The Mouse Who Didn't Like Musicals

Chapter 4: The After

     The morning after the storm, the sun rose a bit earlier, shone a bit brighter. It seemed perfect, too perfect. All the rain that had soaked the ground the night before was quickly drying, as if it had never been there. It was like the entire planet decided to be...happier.
"They said he would never make it, that the flood waters were too intense. Well, this charming little fire beat the odds, and has warmed our hearts." The news woman said cheerfully.
"The Flame, after his recovery, is now staying with the resident Thomas Jefferson look-alike, and will soon be well enough to educate children once again!"
"Good for him." Brain muttered, dismissing the television program.
Why the scientists left that derivative mush on, he didn't understand.
"But that isn't the only burning hot story here this morning! The meteor-"
Brain never heard the rest of that story, he was already out the door. The road he took to the studio was usually empty at this hour, which was convenient due to his relative smallness.

     Today, however, the streets were bustling with so many people he had never seen before. Now incredibly suspicious, he cautiously wove his way through the crowd. He took his eyes off the pavement for one second, and when he looked up the scene had dramatically changed.  The crowds had started organizing themselves into neat pods, all cheerfully starting their own little dances. In the distance, music started to play, it was odd, but not completely out of place. Brain just tried brushing it off, dodging the many sashays, pirouettes, and poteberes that came his way. Taking a moment to look back at a boy who had just done a very impressive jump, Brain didn't notice someone who was in his way. He ran into someone's leg, falling down onto the pavement.
"Oh. It's you..." He said, standing. It was the Mink from the previous night.
Minerva might have been her name, he didn't care to remember. She looked down at him, with some sort of bright, yet ingenuine smile.
"Look. I'm not all that terrible. I try my best to help the planet and-" But Brain was interrupted. As Minerva began to... sing?

    "Hey, Yeah! Just a typical day! That's got me feeling, in a beautiful way! No rhyme or reason!" She sang, stooping down to pick up Brain by the tail. He squirmed angrily, but just fell into the palm of her hand.
"We could sing a duet! Dance a style or two. Or I'll make you a bet, just a smile will do!"
Minerva smiled, dancing around the street and somehow avoiding every passerby and pedestrian. "Sometimes I just wanna shout on top of roofs and mountain tops that all the world is paved in gold!" Another man appeared beside Minerva, they moved in perfect sync. Still clutched in Minerva's hand, Brain was now more confused than annoyed.
"Is that man with Green Peace too? What is-" He objected, but Minerva kept singing
"Yesterday was retroactive, got myself a new perspective. I strut it up and down the road!" Minerva and her...strange dance partner spun and then broke off, the man giving the now dizzy Brain a cocky smile and wink, before skipping off. It was all...very disturbing.
"So I throw all my worries, and my old skin away."
She continued on, holding Brain now close to her face, as if she willed him to start singing along.
"Doing what I want to, on this La Dee Da Da Day!"
She threw her arms open, losing grip of Brain and allowing him to fall back onto the pavement with a loud -THUNK- He sat up, now with a stinging headache. Suddenly, crowds of people burst from the sides of the street, joining in the song with a relentlessly cheerful,
"La Dee Da Da Day!"
"La Dee Da Da, La Dee Da Da, La Dee Da Day, La Dee Da Da Day!"
Everyone sang joyfully, dancing about the streets and nearly trampling Brain.

     The short chorus repeated, and Brain decided it was time for him to go. He tried weaving his way through the crowd on the road to the studio.
"What in the world was THAT?!" He said to himself, shaken.
Someone crouched down to Brain's level to ask him,
"Spare change for the homeless?" Brain whirled around, startled.
"No, I don't have anything." He said bluntly. The Homeless Man shrugged.
"Hey man, that's cool..." He said, before singing, "Cuz I may not have a home! But that's way okay! 'Cuz I prefer to roam, the streets all day!" 
He stood, dancing away and towards the crowds that had found Brain once again.
"The world is my house! The dogs are my food, oh look, a new blouse! And a new trash tattoooooo!!"
At this point Brain was desperately ready to get to work, which was an indicator at how desperate the situation was. While trying to run, The Homeless Man stepped on his tail, yanking him back to the ground.
"I used to want to kill them all while high on bath-salt-zombie-drugs, while snacking on a dead man's FACE."
"EXCUSE ME?!" Brain yelled, frightened from his position, pinned to the ground.

     "But that just feels like yesterday, the song takes all the pain away, my politics and house views changed!"
During that last line, Brain was able to escape again, once The Homeless Man started walking away.
"Dancing on the concrete, used to hurt a lot, but now I've got new feet, and this jam's just way too hot!"
The Homeless Man did his little dance, while Brain ran, but was stopped again when the mob of singing pedestrians began singing and dancing again.
"La Dee Da Da Day!"
He tried weaving through the crowds again as the chorus repeated once more, but it seemed as though the crowds had known about his escape attempt, as the dances became closer together, formations that were weaving in a way that made it impossible for Brain to squeeze through them.

     "What is going on! I'm very confused and...frightened by all of this!" Brain said, frustrated. He tried to run back to where he came, running to Minerva again, who scooped him up in her hands.
"Do you want to save the planet?" She sang, holding the terrified mouse up for all the crowds to observe.
"Of COURSE you want to save the planet!" The crowds sang back, all staring directly at him.
It was finally then that Brain could notice how every single person in the crowd had piercing, blue eyes that seemed to glow eerily. He contemplated just jumping out of Minerva's hands and seeing what happens, and almost did, when Minerva continued the bridge with,
"Do you want to save the planet!"
"Well there's just one way you can do it!" Minerva put her hands down to eye level, still holding Brain. She stared at him with her glowing, unnerving eyes, as she sang,
"By singing a song, by singing alo-ong!" In the cacophony of voices, Brain decided it was now or never.

     He threw himself from Minerva's hands, and if he gives himself a concussion, he gives himself a concussion. Unfortunately he did not hit the ground, as an enthusiastic pedestrian caught him, and tossed him back to Minerva. He cursed under his breath, while the chorus repeated one last time. The crowd had formed a circle around Minerva, all freestyle dancing around joyfully. All still staring at Brain with those eyes...
"La Dee Da Da, La Dee Da Da, La Dee Da Da Day, La Dee Da Da Day! La Dee Da Da, La Dee Da Da, La Dee Da Da Day, La Dee Da Da Day....away!"
Slowly, each member of the pedestrian chorus left the streets, all seemingly snapping out of their trance and walkling to work. When the chorus ended, it was only Minerva, and the three or four that had started the song.
"La Dee Da Da-ah, Day!!" Minerva belted the final note, finally striking a final pose and holding Brain out in her hands.

     The rest of the pedestrians also posed, staring for some sort of camera or audience that wasn't there, not that he knew of. After an uncomfortable moment of silence, the chorus dropped their poses and ran off, as if nothing happened. Minerva dropped Brain, letting him finally fall to the ground with a comedic,
"TWACK!"
Standing again, Brain shook his head, trying to process everything that just happened. "Okay. Okay." He muttered, finally walking onto the Warner Brothers lot. "Okay, okay. O-okay. Okay!"