Vinnie the Mouse and The End of the Cats’ World

Vinnie the Mouse is watching his wife, Ada, as she puts her babies to sleep. She is sobbing. She ran out of milk in her breasts and she's worried about their lives. They are twelve altogether and in a week's time they might be asking for cheese.
‘We’ll need loads of cheese to bring all these babies up,’ Ada said. ‘You’re their father, Vinnie! You have to do something about that.’

Vinnie cannot sleep anymore overnight. He spends long hours out in the garden hoping that the moon and the stars will talk to him and tell him what to do. The fridge in the house is always full of cheese, but he is too small and weak to open the heavy door and help himself. The only ones who can pull that door open are just little Honey Dee, or her mother, or Poolfra the Cat.

There was a time when Poolfra opened the fridge and helped herself with a bit of cheese every single day, a time when Vinnie could find enough crumbled cheese around the fridge to keep his hunger at bay. But now Poolfra hasn’t opened the fridge door for ages. Since Honey Dee is feeding her with cat food from the superstore, Poolfra doesn’t do anything but playing all day long with her son, Foolbrick. She almost forgot there was a fridge in the house. And Vinnie has a family now. The crumbs are not enough to bring them up. He needs blocks of cheese.

As he worked his mind out to find a way to provide for his children, Vinnie remembers about Honey Dee’s collection of miniature books. In a tiny library placed on a desk in her bedroom, there are over fifty little books neatly arranged on shelves. They are all written in small print, as small as the poppy seeds he finds sometimes in the garden.

Thinking about them, a bright idea takes shape. ‘Those books can get me out of trouble,’ he says to himself and scurries over to Honey Dee’s bedroom. He jumps on the small table where the miniature library is mounted, pulls a book out at random and returns to his nest with it under his arm.

‘What is that?’ Ada asked him.

‘A book!’

‘We need food, Vinnie, not books!’

‘I know, I know, but this book will bring us food.’

‘A book that brings us food? How’s that?’

‘One day it said on the radio that books are magical things. If you hold one in your hand long enough, it can do miracles.’

‘The kids don’t eat miracles, Vinnie! They eat cheese! Books might do miracles for humans, but not for mice who cannot read.’

The following day Vinnie comes out of his nest with the book in his hands and opens it, leaning against the skirting board. Nothing makes sense in those pages, but he wouldn’t care less. All he wants is to make Poolfra curious.  

Poolfra has just finished her meal and she sees Vinnie with the book in his hand. She cannot believe her eyes. She thought that only humans can read. She comes over, rubbing her eyes.

‘Is that a book in your hands, or I’m dreaming?’

‘A book, indeed,’ Vinnie says.

‘And how did you learn to read?’

‘It probably comes with age.’

‘And what is it talking about, your book?’

‘Oh, you wouldn’t want to know, Poolfra… It’s talking about you, guys. About the End of the Cats’ World.’

Poolfra gaped at him in terror. ‘No! You’re joking!’

‘Seriously!’

A long moment of silence followed. ‘Now don’t torture me, Vinnie! Tell me! I want to know everything.’

Vinnie slams the book shut and puts the heel of his hand on his forehead. ‘Sorry, Poolfra, but I cannot concentrate anymore. This reading takes a lot of energy and I haven’t eaten anything from yesterday.’

‘I can get you some cheese from the fridge, if you want.’

‘Would you do that for me? Oh, you’re a sweetie, darling.’

Poolfra goes in the kitchen, opens the fridge and grabs a block of cheese from the shelf. Her whole body is shaking. She drops the cheese on the floor, picks it up and drops it again. She’s thinking of her only son, Foolbrick. He means the world for her, and if the End of the Cats’ World is near, his life is obviously in danger. She doesn’t want him to die. She has to find a way to save him.

Vinnie takes the cheese from Poolfra and goes home to recover his strengths. As he pushes the cheese inside, he bumps into Ada and gives her a wink. ‘Told you it’s magic,’ he said.  

The following day, Vinnie is out again reading from his book, this time with a new plan in mind. One block of cheese is not enough. He has to secure his family’s supply of cheese, not for just one generation, but for many more to come. He turned the last page in front of Poolfra and closed the book with a worried look on his face.

‘How does it finish?’ Poolfra asked.

