, explored dark crevices and skipped through muddy water. He had some incredible adventurous moments. Once, he had a near-death experience. While crossing the fields at night, a brown bat swooped down to try and grab him, but Sundelli was quick, he jumped aside, and the bat went headlong and crashed herself against the wall. Sundelli was pleased with himself. He quickly took out his diary and wrote – “A bat attacked me, but I jumped aside and saved myself. Always remember to watch your surroundings”. He added a smiley face to it.

Sundelli never went outside his home without his diary. Every day he wrote what he had done and learned that day. Once, he noted how he saved Sundelli -5, his cousin, from falling down a pipe. He wrote about how he threw a stone at Sundelli-10, his neighbour and ran away. He wrote about his love for cheese so much so that one day, he saw Sundelli-40 bring a big piece of delicious-looking cheese to school, that without her knowledge, he stole it and hurriedly gobbled every piece of crumb. He wrote everything in his diary. Now, as he filled it every day, his journal became heavier and heavier. But he did not mind because he had gotten used to the weight of the diary that sometimes he did not feel its weight. 

Sundelli was bored and wanted to see the world.  One night when all was at sleep at home, he quietly packed up some food, slung a small water bottle on his shoulder, heaved the heavy diary on his back, and slipped out of his home into the dark night. 

Follow Sundelli’s trail.  Read his upcoming adventure next week…

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