Cherry and Atticus Go West

chapter 4

"Well, we made it, not that it was worth it." Mo said.

"Cheer up, Monique, dear, you'll make new friends." Papa soothed her like she was his foster daughter.

A newlywed mouse couple even moved into a shoe together. Mo just sighed, it made her only think of the wedding she wished to have with Atticus once they would get older. A mouse moved into a boiler and called it 'Home Sweet Home'. Tony and his wife Bridget moved into a teapot together with their child.

"Looks like almost everything is taken." Mo said.

"Papa, quick, quick!" Mama warned her husband to find a home before all the places would fill up.

"Alright, alright," Papa replied. "Ve Mousekevitzes may be slower, but ve are smarter. You see, all these speedier mice are fighting the land, but in this country, you vant to be near the vater." he then showed there was a barrel up on a stand with dripping water.

Soon, the family settled into an open gas tank which gave them a small puddle of water from the barrel.

"Wow." Mo said.

"This is your land?" Mama mocked her husband at first, but then looked sad again. "Ve lost Fievel and his friends."

"Mama, they vill come," Papa encouraged her with a smile. "He's a Mousekewitz and those two vith him have good heads on their shoulders! If ve vork hard, Green River vill be everything ve've dreamed of. The vater for instance... In a few days, it vill be a beautiful vaterfall."

"Well, at least that's something to think about." Mo said.

"That's the spirit!" Papa smiled to her.

"Well, at least it's not going to get worse." Mo said.

However, as she said that, the water stopped dropping and ground quickly dried up.

"Oh, come on!" Mo exclaimed.

The cats and spider even came to see them. The Mousekewitz family stayed close together in case something bad might happen to them. Mo came over to them to make sure the cats or spiders didn't try to hurt them.

The brown cat seemed charming however and was showing he was kind though. "After all, what are neighbors for?" he rhetorically asked, looking to his right hand men. "A cup of sugar, a saucer of cream, a pail of water..."

"Water?" the spider chuckled as he held the bail of water. "I'll give 'em water!"

"I'd like to share a vision," the brown cat said to them, lifting up Baby Yasha from the other toddlers around her age, which worried Mama at first. "A world where cats and mice live and work side by side. A world where mothers raise their mouselings without fear. Where musicians receive their proper due. Where young mousettes fulfill their every, dream..."

The other mice really liked the sound of this kind of world and maybe living in the West wouldn't be so bad.

"Will you help me build this world?" the brown cat smiled to them, which made the mice all cheer in agreement.

'Wow, maybe this guy isn't so bad after all.' Mo thought to herself.

The brown cat, who was named Cat R. Waul, then returned Baby Yasha back to her family and she cooed and giggled in response.

'He does seem nice.' Mo thought to herself.

The mice were going to have to get used to living among cats, but it actually seemed worth it.