Story 27: The Dare and The Rescue
September 5th, 1913
The first week at Kingswood Academy was drawing to a close for the children, who were eager to spend the weekend at their homes, especially the Basil twins.
They wanted to invite their new friends, Winnie Fernsby and Milton Romney to their home at Baker Street, which did excite Milton the most as he wanted to meet the famous mouse detective. Basil and Olivia also wanted to meet their children's friends as they wanted to get to know them more.
The week was somewhat uneventful most days as Suzette and her young sister Neveah teased Winnie at any opportune moment, especially when her 'brother' Milton or her friends, John and Leana were not there to stop the bullying.
Winnie did her best to ignore the vulgar comments thrown at her by the Easton sisters and their friends. The friends exchanged their favorite subjects one day at lunch, in which Winnie said she enjoyed astronomy and medical science.
"My dream is to be a doctor or maybe an astronomer," Winnie said, which did excite the twins. She produces a book on the various constellations among the stars in the sky, in which she also made notes. Winnie and Milton mention that the Romney family, Milton's parents would take them to the moors in Exmoor in the southwest of England during the winter holiday and sometimes in the summer.
"It must be wonderful to stay up at night and gaze up at the many stars," John said, while reading over the book of constellations, but stops when he comes across a name 'Draco' for the dragon constellation. "I got it," John whispers to his sister, who was confused, "This will be the name of the black horse at Granddaddy's farm, Draco, sounds good doesn't it?" he asks, to which Leana agreed.
The black gelding who lived at the Flaversham farm went through a 'naming ceremony' in which John proudly gives the name 'Draco' and the gelding did accept his name by neighing in response.
The chestnut mare, however, was still without a name, but Leana wanted to give a good name for the mare. "She should have something similar to 'Draco', but maybe a name of a goddess," she tells her family, who nodded in agreement.
"There are many good, strong names, but it's your choice," her grandfather, John Frederick tells her.
The twins come back to the present as the bell was rung, the school day had ended, in which the school week was over. However, Winnie and Milton had gone to the gymnasium as Winnie had mislocated her locket after physical education class. She got upset during lunch and Milton volunteers to help her look around after their last class.
The Basil twins decide to wait for them by the entrance of the school, although they weren't sure how long this would take as they told their parents they would be home by 4.
Then, a male mouse, a third year walks up to them, "You're the Basil twins?" he asks and they nod, "And you're friends with Milton Romney and his 'sister', Winifred Fernsby?" he asks, again and they nod a second time. He looks around and then leans in close to whisper something, "You didn't hear this from me, but there's a situation at the track field. Your friends are there."
The boy mouse hurries off, confusing John and Leana, but they turn in the direction where the track was. Indeed, there was a terrible situation as the Easton sisters and their cronies were teasing Milton and Winnie with Winnie's locket.
"Oh what are you going to do?" Suzette asks in a mocking tone, "Go down on your knees and beg? Go ahead, beg for your trinket, although rats don't deserve such nice things."
"It's not a trinket, it's my keepsake of my parents!" Winnie pleads, but Suzette laughs.
"Yeah, your mom is dead and your dad didn't want anything to do with you," she replies, which made the twins really angry. They began to run towards the group of bullies, but then one of them steps in their way. "Oh, it's you two," Suzette said.
"Go away," Neveah adds, "This doesn't concern you."
"Actually, it does," John replies and marches up to Suzette, "You give Winnie back her locket or I'll do something nasty!" he shouts in a loud voice, but his sister intervenes.
"John, you can't fight with a peer, you might get expelled," she warns, but he didn't seem to care, "Daddy will be disappointed if you do get expelled, do you want to do that to him?" she whispers and her brother calms down a bit. He didn't want to disappoint his father as Basil wanted his children to get an education and make him proud, although he was always proud of his children.
"Hmmmm, seems we hit a predicament," Neveah said and whispers something into her sister's ear, who grimly smiles.
"How about a trade?" Suzette asks and the friends look at her, "This locket for a cat's whisker," she said and that made the others feel afraid, "Actually, how about the whisker of a newborn kitten?" she replies and her own friends gasp. "And I just happen to know where you can find some kittens."
Suzette leads the way for the group of children mice; they were walking away from the school and then came upon a street where it was a bit of a walk to Baker Street. Suzette stops in front of a dilapidated building, the windows were broken and much of the wooden exterior was rotting away. There was a notice on the door of the building, it read 'Unsafe-Condemned'.
