Mouse from Space – Chapter 05
Minnie carefully peeked around in the hall before she entered the house, behind her the alien curiously blinked, while he scratched the shirt and the trousers wildly, whimpering a little.
"Stop it." whispered the girl.
"But it's itching. I don't know what you like in these things, but I hate it so much." groaned the other mouse "And I barely can breath." he managed to rip off the shirt.
"No-no! Don't do it. Later I get you a lighter shirt, just hold on a bit more." grabbed his paws Minnie, then took a deep sigh and entered into the dining room. There she found her uncle sitting by the table, reading the newspaper and eating toast with egg. Behind him his wife cooked in the kitchen, humming a soft song with the radio.
"Morning Uncle John. Morning Aunt Ellie." greeted them Minnie.
"Mornin'." the elder man didn't look up from the papers as he answered.
"Ah finally you came in sweet. Take a sit, your friend too." smiled at them Aunt Ellie. Minnie changed a still worried look with the alien, then slowly sat down. The elder female walked to them and placed down a big pile of pancakes in front of Minnie. "Here, dig in." she chuckled then took a closer look at the stranger "And who is your friend?"
"Kinda strange I say!" noted Uncle John, whereof his wife kindly elbowed him.
"Oh ehm... he just arrived to the town and I offered to guide him around. He... he's from a foreign country." Minnie tried to come up with a story, with a hand pulled away the the pancake from the alien.
"Oh really? And which country?"
"Ah ehm... it's far, far away from our home, right?" forced a smile at the other who first tilted his head, then hurry nodded. Aunt Ellie raised a brow.
"He must be a punk!" frowned the uncle again, glancing at them for a moment with a sour look. "Just look at that color and the tattoos..."
"But John!" scolded him Aunt Ellie "We're not racist to judge over people just because they look different. But why not eat dear one?"
"You know, aunt, he has allergy of milk. His... his arms swell up like a balloon. See?" Minnie tried to explain things again, seemed with success. Her aunt let out a soft gasp.
"Oh you poor dear. Then here, eat some toast and egg." she was like a mother hen, kindly clucked as she placed down some plates and a big glass of juice in front of the alien mouse. He was a bit startled and confused by this pure kindness the woman showed toward him. Two little blue spot appeared on his cheek as he blushed. He bowed his head and tried to take one toast and egg, but he didn't know how to use the cutlery.
"Oh let me help." Minnie used the fork and knife, cut a small piece for him and offered it to the mouse "Open up." the alien waited until the elder woman not turned away, then opened up his mouth, showing his big fangs and long tongue. Minnie yelped and quickly fed the mouse. In the next moment she heard a soft crack and the haft remained in her hand "H-hey!" she hissed through her teeth startled "Carefully. The fork is not edible." said and quickly hid the cutlery into her pocket when her aunt returned.
"By the way, we still not know your name." sat next to her husband Aunt Ellie. Minnie almost choked on her pancake. Oh crud.
"H-his name?" stammered.
"Of course sweet. Everyone has a name." smiled the female. Minnie bit her bottom lip, thinking hard. For help she looked around and her eyes were caught on the uncle's newspaper. On the backpage she noticed some smaller article and the Mike Mongrel comic. Mike, Mike...
"Mi...Mi-ckey... His name is Mickey." her face lighetned up by the idea and smiled at the blinking alien.
"Mickey? What kind of name is that?" asked the blue mouse while he stuffed his cheek with toast.
"Sorry... I didn't find any better idea." whispered Minnie, rubbing her ear awkwardly.
"It's okay. I like the name." showed a little smile the male "And this food is really good."
"Oh he has such a cute name." chatted the aunt, watching the mice eating.
The alien, now called as Mickey reached out to try every food the female served up. Minnie warned him which ones contained milk, so he left those foods. He tried the eggs, the bacon, the juice, even he reached for the chili pepper only the uncle ate. Minnie yelped and tried to stop him but he already devoured the green vegetable. She turned white, waiting for the reaction. For a second the alien froze in mid air, then let out a little burp and small fire came out from his mouth.
"Huh! Now this was the best." huffed Mickey with a wide grin. Fortunately none of the adults even noticed it.
"Oh my... you have such a great appetite." giggled at them Aunt Ellie, seeing the big pile of toast and egg in front of Mickey "Just like my dear David..." her smile faded away and lowered her head. The alien, sensing the deep silence glanced up from eating.
