CHAPTER SIX: STUART RESCUES MARGALO
"Stuart, I'm not so sure I want you to go out fishing. You had that incident with that eagle three days ago," Elanor said skeptically.
"Yes, but it didn't get me, did it? And I can't always worry about what might happen all my life.
"I think that you should play it safe, right Fredrick?"
"Actually, dear, Stuart's got a point. He's 13. Plus, he's got a knife with him, if any bird tries anything, he can defend himself."
"Fredrick, I was hoping you'd back me up!"
"When Stuart's 18 and older and in college or married, are you still going to keep him from doing anything?"
"Ok, fine. But be home by 6 PM."
"That's half an hour earlier than you normally let me stay out till!" Stuart protested.
"Don't argue with your mother!" Fredrick warned him.
"Ok, fine."
As Stuart left to go fishing, Margalo Adler had the same idea: fish! Her two-part stomach was growling. Her food she'd gotten for herself had been confiscated by the flock leadership and she, as a protest, had refused to get any more for herself for breakfast, vowing a hunger strike. That lasted for all of six hours. By 2PM, she was quite hungry. She spotted two fish near the top of the water. If she hadn't been so hungry, she might have noticed that they were ensnared in fishing line, a fishman having cut them loose earlier and the fish had fled with the line and hooks still in their mouths. All she saw in her hungry teenage state, however, were the fish. She began to descend toward them.
Stuart rowed out into the middle of the lake. He could see another eagle coming. No way was he going into the water this time without pushing back. He reached for his knife, ready to use it as a weapon if the eagle came toward him. Thankfully for him, Margalo was too focused on the fish to notice the mouse in the boat. He saw her snag them and then, strangely, fall back into the water. What was wrong with this eagle?
Margalo had been pulled back down by all the fishing line. Worse, the hooks had come to rest in her crop, and she had no way of getting them out. She tried to break the line loose with her beak, but, with it already going down her throat, her efforts only succeeded in getting it wrapped around her beak. She flailed around in the water, trying to free her beak and get air. She knew that she'd soon die from lack of air, if she didn't drown.
Stuart saw the eagle struggle. He was conflicted. That was a predator, who, no doubt, had killed prey, likely even mice, before. If he acted to help her, she might repay his kindness by eating him for her lunch. On the other hand, he didn't even think he could just watch another creature die like that, even if it was a predator. Soon, his conscience won out over his fear and he quickly rowed over to Margalo and cut the lines.
Margalo's beak was free. She shot out of the water. She looked around for her rescuer and her gaze fell, with surprise, upon the mouse. "You saved me! But why? I'm a mouse killer, you know. I'm 13 and I've killed probably over 100 mice in that time. Surely, you must have known that. So, why did you save me?"
"Whatever you are, you don't deserve to die like that."
"You know, I could kill you right now, if I wanted to."
"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't, after me saving you. Plus, I have this. I don't want to have to use it on you, as, well, you look pretty, but I will if it means the difference between me living or not."
"No need. I won't kill you. Mice are off the menu for a good while now. I was just letting you know that I know you took a big risk in rescuing me, considering what I could have done after you'd freed me. I'm pretty deadly as a hunter. I think I could have outmaneuvered that knife of yours. Though I've never faced a mouse with one, I didn't get to be known as of the best hunters, even surpassing most of the adults, in the flock by being weak."
"That's a scary thought. I'm glad I was able to rescue you and that you weren't the one to capture me."
"Who are you?"
"Stuart Little. Who are you?"
"Margalo Adler."
"Well, glad to meet you, and not be eaten by you."
"I won't hurt you. I have a code of honor. It would be base treachery to eat the mouse who saved my life."
"I know that predators aren't as bad as they seem. I'm friends with a cat after all."
"You are a strange mouse, Stuart Little."
"A lot of people tell me that."
"Well, I'd best be going. This has been the costliest lunch I ever had," the eagle chuckled. Margalo took off, casting one more backward glance at the mouse before flying away and out of his sight.
Stuart spent the rest of the day fishing, having no more eventful incidents. He caught three fish, and that was good. Still, talking to an eagle. Most unusual.
Margalo realized that the world was a strange place. Most mice in Stuart's position would have let her die. Especially mice that had heard of her reputation as a hunter. Yet this one, Stuart Little, had freed her, without any guarantee that he wouldn't become a meal for his pains. Part of her wanted to meet the mouse again and talk with him more. Was she going crazy?