The Rockin' Rodents

Placebo

The band took their positions and started rocking on Ger's song under the supervision of a talking mouse.

Ger had never seen the band like this. They worked hard. Johnny and Ariana played with a concentration and determination that he had never seen. The song was rough around the edges at first. Sometimes they were out of time with each other and it took them several tries until it was at least cohesive.

"Again! From the top" was Jerry's only command after every try. On the tenth time, he simply rolled his little paws so the band didn't stop or start but just put themselves on repeat. Occasionally he'd stop them and give short curt commands.

"Johnny! tighten it up a little, if you can't be at least a metronome, you're not much use to us. Girly! How about some harmonies on the chorus?"

Once the song started coming together Ger began to let loose, drawing on the outburst of emotion from before. However this time it was different. This time he had his demons by the tail and he took them and forged them into something else. The tighter the grip he had on that feeling the more he put it into every word, every strum of his guitar.

The last performance of Ger's song when they stopped, as much from tiredness than anything, there was an electricity to the silence. They all felt it.

"Good work! Now you're starting to sound like a band. Tomorrow more," said Jerry Lee Mouse.

"Eh, are we going to address the elephant in the room?" asked Ari.

"Elephant, It's bad enough we have a talking mouse on our hands," commented Johnny.

"What exactly are you?" Ari asked.

"I'm a psychic manifestation of your thwarted dreams and Disney indoctrination, triggered by hallucinatory drugs."

"I thought it was pink elephants," said Johnny.

"Nah, kid. That's a Disney-created myth from Dumbo. Corporate suits pushing alcohol on kids. Buncha hacks!" said Jerry emphatically.

"But Ger wasn't high," Ari confessed.

"It was a placebo. A tropical fruit tic-tac."

To prove what she was saying, she took out a box of tic-tac mints and threw one to Ger and Johnny. Johnny popped it in his mouth.

"Mm, fruity yet refreshing," he said.

"I thought if you thought you were high, if you could get out of that space in your head and, you know Ger..." she said.

"... loosen up a little." Ger finished.

"All right, but that still doesn't explain."

"A genie in a bottle, wishing upon a star, your fairy godmother, the spirits of nature, it doesn't matter kid. I'm here now, just in time if you ask me, or you'd be stuck in this dump the rest of your lives. I'm turning your pumpkin into a Lamborghini. We still have a long way to go," declared the mouse.

"Which reminds me. Where was I on my inspirational story?"

Already warmed up from his pep talks, Jerry launched back into the adventures of The Rockin Rodents.