Chapter 3

A gray mouse leaned against the chains that bonded him closely with the barred cell walls all around him. Once again he struggled against the jacket, but quickly gave up.

"Here we are, Miklos." Chief O'Hara said as he nodded to the officer on guard to open the cell door. "Dinner time."

"I'm not Miklos." The mouse growled, his head hanging in defeat as the barred door slid open long enough to allow the chief of police to walk inside before slamming shut behind him.

"Sure, sure. Who are you now? Charlie Chaplin?" O'Hara laughed as he stirred the soup in the bowl before pulling out a spoon full. "Come on, just eat this stuff."

"I'm Mickey Mouse." The gray mouse said, raising his head to look O'Hara in the eye.

"Look, mouse, we ran your fingerprints before you woke up and it just came back as a match to Miklos'. Therefore, you're him." O'Hara explained. "So quit trying to prove you're Mickey."

"But I am, chief, why can't you see that?" The mouse defended.

"If I believed everyone, what use of a police chief would I be?" O'Hara pointed out. "Come on and eat."

The mouse looked up at the man before chomping down on the spoon with his teeth.

"After you finish eating, the state's wanting to transfer you to maximum lock up." O'Hara said, feeding the mouse. "We all learned from the last time you came here so don't expect to be able to sneak out."

The mouse grumbled around the soup in his mouth before swallowing.

"While you're still here, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to Mr. Foozle's gold watch?" O'Hara asked with a laugh. "I know how much you like shiny stuff."

The mouse rolled his eyes as he finished the soup, keeping his mouth shut against the retort he wanted to say.

"Alright, hang on a minute while I get all the boys ready and we'll get you on the road." O'Hara said, walking over to the door. The guard opened it, keeping an eye on the gray mouse as the chief walked out.

As soon as the guard turned back to facing away, the mouse pulled again at the jacket holding his arms around his chest. The mouse smiled in surprise only to give up and drop his head as he realized the guard had turned around to watch him.

Minutes passed by before Chief O'Hara came back with four state police officers. Guns out and at the ready, the cell was opened and O'Hara walked in.

"Alright Miklos, let's do this without any problems, huh?" O'Hara asked as he unlocked the cuffs holding the jacket to the wall. He cuffed the mouse to his own wrist and pushed him forwards, "After you."

The mouse trudged forwards, quickly running plans through his mind to try and work out any problems. He sent a quick prayer upwards as they walked out of the building. He went with them until they were almost half way between the building and barred bus before quickly dropping himself out of the strait jacket, tripping O'Hara and sending bullets everywhere as the state police tried to stop him.

The mouse quickly ran away, climbing over the fence that separated the police parking lot from the back alleys of Main Street.

"Quick, he jumped the fence!" a voice cried, as the mouse tried to hide in the shadows. He looked around for a place to hide only to find a dumpster a little ways away. He jumped in just in time to hear footsteps running past. "We can't let him get away again!"

The mouse waited a few minutes before slowly raising the lid to peep out. Seeing the coast clear, he pushed himself up and dropped out of the trash, landing on the ground in his jail black sneakers. He rushed towards the neighborhood, knowing he needed help, and maybe a bath.

As the gray mouse snuck his way through town, in the shadows of early November. He found out it was a little after eight with the townsfolk finishing up dinner. He snuck up to the back door of the rec. center, sneaking through just as the last janitor was closing up for the night. He waited until the janitor's car had drove away before making his way through to the pool's showers. Not bothering to pull off his cloths, he turned on the water and let the water run down his body, turning his gray fur black. The mouse pulled off his gloved, starting to fully clean himself, only to stop and rub his fingers together. He looked at them closer and noticed a thin layer of almost dried glue. Finding the substance on every one of his fingers, he rubbed it off before finally able to get out of the prison cloths.

-.-.-.-

Minnie held Pluto close as Figaro stuck his head into the last of the vanilla ice cream, the living room being lit from the flashing of the TV as they watched an old horror movie.

Pluto barked under his breath as if warning the girl on screen not to open the door only for the three of them to jump in surprise as a knock came from Minnie's door.

"Who could it be at this time of night?" Minnie asked, pausing the movie as she saw it was close to nine. She got up and opened the door only to slam it shut.

"Minnie, please open the door." Mickey's voice said through the wood as Minnie leaned against it, tears going down her cheeks despite her wishes. "Whatever Miklos did this time, I'm sorry."

Minnie opened her eyes at the name. "Miklos?" she mumbled. She quickly wiped her eyes before opened the door again to see Mickey standing there in an overcoat. She turned to the sofa as Pluto jumped down to the floor and cautiously made his way over, his tail down and nose sniffing.

"Oh good, you have Pluto." Mickey sighed, leaning down to hold his hand out and let Pluto smell him. After a good long sniff, Pluto's tail jumped up as his tongue fell out before jumping up and licking Mickey on the face. The mouse found himself in a laughing fit as the dog pushed him down on his butt, still licking him. "Down, down boy, come on. Give me some air."

Pluto backed away, barking a short hello as Minnie helped Mickey up to his feet only to pull him into a hug. "I knew you'd never cheat on me."

"What!? Of course not! You're the only one for me." Mickey said, running his fingers through her fur. "What else has Miklos been up to today?"

"First let's get inside." Minnie said, letting go to look at him. "You look like you're frozen."

"Ya, you wouldn't mind lending me some pants, would you?" Mickey asked, his cheeks blushing as he walked inside. "I had to lose the prison cloths or O'Hara'd find me pretty quick."

Minnie tried to hide a smile as she closed the door. "Ya, I've got something."