‘Very bad, Poolfra! All cats will end up in the street.’

‘In the street? After all these years of superstore food and expensive shampoos? When? How?’

‘It doesn’t say in this one, but I promise I carry on reading. There are still forty-nine left.’

‘Don’t tell me! This is ridiculous. Would you be able to read all of them in your lifetime?’

‘I have a son, Poolfra. If I cannot make it, he will.’

‘Oh, Vinnie, if you make sure he will do that, your family will always have some cheese at dinner!’

Vinnie is so proud about himself. His plan worked out. His family will never need to worry about food for long years to come.

Twenty three days later Poolfra and Vinnie die both in the same day, but not because it is the End of the Cats’ World. They just die like many other cats and mice – Poolfra, hit by a car, and Vinnie, caught in mousetrap.

In his will, Vinnie left a set of instructions for his son, Ginnie. After his father’s funeral, the young mouse reads the instructions and puts the plan in action. He takes a book in his hand, goes out of his nest and waits for Foolbrick to catch sight of him.

But Foolbrick is spending most of his days in the window staring for long hours at a beautiful kitten that just moved in the neighbourhood. She is white like milk, with a little pink ribbon tied on top of her head and eyes as blue as the morning sky.

After spending a couple of days totally ignored, Ginnie decides to make himself more visible. He climbs on the window sill where Foolbrick is set in stone and shuffles the pages noisily at his feet. Foolbrick gets aware of him, but he doesn’t move an inch. His eyes stay glued to the white beauty in the neighbour’s garden.

‘Is that a book, Ginnie?’ he finally asked.

‘A book indeed.’

‘And what is it talking about, your book?’

‘Oh, you wouldn’t want to know Foolbrick. It’s talking about you, guys. It’s a book about the End of the Cats’ World.’

‘Oh! So that’s the book mum was talking about! Then would you mind if I ask you to read it somewhere else, please? I don’t really want to know about it. If I die tomorrow, I still have today.’

Ginnie went back to his nest and spent the entire night reading his father’s instructions all over again. He followed them in detail but it didn’t work. He would die of hunger. He couldn’t survive anymore just from the bread crumbs Honey Dee was leaving behind at breakfast. That was the End of the Mice’s World.

But all of a sudden, a bright idea formed in his mind. He placed the old book back in the Honey Dee’s miniature library and picked up a new one. This time he chose one with shiny covers painted in red and went straight to where Foolbrick made his usual habit to gape at the white beauty in the neighbour’s garden.

‘Is that a new book?’

‘A new book indeed.’

‘And what is it talking about, your new book?’

‘This one is about how you, guys, fall love,’ Ginnie said. ‘It’s amazing! Especially when it says how lovely the white cats are but how difficult is to make them fall in love with you. ’

Ginnie’s words made Foolbrick turn his head slowly to him. Now that was something that really caught him. His astonishment looked nearly human.

‘No! You’re joking!’

‘Seriously.’

Ginnie remembers how his dad ended up in that rusty trap he had always managed to outwit. He died with his eyes open, just an inch away from a meagre piece of cheese bait. Ginnie doesn’t want to end up like his father.

‘Don’t worry, Foolbrick!’ Ginnie continued. ‘Most of the books in that library are about white cats and how you can make them fall in love with you. I’m here to help, my friend. I’m here to read for you day and night until you win your beauty’s heart.’

Foolbrick gets really excited. ‘Tell me something! Anything!’

Ginnie closes the book and shakes his head a couple of times. ‘Oh, gosh! I can’t concentrate anymore. This book reading takes a lot of energy and I didn’t eat anything from yesterday.’

‘I can get you some cheese from the fridge, if you want.’

‘Oh, you’re a real friend, Foolbrick. Would you do that for me?’

Foolbrick jumps from the sill and disappears in the kitchen. Ginnie sighs deeply. He wonders how long it might take until mice will have their own food section in the superstore. Cats have their own. Dogs have their own. Even fish have their own. Does he have to carry that book with him until the end of his life? But then he remembers what his father had told him since he was a kid: “A book is a magical thing. If you stay long enough with one in your hand it can do miracles.” Such a miracle was now right in front of him: a block of cheese enough to last for a full week. And if a book can bring this today, who knows what it might bring up tomorrow?