by Ron Van Sweringen
“Great,” he said, “someone left the door open.”
“Boy, what a swell pad,” he thought, as he walked around. “Just look at all that glass and light and in a hi-rise too!”
An open floor plan, very modern, with lots of stainless steel and chrome; he liked that.
They even put out some cheese and crackers. Now that’s class, no question about it. 
The bedroom was huge, with plenty of exercise equipment and a fabulous treadmill to take care of his nervous energy.
Yep, he smiled, this would do just fine. It sure beat the heck out of that cramped efficiency he had now.
He was about to stretch out and relax, when out of nowhere a gloved hand picked him up.
“Back to your own cage, Buster,” a voice said.
“I hate that,” he thought.” It’s so undignified being picked up by my tail, mouse or not. ”
All of the pieces of art in this story were done by Drusilla Kehl of The Illustrated Rat. To see more of her work go to her website and check out KRL’s article about Drusilla.
You can find more of Ron’s short stories here in KRL’s Terrific Tales section and more mouse and rat stories in our Rodent Ramblings section.
Ron, you have surpassed yourself as always! One of the delightful aspect of your writing, is your incredible ability to minimalise without any of us realising it!
Well done, my friend.