"Many stray cats have their litter of kittens here all the time," Suzette said, then shows Winnie's locket, "You go in there, get a kitten's whisker and I'll give you this, but the whisker has to have the root. No exceptions."
The twins gasp and so did their friends, "But that'll hurt the kitten," Winnie said, but the lead bully didn't bother to listen. "You won't back out on us?" Winnie asks, tearfully. The twins did fail to realize that Suzette, Neveah and their friends would run off with Winnie's locket.
"I'll keep watch," Milton volunteers and his 'sister's' tormentor, Suzette lets out a sigh and sits down on a stone. The Basil twins and Winnie look around for an entry for them to walk through. They find an opening in a crumbling stone and they enter inside the empty building.
"I think this use to be a factory of some kind," Leana said, looking at some discarded spools and some broken sewing machines.
"Maybe a clothing production factory," Winnie suggests, but then rubs the side of her head.
"Are you all right?" John asks, looking into her eyes. "Oh no, you might be having low blood sugar, again," he adds and looks through his lunch sack, but he didn't have anything, nor did Leana.
"Lets find some kittens and get out of here. We'll have Mrs. Judson make you her best cheese crumpets when we get home," John suggests and they look around the place. They comb through the rows of broken machinery and discarded piles of fabric.
Then, they hear the squeaking of bats and look up to see some bats fly above them near the ceiling. They became aware of a new sound, meowing, but these meows were soft and nothing like a full grown cat's.
Winnie, who somehow climbed to the top of a piece of machinery, does a lookout and points to a pile of fabric. "Over there!" she calls out, but she sounded weak. "Come on Winnie! Pull yourself together!" she urges herself and sits down for a moment.
"We better hurry," John tells his sister and they walk to the pile of fabric. To their surprise, there was a litter of newborn kittens, their eyes shut and meowing softly. The mother cat was nowhere in sight.
"Oh, they're so cute," Leana said and begins to pet one. The others began to crowd around themselves, maybe to keep warm, but the kitten Leana was petting starts to sniff the air where the mice children were.
Suddenly, there was a shout, "KIDS! LOOK OUT!" it was a high-pitch male voice, but they turn to see a full grown cat running towards them. Then, something grabs the twins and runs toward a hole in the wall, just as the cat nearly catches them.
The twins look up at their rescuer, a male rat with a big chest and shoulders. "What were you two thinking?!" he shouts, "You're not suppose to-" he stops when he looks at them in the eye. He had bluish-gray eyes, but they were full of shock and surprise. Leana stares at him for a long time, at first, she thought he was Ratigan, but it was obvious that he was not.
John stands in front of his sister and shouts, "We thought you were dead, Ratigan!" he shouts at the rat, which confuses him.
"Ratigan? I'm not Ratigan," he replies, just as they hear the flapping of wings and a small bat appears.
"Ben! That girl is still out there!" the bat shrieks and the rat peers out to see the cat trying to reach for Winnie at the top of the machine.
"Lope, I need a distraction," the rat tells his bat friend, who takes flight, "You two stay in here," he urges and sticks his head out of the hole. The twins see the bat, Lope flying above the cat and taunting her.
The cat abandons her pursuit of the rat girl and tries to catch the bat. The male rat then climbs to the top of the machine, taking Winnie into his arms and quickly rush back down to the safety of the hole in the wall. John and Leana watch their rescuer save their friend, but Leana was in awe of the daring attempt the male rat performed.
The rat lays Winnie down on the ground and the bat, Lope returns to the hole, the cat abandons her pursuit and returns to her litter. "Oh, I was so scared!" Winnie cries out and her friends hug her.
"Now tell us, what are you doing here?" the bat demands, but his rat friend quiets him.
"We're sorry, but we were forced to go and retrieve a kitten's whisker," Winnie replies and tells the two rescuers of their situation, mentioning that her locket was being held for ransom.
"Hmmmmm, I don't like this at all," the rat said and looks to his friend. "Lope, going to need some more assistance," he adds with a grin.
"Ohhhhhhh," the bat chuckles, "Nothing like a good scare to teach those brutes a lesson," he adds and they turn to the children. "Follow us, but keep very quiet," he said and the rat leads them through the space in the wall.
John and Leana examine the rat from behind; he was wearing a loose shirt and a nice pair of trousers, but they were not black in color. The rat had black fur and hair, his lower muzzle was light brown, like Ratigan's, but he did not possess any of Ratigan's evil vibes.
