FINDING THE TRUTH
CHAPTER ONE: CAT CALL
"You what?!" Stuart gasped. For some time, he had thought that the mice with him now were his long lost mother and father. Now, Reginald Stout had explained that, no, they weren't, but that some cats had bullied them into it.
"It was either do it or he'd kill us."
"Who'd kill you?"
"Smokey the cat," Camille said.
"Who is this Smokey?"
"The scariest cat in New York City. He is said to live in Central Park," Reginald said.
"Central Park. Mom said that nobody goes in there at night and comes out alive."
"Probably because Smokey is there."
"Well, if he's there, I shouldn't go back home that way."
"You sure you like living with humans?" Reginald asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. They love me!"
"I wonder why Smokey would want to get you away from them," Camille said.
"No idea. I've never even heard of him before. But I'm going back home."
"Stay safe," Camille said.
"Good luck," Reginald said.
"Goodbye fake mom. Goodbye fake dad."
"Goodbye Stuart," both of the Stouts said.
Stuart had almost disappeared out of sight of the golf course when he saw, in his rearview mirror, cats approaching the castle. He had a bad feeling about all of this and slowly backed into reverse.
At the castle, Red snapped "Ok, Stouts, where's the kid?"
"We don't have any kids. We didn't last time you were here two days. You think that we mice breed like-?"
"Don't mess around with us. We're not in the mood. Where's Stuart Little. And I think you two know who that is," Lucky said.
"Who's Stuart?" Red asked. Lucky slapped him in the head.
"It's the mouse we've been sent to scratch, stupid!"
"Scratch, as in back scratch?" Camille asked hopefully.
"No, Scratch as in KHHHHT!" Lucky said, drawing a claw across his throat violently.
"Oh, that Stuart? Yeah, we had him here. He went off to pee. Embarrassing, really, but we don't have any plumbing in here."
"Well, we'll go find him," Lucky said.
"You're going to take out a mouse taking a whiz? Can't you at least wait until he's done and he's back. He might be embarrassed," Reginald argued.
"Don't worry. We've taken out mice in more embarrassing situations than that," Lucky said.
"Yeah, just last week, we took out this couple in behind a trash can who were on their honeymoon, we think. Boy, they were-" Red began.
"I don't think they want to hear the details," Lucky interrupted him.
The cats searched nearby, but were unable to locate Stuart. "Ok, there's no mouse here. What's the big idea?" Lucky snapped.
"Maybe he's going number two," Reginald chuckled nervously.
"Do you have any toilet paper in there?" Red asked.
"Uh..." Reginald stuttered.
"Never mind! They obviously hid him! And if we can't find Stuart, we're going to scratch you two!" Lucky snarled.
Stuart couldn't just let the Stouts get eaten. So he drove right up to the two cats. "Looking for me?"
"You know, I don't think he was off whizzing after all," Red said.
"Ya think!" Lucky snarled, lunging at Stuart. The mouse hit reverse and the cat slammed into the ground.
"Hey Lucky, maybe you should pull the mouse out of the car before attempting to dive on him," Red suggested.
"I'll make a mental note of that," Lucky replied. Red could be pretty stupid.
As the two cats came near, Stuart whacked the side of his car. WHEOW! WHEOW! WHEOW! WHEOW! He'd turned the car alarm up to max volume and had deliberately set it off. The two cats covered their ears in alarm, as it was blaring right next to them. "Get in!" Stuart shouted to the Stouts.
"What?" the two mice asked, unable to hear him over the blaring alarm.
"Get in!" Stuart shouted again, pointing at the car. Like before, the two couldn't hear him, but this time, they got the point. They dove into the car and Stuart floored it, zooming underneath Red, who didn't react in time, and past them and out of sight.
"Hey, stupid mouse, watch it! You almost took off my winky!" Red bellowed.
"Probably would have been for the best. You shouldn't be allowed to have children," Lucky remarked. The cat sighed. Smokey was not going to be pleased!
