CHAPTER TEN: IN LOVE WITH A PREDATOR?

Stuart couldn't stop thinking about Margalo. She was a friend, despite having admitted to having been a mouse hunter.

"I'm thinking of going to Central Park to go meet with Margalo."

"She lives with a bunch of eagles. They are all predators who would eat you and turn you into bird poop!"

"Peeoop."

"What?"

"Birds only have one hole so it all comes out together."

"Sounds uncomfortable. But anyway, enough about bird splat, it's suicide to go there. Margalo wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger. It's why I don't bring you to cat conventions."

"Cat conventions? What goes on there?"

"Not much. We talk about problems with dogs, the decline in the quality of cat food, which dame is the most good looking, which alleys have the best things, turf wars, the increasing number of kittens to unwed parents, things like that."

"Sounds boring."

"It is, but they provide free herring, and I'll take all the free food I can get."

"Maybe I should bring her some fish."

"I still think it's foolish to go over there."

"Well, she did come to our house."

"Are you going to climb up a tree into her nest?"

"No, it's probably not the best idea."

"Well, you can't call her on the phone. And asking around for where she lives isn't a good idea."

"Well, I have an idea how to see her place, but I need to make sure she's the first one to catch me."

"What's your idea?"

"I could pass for food and-"

"Be careful you aren't passed through a digestive tract!"

"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. But if I posed as prey, then I might get a tour of the nest and then Margalo can fly off with me and pretend to eat me."

"Maybe you should go Dumpster diving first. Then no birds will be tempted to eat you."

"Margalo probably wouldn't be able to stand the smell of me, then."

"So, let me get this straight, your plan is to captured by Margalo, your natural predator, in the hope of seeing where she lives, and not getting eaten for your pains?"

"Well, make sure that you don't get eaten. If you do, make sure that Margalo drops off the pellet to the Littles so that they can't blame me for it."

"I'll do my best."

Around evening, the mouse crept toward a large group of trees near the lake. This, he had been told by Margalo, was where her flocked lived. He looked up and saw the birds. They were beautiful. However, he also knew that they were deadly. And it didn't long for these birds to spot him. "I've already had fish for dinner but maybe I can wash it down with this fellow," one of them said.

"You know, I just went Dumpster diving," the mouse lied.

"Great, junk food," the eagle sighed.

"I'm just off for. ," the mouse said

"Well, this is the territory of our flock," an eagle informed him. "Nobody comes here from the outside without our permission. The snack you seek here will cost you your life."

"Well, I don't taste good due to the Dumpster diving, so I guess you'll have to give me a pass on that one."

"Not really. just wash you off before consumption."

Stuart was starting to panic now. He hadn't spotted Margalo yet. He couldn't get eaten now! "I'll just go now."

He bolted. The eagles took flight, zooming after him. He hoped he could get away. Otherwise, he was going to be turned into a pellet and bird splat.

Thankfully for him, Margalo was nearby. She cut off the mouse's path. At first, he failed to recognize her, as he was in such panic from the pursuing eagles.

"Don't kill me!" he pleaded.

"You're going to die, mouse, just like my other prey."

"Oh no, it's Margalo Adler, the most feared eagle of them all! Truly, I am about to die!"

"Yes, and for daring to invade our territory, I'll see to it that you die of suffocation in my crop!"

"No, not the bird belly!"

"It's not actually a stomach. It just stores food. You should be grateful for that."

"Let me go! I promise to never trespass again!".

"Where you're going, you'll keep that promise!"

She seized him in her beak and snapped it shut. He gagged and reached at the smell of her breath. Digesting fish did not have a pleasant odor! "Don't swallow!" He begged. The mouse was confident that Margalo wouldn't truly swallow him.

Margalo had no intention of truly swallowing him. Still, she had to make it look convincing. Thus, she subtly pushed the mouse to the side of her mouth with her tongue and gulped hard. "So long, mouse!" She said before emitting a belch.

Stuart was glad that he wasn't going down with that gulp. That would have been a mouse unpleasant ordeal. He had to exercise a lot of restraint not to cough and groan when she burped.

The eagles left, thinking Stuart to have been eaten. Margalo flew some distance away and spat him out. He shook off the saliva and tried his best to get it off his face. "That," he snapped, "was disgusting! I thought being in Snowbell's mouth was bad but yours was worse!"

"You're welcome," she said, smirking at him.

"You really should have a breath mint," he said, the foul odor of her mouth still clinging to his nostrils.

"Perhaps you could get me one. Be thankful that you're not smelling an eagle from the inside."

"I imagine it wouldn't smell good," he chuckled.

"I imagine not. And I imagine that if you wound up inside an eagle's belly, the smell would be the least of your problems."

"Snowbell was right. It was dangerous to come here."

"My flock would not like the idea of an eagle being friends with a mouse."

"What's your flock like?" He asked.

Over the next two hours, she told him, not just about her flock, but her life itself. When she was finished, he said "I understand what its life to live with a lot of restrictions placed on me."

He told her about his life living with humans. When he was done, she asked "Have you ever thought of running away?"

"Fantasized, yes. But no, I don't think I will. Where would I go anyway?"

"Perhaps with your own kind."

"You don't get along with fellow eagles. Maybe I wouldn't get along with other mice."

"At least they are picking a wife for you."

"If they tried and I didn't love her, I'd say no. I wouldn't marry someone that I don't really love."

"Yes, but my family might disown me if I picked my own mate."

"Surely they love you. Maybe they have issues, but they still love you. Why not pick a mate that you like and have your father approve of him?"

"My father would have to approve of him. I'm not sure he'd approve if someone that I like. He doesn't like my tastes."

"If the guy can win over your father, then he'd say yes."

"I haven't found the right one for me yet. I'm beginning to doubt I ever will."

"I have similar fears."

"Well, I hope that you find the right one."

"I hope you do too."

"I'd better be going. I need to find some food since I really didn't eat a certain mouse."

"Good luck on your hunt."

"That's odd, coming from you. You know that I've turned dozens of mice into pellets and fertilizer. Doesn't that bother you?"

"Well, it was rough luck on them. But, on the other paw, you do need to eat."

"Yes, I do."

"I hope we meet again."

"Me too. But it's best if you not come here. They won't accept you, except, I suppose, as dinner."

"I'll make a note of that."

As the eagle left and the mouse began to make his trek back home, neither of them noticed Clarice Ekara staring at them, her beak open in disbelief. "Margalo's friends with a mouse?!" she gasped. She wondered if this was some kind of act of rebellion. If so, it was a bizarre one. She would need to talk to Margalo about it as soon as they could get away in private.

As Stuart returned home, Snowbell asked "So, how they'd family like you?"

"I didn't get to meet them. They tried to eat me."

"Surprise. Surprise. Guess you had to learn the hard way. I told you not to go!"

"Well, Margalo saved me, again."

"That was nice of her, though, really, you saved her once."

"I think that I'm starting to develop a crush on her. Is that wrong?"

"You have to ask?"

"Well, is it?"

"Yes! You're not supposed to be together romantically!"