Leana was staring at him for a long time, there was something about him that made her feel safe around him. They step out into the light, but they see the female mice with Milton, they had stayed in the same spot outside.
The rat leads the children to a safe spot in a bush with a good view of the bullies and tells them, "You don't want to miss this." He and Lope the bat then leave; the rat crawls on his stomach towards the young female mice.
"I don't like this, Suzette, we'll get in trouble if those kids get eaten," one of the girl mice said, but her friend ignores her pleas.
"They'll be fine," Suzette replies, although she did sound uncertain as it was quiet and it was getting late. Then, there came a spooky voice and that startled the girls and Milton. "What was that?" Suzette asks and the voice came again.
"You have been very naughty Suzette Easton," the voice said and the group of bullies look around. Suddenly, Lope flies down at their eye level and lets out a cackling laugh, causing the girl mice to scream and they turn to run.
Milton, however, was grabbed from behind and a hand takes the locket as Suzette drops it out of her hand as she ran off with her sister and friends. "Put me down you monster!" Milton shouts, but the rat quiets him down.
He brings the boy mouse to his friends, who hug him and Winnie was delighted as the rat gives her her locket. "Oh thank you!" she exclaims and hugs him at the waist.
Lope the bat returns, he was trying to contain his laughter, "It feels good to give some bullies a scare. Hopefully they won't bother you again," he said. The Basil twins examine the bat, he looked almost identical to Fidget, Ratigan's henchbat, but the children were told that Fidget drowned in the Thames 16 years ago. In fact, both this rat and the bat looked to be far younger than Ratigan and Fidget; they did look to be in their adolescence, at least ten years older than the twins.
"Who are you?" John asks the two.
"I'm Lupus, but my buddy here calls me Lope, an annoying nickname in my opinion, although I'm fine with it, sort of," the bat replies and his rat friend chuckles.
"Lupus? That means 'wolf' in Latin, an unusual name for a bat," John said and his sister nods. They then look up at the rat, his blue-gray eyes were gentle and full of warmth, opposite of Ratigan's cold, empty eyes.
"My name's Benjamin Whittaker, but you can call me Ben, or Big Ben if you like," the rat introduces himself.
"Big Ben? Like the bell at the Palace of Westminster's Clock Tower?" Milton asks and the rat chuckles, again.
"Kind of like the bell, but my friends call me that because I'm big and strong," he answers, referring to the big muscles in his chest and shoulders, and looks at the children, "And who might you be?" he asks.
"I'm Milton Romney, this here is my adopted sister Winnie Fernsby, and these are our friends, John and Leana Basil," Milton introduces for them, then Ben and Lope stare at the twins.
"Basil? You're the detective's kids?" the bat asks, pointing a claw at them.
"Lope, don't point," Ben insists and looks back at the twins, but he gazes at Leana a little bit. "Leana, a pretty name," he replies in a whisper and then clears his throat, "We insist that you be careful of Olympia, the mother cat in there," he said, "She is named for the mother of Alexander the Great, for she is protective of her little ones."
"Olympia," Leana whispers the name and then something clicks in her mind. She found the perfect name for the chestnut mare.
"Listen, it's getting late," Milton said and the others realize that it would be dark soon.
"Let me escort you to your home, at least to Baker Street, it's not very far, but there are some nasty characters that like to hang around these parts," Ben offers and his friend, Lope groans.
"I'm going to have to get ready for school, if I'm tardy, again, my folks will never let me play night ball, again," Lope said and was about to take flight, "Hope to see you kids, again. It has been rather fun." He flies away, leaving his rat friend with the children.
"Night ball?" John asks Ben.
"It's kind of like football, but it's played at night," the rat answers and leads them away from the dilapidated building, towards the warm glow of Baker Street. Leana stares up at Ben for much of the walk towards home; he was rather handsome, but there was something mysterious about him.
"Listen Ben," John said and the rat looks at him, "I'm sorry for mistaking for Ratigan, you sort of look like him."
"It's all right, I get it all the time, not sure why though, but most rats I have met say mice have called them 'Ratigan's devil offspring', even though we have no relation to that monster," Ben said and looks down at the children. He notices Leana staring at him, but she blushes.
"We do want to thank you for saving us," she said, just as they reach Baker Street. "We'll be fine from here," she adds, which surprises Ben.
