Edward's Watch Mouse Experiment

Part 9: Squiggles Escapes

Just as we were all settling into bed for the night after our exhausting discussion, there was a deafening crash from the back of our house. We all jumped out of bed and raced out the back door, thinking and hoping that Squiggles had only knocked something over. Our hopes were dashed when we saw our side fence knocked down. I could just see a silhouette of a giant Squiggles scaling the Maddocks' roof and heading off into the moonlight. I caught a glimpse of a frightened Poopy cowering near our shed.

Mr and Mrs Maddocks turned on their back porch light and came out to see what was going on. They were rather surprised to see us all through the knocked down fence, standing in our courtyard wearing pyjamas. We were just as surprised to see Mr and Mrs Maddocks in their long, matching flannelette pyjamas. Mr Maddocks was wearing a light blue fluorescent pair covered with pink love hearts, while Mrs Maddocks was sporting a pink fluorescent pair covered with light blue love hearts. This sight was almost as bizarre as seeing a giant mouse climbing over our neighbour's roof.

Dad had to spill the beans and explain everything to the Maddocks. How else could you defend a knocked down fence, missing roof tiles, dinosaur sized paw prints, a nervous cat and a poo the size of Mount Kosciusko?

Mr and Mrs Maddocks were flabbergasted! Mrs Maddocks spoke. 'How did Squiggles get to be so...so...so...'
'Big?' Dad interrupted.

'Yes...big,' Mrs Maddocks replied. 'Have you been feeding him too much spinach?'
'No,' Dad said, in a matter of fact way. 'It was just one of Edward's experiments.' I smiled proudly.

I don't think Mr and Mrs Maddocks believed Dad's story but, as good friends do, they agreed to help us look for a two metre tall mouse in the middle of the night in their fluorescent flannelette pyjamas.

So there we were, six people wandering the streets in our night wear with torches, looking for a gigantic body building mouse called Squiggles. This was certainly not something that happened everyday. We peered over fences, looked in parks, laneways, car parks, petrol stations and skip bins without success.

In fact it was a good hour or two before we finally found Squiggles, and really, it should have been the first place to look. We found him waiting outside Jim's Gymnasium. Squiggles was looking through the front window at all the exercise equipment. Even though the gym was closed for the night, some of the interior lights were left on and this gave Squiggles a good view of the vast array of treadmills, ski machines and weights inside. Squiggles was really getting into this health and fitness thing.

'I think Squiggles wants to join the gym.' Alyssa said laughing.

Mr and Mrs Maddocks couldn't believe their eyes. If they didn't buy Dad's story before, they certainly did now.
'So what now?' Mr Maddocks said, still staring at Squiggles in disbelief.

'I guess we take him home,' said Mum. There was a pause for a moment. None of us had really thought about what we would do when or if we finally found Squiggles.

'Come on, Squiggles, come here, I have some cheese for you.' Alyssa called out.
You know, sometimes my sister, as annoying as she is, can really come through. She was the only one to think of bringing cheese.

It turned out that Squiggles was really quite submissive, despite his macho physique. He followed us home without a problem - thanks to Alyssa's forward thinking. In fact, Alyssa was so proud of herself that she didn't stop smiling and gloating all the next day. She kept repeating, 'I'm smart, I was the only one to think about the cheese.'

The next day Mr Maddocks helped Dad to tie down some netting to cover the entire courtyard from fence to fence so Squiggles couldn't attempt another one of his fitness seeking escapades. They also fixed the damaged fence. Overnight we had to keep Squiggles in the laundry and he left a not so little deposit for me to clean up in the morning.

I worked out an ingenious way to dispose of Squiggles' enormous poos. I used a spade and wheelbarrow. When the wheelbarrow was full, I would take it to various parts of the neighbourhood and dump the evidence. Local parks, ovals, playgrounds and creeks were my usual places. Occasionally I would disperse the evidence among household wheelie bins left out for collection the next day. Of course I would only do this stealthily and under the cover of darkness. One of Squiggles' poos usually took three wheelbarrow loads, so I was kept extremely busy.