Some Try, Brisbys Do

Moving Day

Squeaks filled the lab. Kristy in particular squeaked the loudest as one of the humans reached into the cage and grabbed her. She looked down to see the rats squeaking as humans grabbed one of them.

"Justin!"

The human held a needle and injected Justin with something before putting him back in a cage. Kristy squeaked in fear as she saw the human holding her pick up a needle. She did all she could to get away. She tried squirming in the human's hand. She tried biting his hand. All her efforts proved fruitless as she felt a sharp prick in her belly.

"Jonathan, help me!" Kristy squeaked in pain.

The human put her in a separate cage. She continued to cry in pain as the human then picked up Jonathan and stuck a needle in him.

"Jonathan!"

The human put him in the cage with her. Jonathan curled up as he squeaked in pain. The mice and rats squeaked in pain as the injections the humans gave them began to take effect. The whole room began spinning as the rats and nice felt themselves begin to change.

----------------------------------

"Kristy, wake up!"

Kristy felt someone shaking her, however, that wasn't the only thing shaking. The entire house was shaking. Elizabeth gathered the children.

"Elizabeth, what's going on?" Kristy yawned.

"It's moving day!" Elizabeth said. "The plow's coming! Hurry!"

"You get the kids to safety."

"I can't take Timmy. The chill in the air could kill him."

"I'll take care of Timmy", Kristy said. "Go!"

Elizabeth grabbed the children and ran out of the house to safety. Kristy got up and looked around trying to figure out how much danger she and Timmy were in. Dirt was falling from the ceiling as the house rumbled.

"Oh, Timmy why did you have to get sick?" Kristy asked as she tried to figure out what to do.

Timmy sure was a heavy sleeper. Everything was rumbling and falling apart, but he slept right through it all. Kristy looked around trying to figure it out. The chill in the air could kill Timmy. Why couldn't she just bundle him up in blankets and carry him outside? Kristy screamed as a huge clot of dirt and twigs fell from the ceiling.

"Timmy!" she screamed as the rumbling got louder and more things fell.

The plow was closer than ever. Kristy covered Timmy's body with her own as she closed her eyes. It was the end for them. They would be with Jonathan in a moment.

All at once, the rumbling stopped as things stopped falling. Kristy opened her eyes and looked around. She was still alive. She looked at Timmy who continued to sleep. Kristy went to the opening hole and crawled outside. She jumped when she saw the farmer's plow sitting right next to the house.

"Elizabeth!" Kristy called.

She ran to the tall grass looking for her sister-in-law and the children. Her ear twitched as she heard sobbing. Kristy ran to the sound and found Elizabeth crying while Auntie Shrew watched in disgust.

"He'll come back tomorrow", Elizabeth cried. "I wish Jonathan were here."

"Well, he's not", Auntie Shrew said shaking her head at Elizabeth's actions. "Stupid."

"What happened?" Kristy asked.

"We managed to stop the plow. Just for today."

"I don't know what to do", Elizabeth sighed.

"Elizabeth", Kristy said. "You did what you could. You bought us some more time to figure something out. Now let's go."

They walked back to find the children.

"The Great Owl will know what to do about this", Auntie Shrew said. "You must go see him."

"No, I couldn't possibly do that", Elizabeth gasped. "Owls eat mice!"

"Well, child show a little courage!" Auntie Shrew said. "We're fighting for Timmy's life!"

Kristy nodded. She saw the children sitting by a nearby tree and looked back to the farmhouse.

"Miss Shrew?" she said. "Would you mind watching the children? I need to go and see if a friend of mine is okay."

"You do what you have to do", Auntie Shrew nodded.

Kristy hugged the children goodbye before running off to the rosebush.