"Are you sure?" he asks, but then hears the distant chiming of Big Ben, "Actually, I should be getting back home, I have curfew and my pop doesn't like it when I'm late," he said, "But I do hope to see you, again."
"Where do you live?" Leana asks rather curiously.
"By Pedlar's Park, my father and I run the 'best' fish and chips shop in London," Ben replies with a chuckle.
"Across the Thames? That's quite a walk," Leana said.
"Oh don't worry, I know how to get around," the rat replies and watches them walk down Baker Street, but Leana turns around to give him a quick wave and he waves back before turning to leave. He smiles a bit during his walk and he manages to jump onto the footrest of an automobile.
Inside 221B 1/2, Basil and Olivia were concerned as their children had not come home. "I'm calling Scotland Yard," Basil insists, but then, the door opens and the four children walk in. "John! Leana! Where have you been?!" he exclaims, taking his children into his arms.
"We were so worried about you," Olivia said, but turns to see their friends, "Oh, we're sorry, but what happened? We thought you got hurt or something," she adds, but John and Leana summon Mrs. Judson.
They ask her to bring her best cheese crumpets as their friend, Winnie was suffering from low blood sugar. "Gracious me," the housekeeper said when she saw the rat girl's droopy eyes.
Dawson helps Winnie take a seat and turns to Mrs. Judson, "Some food is very much needed for this girl and perhaps some tea," the doctor orders and the housekeeper runs into the kitchen.
"Tell us, what happened?" Basil asks his children. They tell their parents of Suzette Easton, having taken Winnie's locket and telling them to retrieve a kitten's whisker in exchange for the locket.
"You didn't really do it, did you?" Olivia asks.
"No, but we were almost eaten by the mother cat," John replies, which shocks Basil and Olivia, "But we did get rescued by a rat and his friend," the boy mouse quickly mentions.
"A rat?" Basil asks.
"Yes, he saved us and Winnie from the mother cat," Leana replies, but her father did seem unsure about this rat. "He was very kind and his bat friend did give Suzette quite a scare," she adds.
"His friend is a bat?" Olivia asks, "What were their names?"
"The bat was named Lupus and the rat Ben Whittaker, but he said we could call him Big Ben," Milton said, just as Mrs. Judson brings in a tray of tea and cheese crumpets. Winnie takes a bite of a crumpet and begins to slowly eat and drank some tea.
"Oh I needed that," Winnie said. Basil and Olivia look at one another, the only other rat-bat duo was Ratigan and Fidget, but the two had been dead for 16 years. In fact, they did fight them in the dream realm back in June and sent them back to the River Styx.
"I would like to meet this Mr. Benjamin Whittaker some day," Basil said, but his brain started to tick, for some reason, he didn't trust this rat, despite perhaps of not being related to Ratigan.
"So, mom, dad," John begins and introduces Milton and Winnie to their parents.
"I'm really excited to finally meet you, Mr. Basil!" Milton exclaims, but his 'sister' does her best to calm him. "Sorry, it's just that you're an inspiration to everyone in our club!" he nearly shouts.
"I am? Well, John and Leana did mention your 'Detective Appreciation Club'," Basil replies with a smile, "I would like to come and see your club sometime."
"Would you?! That would be so amazing!" Milton exclaims, but Winnie tries to calm him, again.
"Miss Fernsby, I must say, you are looking much better," Dawson comments and the rat girl gives a bit of a smile. "How about you two stay for dinner? Seeing how late it is," the doctor adds.
"If you don't mind, I do need a full stomach before the night is out," Winnie said and Basil nods.
"We don't mind, you two will be our honored guests tonight," the detective replies and has Mrs. Judson retrieve some seltzer water for the children, while he makes a quick telephone call to their home. The children swap stories with the adults, telling them about their first week of school, including their run-ins with the Easton sisters and their gang of bullies.
"I must say, those two girls sound much worse than their father," Dawson comments.
"I think after today, they won't be bothering us for a while," Milton said, "That Lupus gave them the best scare I've ever seen," he chuckles. Both Basil and Olivia, however, were starting to remember Fidget's scary nature as he liked to give rodents a fright, especially Olivia when she was younger.
Mrs. Judson and Rachel prepare a lovely meal with a savory chicken pie, bread rolls and some beans. Winnie ate her entire plate as she was pretty hungry, "This was really good," she compliments on the food, "I would like Mama to make this sometime."
