Olivia goes West

Chapter 6

The faint smell of cheese casserole drifted from the Mousekewitz home as Olivia and Fievel walked up to it.

"Ye think I still have time to make cheese crumpets?" Olivia asked.

"I dunno, we got back later than we thought we were gonna," Fievel answered.

"Well I could wake up early and make them for breakfast then."

"Okay. We have to see if we even have all the ingredients," Fievel opened the front door, "Mama, we're home!"

"Ey, look what da cat dragged in," came a familiar Brooklyn accent.

"Tony!" Fievel exclaimed excitedly.

He and Bridget were sitting on the sofa, as Yasha and their daughter Aisling, a red-headed little girl in pigtails who looked much like her mother, played with dolls.

"Hi Fievel, hi Wivvie," Yasha said with a grin.

"Wivvie?" Olivia giggled, having never been called that before.

"So is this the little girl Olivia we've been hearin' so much about?" asked Bridget in her Irish accent.

"Y-yes, my name's Olivia," she said, giving a curtsey, but feeling shy around the new people.

"Your mom invited us over for dinner, if you're wondering," Tony explained, "I don't gotta be at work for another couple hours."

"Oh! Well that's great," Fievel said.

Fievel felt like the timing of this was a bit odd. No one had said anything about this dinner in the morning. What was really going on?

"Oh, you guys are back?" Tanya asked, looking around the corner from the kitchen, "Dinner is just about ready. We were hoping you two would show up, what with your busy schedules."

"Very funny Tanya," Fievel said, walking to the table with Olivia and pulling up a chair.

Bridget gathered Aisling and Yasha up and they sat between her and Mama, after she brought in the finished meal and called Papa in from his workshop.

"Mm boy, cheese casserole," Tony rubbed his hands together, "Ya know Bridge, we oughtta come here more often."

"I helped cook this time," Tanya bragged.

"Did you sing out the window so people would throw you the ingredients?" Fievel teased.

Tanya gritted her teeth, "No but I made sure to find a big juicy fly to grind up and put into the part of the casserole I knew you'd eat."

"Ach, enough of zis," Mama scolded, "Mind your manners, ve have company."

Listening to all of this, Olivia had to cover her mouth and try not to laugh too loudly. Having a sibling must be fun, she thought. Fievel inspected his food for fly guts before partaking in it, as Tanya shot him a sly grin.

"So, how has vork been?" Papa asked, hoping to change the subject from Fievel and Tanya's teasing of one another.

"Ah you know, the usual," Tony said, "Nothin' too interesting, besides havin' Nellie there all the time. She interviewed me too, looks like I'm gonna be in da Daily Nibbler again, heh."

"And vhat have you been up to Bridget?" Papa asked.

"I jus' got back from a big protest over at Salt Lake City, fer makin' life easier fer us female mice. We deserve equal pay for equal work, and we deserve suffrage atop that."

"Suffrage? Isn't sufferin' um...bad?" Olivia asked curiously.

"Oh no, it means the right to vote, dearie," Bridget said, "Speakin' o' which, word's goin' around that some newcomer's havin' a rally here tomorrow at sunset."