RUNAWAYS

CHAPTER ONE: JAILBIRD

Mr. and Mrs. Little watched Stuart and Margalo as they landed. The two Littles were glad that Stuart was safe and that his unauthorized excursion into the city hadn't resulted in serious harm or death. Still, they were curious as to why Margalo and Stuart had the missing ring. They had searched all over the house for it the past few days and hadn't been able to locate it.
"Where'd you find the ring, Margalo?" Mrs. Little asked.
"I took it," Margalo admitted.
I never expected you to be a thief. Just shows you that you can't trust anybody in this city, even a sweet-seeming little canary. Elanor thought. "How come?" she asked.
Margalo explained about Falcon and his blackmail. Mrs. Little sighed in relief when she was done. She had been about to seize the canary and hand her over to the authorities. Stealing wedding rings was not something that they tolerated in the Little household! "I guess that you really are innocent in all of this."
Margalo stood there, hesitating. She thought of just saying nothing. While it was true that Stuart knew the truth about her real reason for coming to the house in the first place, she could tell that he wasn't about to divulge this information to his parents. However, her conscience nagged her. They had been so kind to her. She really should give them the truth. "That's not true," she sighed.
"What do you mean?" Mr. Little inquired.
Margalo explained to them how she had faked the wing injury from the beginning just to get Stuart to take her home, so that she could case the house for Falcon and find any valuables to take for him. It was only when she started to grow attached to them that she had been hesitant and Falcon had laid down his ultimatum. She also explained how Falcon had tried to kill Stuart and later, how Stuart had saved her. When she was finished, she found the two Littles glaring at her.
"You know, Stuart is one of the kindest mice out there. You taking advantage of his trusting nature is very despicable!" Mr. Little said angrily.
"I know," Margalo sighed, hanging her head in shame.
"And you know what happens to thieves, don't you?" Mrs. Little said. Mr. Little seized the canary.
"They go to jail," Mr. Little said.
"Hey, go easy on her, she's-" Stuart began to argue.
"A lying conniving con girl who used you to steal from us," Mr. Little snapped.
"It's not fair!" Stuart shouted.
"You know what they say, Stuart. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime," Mrs. Little said.
"Mom, please, she's Stuart's friend!" George protested.
"Real friends don't steal from you," Mr. Little said.

The police came, cuffed the canary, and took her away. Stuart's heart was so broken. This was little better than her still being with Falcon. "You can't do this!" Stuart shouted at them.
"Yes, we can. She broke the law," an officer said. PLLLLLLLH! Stuart stuck his tongue out at the officer as he passed.
"Stuart Little!" Mrs. Little snapped. "That behavior toward the police is unacceptable! You're grounded from skateboarding for the next two days!"
The mouse watched helplessly as the canary was taken away in a police car. He wondered if he would ever see her again. As the Littles too him home, he pouted in the back seat.
"Stuart, I know you're upset, but it's for the best. She was a bad friend for you. And she'll probably do it again," Mr. Little, trying to comfort him.
"You don't understand, she-"
"We understand more than you. You'll just have to trust us. Margalo is more trouble than she's worth. We can't let a thief go free, especially around here," Mrs. Little said.
"And that ring was special. I got it for your mother for our wedding. If Margalo was really your friend, she'd know not to mess with it," Mr. Little said.

Margalo, meanwhile, was taken to a youth jail, and locked inside a room in a birdcage. A teenage girl laughed at her. "Look at the birdie in the cage!" she taunted Margalo.
"Don't bother me!" Margalo said, beginning to sob. Maybe she should have said nothing. And maybe, as bad as it sounded, she may have been better off if Stuart had never come to the Pishkin Building and she'd still stayed with Falcon.

That night, after George, Martha, and the Littles were asleep, Stuart climbed out of bed. He had a plan in his head, and he knew that, this time, he couldn't let George or Snowbell in on it. Snowbell would be reluctant to go again, especially as, like Elanor and Fredrick, he believed that Margalo was just a thief. And George was currently grounded for three days for all the lying he'd done on his behalf. He didn't want to add to that by bringing him into this scheme. Besides, he didn't plan on coming back and he knew George would try and stop him.
He left a letter next to George's bed. It read:

Dear George,
I'm sorry to leave you like this, but Elanor and Fredrick (no, I don't think I can call them Mom and Dad anymore after what they did today) don't get Margalo. They wouldn't give me a chance. Snowbell told me, yes, I can talk to him, I know it will sound hard to believe, found Margalo locked in a paint can and heard she'd been put in there and Falcon planned to keep her in there for a few days. I'm sure he's bullied her other ways and she was so afraid of him that she just did whatever he told her. And since he's her natural predator, I'm sure he's threatened to eat her too, at times. And Falcon's the real mastermind behind all of this, and poor Margalo is the one taking the fall for it. While I think he's dead, and can therefore no longer answer for his crimes, I've got to get Margalo out of jail. She's deserves better than this.
I suppose that I will be a criminal just like her after I do this, and maybe the Littles won't want me either, anyway, or they'll just turn me over to the police if I came back, you know, to punish criminals justly and all of that, so I'm leaving town with her.
I'm sorry it had to come to this, as I really liked being your brother. But alas, things are what they are. I won't forget you. Please send Martha my love.
Love,
Your brother Stuart

With the letter placed by George's bedside, he snuck out the open window and slid down the downspout, taking off on a motor bike, for, of course, his car was in disrepair after being vandalized, and vanished into the night.

Author's Note: It wasn't really my intention to turn Elanor and Fredrick into designated villains for this story, and they aren't, it's just that they think Margalo used Stuart, something they find repulsive, and that she is too dangerous to keep around and she pay for her crimes. They quickly mellow out, as you'll see in the fifth chapter, though they are now kinda stuck with the legal system, as they can't really clear the names of Margalo, nor of Stuart, when he breaks her out, unless they can get Falcon, the real mastermind behind this mess.

Stuart's actions here seem a bit extreme, but given that he's just an adolescent and also attached to Margalo, and also knows the truth, that the Littles wouldn't give him the chance to explain, it sounds plausible that he'd do what he did. Also, he was only with them for two years and maybe he doesn't have a strong enough bond with them yet to want to stay despite what happened to Margalo.

I'm not sure if Stuart is THAT strongly friendly with Margalo to not only defy Elanor and Fredrick, but also defy the police as well. However, given how Margalo is the only friend he has his size, it's not unreasonable to assume that he may do something crazy like that. I also make it known that he's often doing 'act now, think on the bigger picture' later, as Margalo is reminding him in the next few chapters.