There was a knock at the door, Rachel goes to answer to show an adult male and female mouse, they had slightly dark brown fur like Milton's and were wearing some fine clothes. "Oh! Milton! Winnie!" the female mouse exclaims and the two jump into her arms.
"Are you two all right?" Mr. Romney asks, but they assured them they were fine. Mr. Romney looks at the Basil family and clears his throat, "I can't thank you enough for welcoming our children into your home. Winnie does need to be looked after as she does need food in her stomach."
"Oh I'm fine Papa," Winnie insists, but her adoptive father gives her a concerned look.
"Sometimes I worry about her, mostly if she has plenty to eat at school," he adds, "It does pain my heart that her parents-"
"Joseph, please not now," his wife, Mrs. Romney cuts in and he stops talking. The twins bid their friends goodbye and did look forward to seeing them at school, but they were eager to join them at their club.
"Oh yes," Mr. Romney said and writes something down, "You can come this weekend if you like," he adds, showing the address on the slip of paper.
"Pa, they need to get ready for the initiation ceremony first," Milton whispers and quickly writes something down, then gives it to his friends, "Recite these words over the weekend and you'll be full members."
"All right, we will," John said and the Romney family bids them a good night as they departed.
"Those two are quite lovely, I would like to see them, again," Olivia comments on her children's friends and her husband nods, he would like to see them, again as well.
The family settles down for the night, ready to go to the dream realm to visit their friends and relatives. "Leana, I am thinking we should meet Ben and Lupus, again sometime," John tells his sister while lying in his bed.
"I would like to see him again," she replies in a dreamy voice, but her brother looks at her in confusion.
"Do you like him?" he asks, but Leana doesn't give an answer right away, "Remember what Fonso said? Don't fall in love with a total stranger without getting to know them," John warns.
"I know, and we should make some time to get to know Ben when we see him," she replies and gasps, "Oh, I have the perfect name for the mare, Olympia."
"After the cat?" John asks, but his sister shakes his head.
"No, the mother of Alexander the Great, although her name sounds like a goddess," Leana answers and her brother nods in agreement.
"Draco, Olympia and Hermina," John said, "Quite unusual, but awesome names at least." He dozes off to sleep, but Leana gazes up at the ceiling for a bit; she was thinking of Ben Whittaker, she did wonder if she will see him, again. A smile forms on her face and she falls asleep.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
In a building near Pedlar's Park, Ben lets himself in through the door leading to the rodent quarters, but the rodents' fish and chips shop at the front end was closed up for the night. "Ben, is that you?" he hears a male voice, it was his father, Mr. Whittaker.
"Yes it's me, sorry I'm late," Ben answers and takes off his shoes. He listens to the sounds up in the human quarters above; the building did serve as a restaurant and Friday nights were usually very busy. Ben did like the various smells from the kitchen and he did observe the humans cook from the skyline.
"Where were you?" Mr. Whittaker asks. Ben wasn't sure how to answer, his father didn't want him to partake in dangerous situations, particularly hungry cats.
"I took a bit of a stroll," he answers and looks at a photograph of a female rat, "Hello mother," he said before replacing the dead flower with a new one. "What did you do with the old newspapers?" Ben asks his father.
"In the rubbish bin, why?" Mr. Whittaker asks, curiously.
"I just want to look through them," Ben replies and goes to the rubbish bins in the back of their home. The newspapers were really in a wooden crate, neatly piled up and waiting to be thrown out. Ben takes a moment to locate a newspaper that would have a photograph.
He finds what he was looking for; a black and white photo of the famous mouse detective, Mr. Elliott Basil and his family. Ben carefully tears the photo from the newspaper and takes it in his pocket.
He retreats inside, just as he heard a few humans walking up to their own bins, but were taking a smoking break. Ben never liked the smell of cigarette smoke, it was nauseous and he didn't understand why humans and even rodents liked to smoke.
He then goes to his bedroom, shutting the door and lies on his bed. He then takes the photo out of his pocket, looking at the Basil family, but he gazes at the sweet looking face of Leana, the detective's daughter.
"I don't know why, even though I don't even know you," Ben said in a whisper, "But I would like to see you, again, Miss Leana." He keeps staring at the face of the mouse girl before wandering off to sleep.
From the author: I had to get this out there as it was begging to be told in my opinion. You're probably wondering who Ben Whittaker really is? I don't want to spoil anything, but I plan on creating a story in the future, although it is begging to be told.
See you really soon!