The Rockin' Rodents

Get Good

 When his dad left the room, his uncle got closer and in a soft voice said "Your Dad's right little one, Rock isn't about drugs or women or being famous, it's about the music. You remember that and you won't go wrong. Don't be too hard on your Dad; he's just worried about you. Oh, and be careful of those fat cats."

"Fat cats. What fat cats?" asked Jerry.

"Every rocking rodent's got to go through the fat cats if he wants to get anywhere. Make sure you read the fine print on any piece of paper they give you and be especially careful of David Meowie, he's the worst. Rumor has it he works with a snake now, to intimidate new bands and force them to sign his contracts."

Jerry remembered something from the photo in the magazine. "You mean this cat?" Jerry produced the photo and pointed at the two cats' eyes staring out menacingly from the darkness of the backstage. One was yellow and another was green.

"Yeah, that's him. Here take this, and don't tell your Dad about what we've just talked about." He said as he passed him a card.

Mr. Cheese

Talent scout.

"He's a bit eccentric, a little odd," Jerry thought it best not to mention that his uncle was perhaps the strangest mouse he had ever met, and could only imagine what Mr. Cheese was like, "but he's the funkiest mouse in town and a good skin." His uncle finished.

Before Jerry could ask about what made Mr. Cheese's skin so good and other things, his dad came back into the room with the tea.

"Well, that's that, Francis, I've put the young lad straight," His uncle told his father while giving Jerry a sneaky wink. "You should be getting off now; Ruby will be getting worried about both of you."

Dad put down the teas and agreed. He looked at Jerry and Uncle Eddie with a smidgen of suspicion, as if he couldn't believe it would be that easy, but Uncle Eddie was right, Mum would be worried about them.

"Come again! It was nice to see you both!" Uncle Eddie called from the door as they left and went back to the car.

"What did your Uncle tell you?" his Dad asked as they went back to the car.

"Oh you know the dangers of rock and roll and the importance of school, getting good grades, keeping my nose clean, you know that type of thing," and snakes he thought to himself, snakes! Jerry was scared of snakes.

His father grunted a tone of approval and drove back home. His Dad switched on the car stereo to hide the silence. Immediately a rock song came on the radio, Jerry realized it was Jimmy's old band playing, even though he hadn't heard the song before, now he would recognize Jimmy's playing anywhere. His Dad quickly changed the station to the news with Huey Lewis. Huey talked about the soaring prices of cheese, whilst Jerry's mind spun with ideas of being on stage, how to sneak off to practice and what was clearer to him than ever – he had to form a band and he thought he knew just the two young mice who could help him with everything. He could feel the card from his Uncle in his pocket as though it burned with potential. The visit to his Uncle hadn't quite had the effect his Dad had hoped. Now he was more determined than ever to Rock.

"Is this going anywhere?" asked Ger as he spat out his mouthful of toothpaste as he tried to get ready to work in the music shop.

"Kid, you need the exposition scenes or you won't understand the rest of the story. Anyway, the point is you shouldn't give up on your dreams. You've got to get the band together and play that audition for the TV Talent show," replied the mouse crankily. Jerry was not a morning-time patron saint reincarnated as a mouse by a surprisingly spiteful Buddha, type of creature.

"How?" asked Ger.

"First things first, you need to talk with your bass player's parents and get her back."

"Talk to Mr. Allahabad?"

"Yes, and then we implement phase two?"

"Phase two?"

"Get good!" said Jerry Lee Mouse.