"Oh aunt..." muttered Minnie, standing up from her seat and walked to the female, hugging her. Even Uncle John put down the newspaper.
"Ellie..." called her softly and touched her shoulder. Aunt Ellie sniffed and rubbed her eyes a little.
"I'm sorry, just the memories..." she whispered sadly. Her husband embraced the female, trying to reassure her.
"Minnie. There is some case of vegetable. Please take them to the market." John said. The girl nodded, she didn't want to argue now.
"S-sure. Come Mickey." took the alien's arm and dragged him out, leaving the poor couple behind.
Mickey didn't understand the silence and that strange expression Minnie had as she drove the truck. She sighed deeply, her mouth curved down. The alien felt there's something wrong, so he stopped watching the land outside and turned to the girl.
"Everything is alright?" he asked.
"Hm? Oh yes I am. Sorry..." muttered Minnie "I just feel sorry for Aunt Ellie." Mickey wasn't sure what to answer, so he asked another question.
"Who is Daveed?" the girl's lips twitched a little.
"It's not Daveed, but David. And... he was Aunt Ellie's and Uncle John's son."
"Was?"
"Yeah... but he died, many years ago." answered Minnie sadly. Mickey was startled and lowered his head, he didn' waited for this reply. He licked his lips and rubbed his arm, hesitating a little.
"How... how he died?" the female didn't say anything for a long minute, her fingers clenched on the steering wheel.
"War." sneered the word with hate and disgust "No matter how we tried to avoid, the war reached every little country, even this one." explained, while her eyes stared at the road in front of them. Yet, those eyes also looked somewhere else the alien couldn't describe. "One day soldiers arrived to the town, recruiting. David immediately took advantage and joined the army. He said he will come home as a hero. He promised..." her voice choked. Mickey felt the truck slow down and stop in the middle of the road. Minnie placed her forehead against the steering wheel, her shoulders shivered. "...but he never came back." bursted up in tears.
"Minnie..." for the first time Mickey had a strange, squeezy feeling in his chest. He hesitated for awhile, not sure what to do, then slowly reached out and touched the girl's arm. She twitched and looked at the mouse with wet eyes.
"S-sorry..." rattled Minnie and dried her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt "You know... David was like a brother for me. And... no matter how many year passed... sometimes I miss him so much."
"War is this horrible?" muttered Mickey, whereof Minnie nodded.
"It is. Oh I forgot you not know what war means." sighed the female, leaning her back against the seat "War is a really mean thing. Thousands of men go and fight for the nation's good, and die... There's fire, blood, screams, weapon rattles, explosion, everything you can even imagine. It's like the hell itself." this made Minnie grimace.
As Mickey listened her explanation, suddenly he felt a tense pain in his head that made him shout. His eyes grew wide open and his marks flashed. He saw pictures flashing up in his mind, faces he not recognized, but somehow they were familiar to him. In the next moment he stood in the middle of a burning city. The sound of strange explosions mixed with people's scream and the fire's cracking.
"W-where am I?" Mickey turned around confused. The image blurred and now voices echoed in the darkness.
*Give it to me!* bellowed a deep voice.
*Leave our nation alone!* shouted another one.
*NOOOOOOOO!*
*What have you done?* cried a woman. The alien shut his ears, trying to avoid the chaotic mass of noises.
"Stop it... Enough. ENOUGH!" yelled the mouse into the darkness and the darkness shattered with a loud crack.
"Mickey! Mickey!" someone called him on his new name and shook his shoulder. The mouse awakened with a shout, frantically looking around "Mickey, you okay?" Minnie stared at him worried. Mickey gasped for air, his cheek was covered in sweat.
"Wha...what ha-happened?" stammered the alien.
"I don't know... You just flashed up all of sudden and began jerk wildly, meanwhile you rattled on a strange language. I... I was so scared." whispered the girl. Mickey glanced at his marks confused.
"What was this all about?" asked himself "A dream? Or... a memory?"
"Maybe you had seen something? A memory?" Minnie asked like she just read in his mind. The mouse twitched and quickly turned away his head. He did wanted to talk about these shards. Not yet.
"N-nothing clear... just sounds and noises." answered on lil voice. By the reaction Minnie sensed it's not the right time to ask him. She let out a soft sigh and sat back into her seat.
"Better if we go. I want to hurry get over this delivery job." said Minnie and started up the engine, continuing the drive toward the nearest town, Sunny Oak.