Chapter 5

"So Homer's?" Morty asked from the back seat of Mickey's yellow car.

"He's your uncle," Mickey offered as he kept his eyes on the road.

"It seems a little weird to call someone our own age uncle," Ferdie pointed out.

"You'll have to ask him what he'd prefer," Mickey said.

"I wish our family wasn't so big," Morty mumbled.

Mickey looked up to the rear view mirror, taking in the mouse crossing his arms over his chest as he tucked his chin in, his brother looking at him with worry. "Why you say that?" Mickey asked, turning his eyes back to the road as they came upon a stoplight. He slowed to a stop, still waiting for an answer, before turning to glance over his shoulder.

"You're supposed to be mad at me for wishing that," Morty said, surprise on his face as he looked up at Mickey.

Mickey turned himself back around to look out the window at the world around him, trying to figure out how to answer the young mouse. "Well than tell me why I should be mad at you for that," Mickey settled on, knowing his nephews were smart.

Morty let out a huff of air before saying, "Because that would be as good as wishing them dead."

"Not fully, but the idea is there," Mickey said. "Would you wish Oswald and his family back to Wasteland?"

"No," Morty groaned.

"Sure, our family is bigger than it ever has been," Mickey pointed out, noting to himself the addition of four hundred twenty children to any family would make it large. "But you should never wish it smaller."

"Yes, Unca Mickey," Morty said.

Mickey glanced in the mirror once more as the light turned green to see the mouse resting his head on his hand as he looked out the window. Mickey gently pushed down on the peddle as he focused on the road ahead, the back of his mind worried. Thinking back to what Ortensia had said while they were waiting on the train, he asked, "Do you boys remember when we were going through old family pictures?"

"Yeah," Ferdie said.

"Do you remember what happened to those albums?"

"Auntie Minnie has them," Ferdie said.

"It's aunt," Morty retorted.

Mickey glanced into the mirror to see Morty eyeing his brother, Ferdie looking embarrassed. "I think Minnie likes being your auntie," Mickey tried.

"She's not even our aunt," Morty pointed out as he caught Mickey's eyes in the mirror.

"What's wrong with that?" Mickey asked, unsure how he should feel from his nephew's retort. He turned his eyes back to the road, waiting for Morty's response.

Morty took a moment to answer, Mickey unable to look back at the mouse as he changed lanes.

"It is too much to want proper relations?" Morty asked, his voice quivering.

"Is this about Mom again?" Ferdie asked gently.

"Shut up!"

"Hey!"

Mickey glanced up to see Morty throwing punches as Ferdie held up his arms to protect his face. "Hey! Stop that!" Mickey ordered. Not seeing an end on Morty's part Mickey threatened, "Don't make me pull over. If I do, I will tell your mom."

"Morty!" Ferdie whined as the brother threw one last punch.

Keeping one eye on the mirror, Mickey drove in silence the rest of the way home. The normally short trip from the train station to the house drug on as Mickey found himself filling with worry about the state of his family.

A yellow house came into view, the street side in front parked with two other vehicles. Mickey pulled into the driveway, parking in front of the closed garage, and cut off the engine. Quickly he turned around to look at the mice in the backseat and opened his mouth only to be cut off.

"Sorry Ferdie," Morty offered, looking at his brother.

Ferdie had a hand on the seatbelt clasp, about to unbuckle himself, only to stare at his brother. He took a moment before stammering, "It… It's alright."

A smile grew on Mickey's face as he watched the two unbuckle themselves. He caught Morty's eye and gave him a nod before turning around to unbuckle himself.

The three left the car, Mickey letting the boys lead the way to the front door. As soon as the door was pulled open, the smell of baking filled their noses.

"Mmmm, Mom's carrot cake," Morty said, smelling the air as they stood in the doorway.

"I smell Auntie Minnie's cookies," Ferdie said, throwing a smile at his brother.

As if summoned, Minnie walked out of the kitchen and to the large dining room table already extended out of the room it belonged in with a cookie sheet in mitted hands. She caught sight of the three in the door and let out a squeak of surprise. "I forgot to call you," Minnie said as the three started to walk in. "Ortensia called me on the way home, she needs you three at her place to start preparing some of tomorrow's dinner."

"Okay, we'll head on over," Mickey said, turning to go back through the door. He paused a moment, letting Morty and Ferdie pass around him, before turning back to the mouse disappearing into the dining room. He rushed into the room, taking in Minnie putting the cookies on a cooling rack on the table with her back to him, and put his hands on her shoulders. She stood straight in surprise as Mickey quickly placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Oh, Mickey!" Minnie said in surprise. She looked at him over her shoulder and asked, "What was that for?"

"Just 'cause," Mickey said. "Do you want to join me for dinner tonight?"

"Oh, sorry, I've already asked Ortensia and Amelia for a girls' night," Minnie admitted.

"Oh, okay," Mickey said, taken back. Quickly recovering, he threw out the idea, "Maybe Oswald and Andrew'll wanna do something."

"Whatever you decide, you'd better get going," Minnie said, turning back to scooping the hot cookies onto the cooling rack.

"I'm gone," Mickey said, giving her shoulders one last squeeze before retreating out of the house. He caught sight of Morty and Ferdie just reaching Oswald's house and started running.

"There he is," Ferdie said, pointing towards Mickey as the two stopped on the walkway up to the house.

"We thought you might've ditched us for cookies," Morty said with a smile as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Just needed to find out something," Mickey admitted, slowing down in front of the two. He walked passed the brothers and led the way to the front door. Without knocking, Mickey opened the front door, surprised to find the front entry way devoid of life. "Guess we should go ahead to the kitchen," Mickey stated, surprised not to see at least one bunny. He glanced back at the two mice, seeing Ferdie close the front door behind himself, and said, "Come on, the kitchen's this way."

Leading the way down the front hall, he turned into a room to find a grand dining hall.

"Whoa, how big is this place?" Ferdie asked. "It can't be this big on the outside."

"Some old cartoon physics at play here," Morty realized, looking out a window in the hall. He stopped at one and said, "Ferdie, look at this!"

Mickey followed Ferdie over to Morty and the window to see the backyard looked larger than it actually was. "Right, you two'd never have any reason to go into a place like this before," Mickey realized. "It's not used too much anymore but it used to be common place for the house to be bigger on the inside. But because the inside of the house is squashed in, it makes the outside looked stretched out."

"Weird," Ferdie said, taking one last look out the window.

Mickey turned back to where he was going, heading to the door at the end of the large hall, and heard two pairs of feet following.

"Do you know if anyone's gotten lost in here?" Morty asked as Mickey reached the door.

Pushing the door in he said over his shoulder, "I think, right after the house was built, a number of the bunny children went exploring and were missing for a couple of days."

"And if it wasn't for Oswald, they might still be missing," Ortensia's voice said, turning the three mice towards a large island in the middle of the industrial sized kitchen as she cut up carrots. Keeping her eyes down towards her work she added, "I've asked him to come up with a way to have panels around the house for communication at least."

"That sounds like a good idea," Mickey complimented. "Minnie said you wanted our help?"

"Yes." Ortensia finished chopping the carrot she had in hand into disks before sitting the knife down to wipe her hands on her apron. "Wash your hands and I'll get out the other veggies."