The Sizzlemouse

    A tiny mouse scurried across the hardwood planks that made up the floor of the cabin, warmed thoroughly by the heat radiating from the fire in the hearth. Elkwidge watched it carefully, waiting for it to stop. He crouched behind father's chair like a lion prone in the tall grass, waiting for the chance to strike its prey. His diaper bulged out the right side of his romper.

    Eventually the mouse did stop, and Elkwidge seized his opportunity. His father noticed too late what was happening.

    "Elkwidge no! That's a --" but it was too late.

    Elkwidge had kicked the mouse right into the fire, and not a moment later the mouse exploded to the size of a lynx and landed right in front of the fire, smoke swirling from its nostrils.

    "Sizzlemouse. . ." Elkwidge's father finished saying and he grabbed his son and pulled him behind himself. "Don't move." He said.

    For some time, the sizzlemouse stood there growling at the two, and just as Elkwidge's father was about to grab his shotgun, the sizzlemouse began coughing in a smokey fit. He wheezed and sneezed until Elkwidge and his father no longer felt concerned for their lives. Elkwidge retrieved a bowl of water from the kitchen, and once again sneaking past his dad, gave it to the sizzlemouse, who drank gratefully.

    When he had finished, he collapsed onto the floor exhausted. Elkwidge's father cocked his shotgun and took aim, but Elkwidge approached the sizzlemouse a third time and embraced it in a hug like it was his pet.

    "Move aside son" the boy's father said, but Elkwidge simply snuggled into the beast's chest, and the beast embraced the boy like a dog it's master.

    Disturbed, Elkwidge's father lowered his gun, and sat back in his chair, carefully watching how the scene would unfold, ready to shoot should the sizzlemouse attack.