The Halloween Mouse

He'd read books about Halloween. It came once a year, on the last day of October. Each Halloween, children put on costumes and went from door to door, calling "Trick or treat!"

Those horrible creatures hadn't been real. They'd been children dressed for Halloween. Human children, not monsters and ghosts and vampires and witches and mummies and snakes!

"How silly of me to be frightened of them."

And how wonderful that of all the many days and nights of the year Timothy had set out for his great adventure on Halloween!

He suddenly remembered the taste of the candy corn.

"I should go trick-or-treating!" he thought, crawling out from under the leaf.

At the edge of the sidewalk, he looked both ways. Nobody was nearby, so he hopped up and saw that he was not very far from a house. It looked old, dark and a bit creepy. The sight of it gave him mouse-bumps. Then he realized it was silly to be afraid. "I'm a mouse after all---not a chicken."

But then he saw lights glowing in the windows of the next house. Its big picture window was full of Halloween decorations: cardboard witches and black cats and ghosts. Best of all, a Jack-o'-lantern smiled down at Timothy from the porch.

"This is just the house for me," thought Timothy.

On his way to the porch, however, he heard voices and laughter. He glanced over his shoulder.

Here came the trick-or-treaters!

He leaped off the walkway. Hiding in the grass, he watched them.

Timothy got mouse-bumps all over again.

"I hope they are trick-or-treaters," he thought. "Oh, they must be. They have bags for their candy."

He hoped the bags were for candy.

The trick-or-treaters climbed the porch stairs. One lurched past the bright, smiling Jack-o'-lantern and rang the doorbell. Then all of them yelled, "Trick or treat!"

"I knew they were only children," Timothy thought. "I knew it all along."

The door was answered by a woman. Smiling, she said, "Oh, look at your cool costumes. How original!" Then came sounds that sounded very much like candy bumping into other candy . . . candy already at the bottoms of paper bags.

"Cool costumes?---Oh, dear," thought Timothy.

The children said "Thank you." After that, everyone seemed to be saying, "Happy Halloween," and "Thank you" and "Bye!"

Timothy stayed hidden in the grass until the trick-or-treaters were gone. Then he climbed onto the walkway and looked down at himself. All he saw was Timothy Maywood Usher Mouse.

"Oh, what shall I do? I can't go trick-or-treating without a costume! It just isn't done!"

But Timothy was a very smart mouse. He was also well-read and had a good imagination. So instead of giving up, he went to the porch and sat on the bottom stair. "I'll sit here," he decided, "and use my head. That's what it's for, after all. It's not just a hat-rack."

Scratching his head, he thought, "If only I had a hat!"

Any sort of hat would do nicely.

In a baseball cap, he could be a pitcher for the majors.

In a police hat, he could be a cop.

In a beret, an artist.

In a top hat, a magician.

In a fedora, a private eye.

In a ten-gallon hat, a cowpoke.

In a helmet, a soldier.

Sitting there on the stair, Timothy imagined himself in hat after hat after hat.

"But I don't have a hat," he reminded himself. "I don't have a cape, either."

Oh, but if he did have a cape . . . !

Perched on the stair, he pictured himself as a super hero.

as D'Artagnan,

as Zorro,

as Dracula.

"Oh," he thought, "the things you can do with a hat or a cape!"

But he had no hat or cape at all. He had only himself.

"I can't go trick-or-treating as myself. But perhaps I don't need to dress up."

He could simply tap-dance and pretend to be a dancer.

He could act sly and pretend to be a secret agent.

Or stand on his head and pretend to be an upside-down mouse.

"Wait" he thought. "I am a mouse. I don't need to dance or act sly or stand on my head. I'll go trick-or-treating as myself. . . No, wait. That's not done . . . But why not go as a different mouse?

"I'll trick-or-treat as Mickey or Mighty or Jerry or maybe as Stuart Little!"

It seemed like a wonderful idea until Timothy realized that all those mice wore outfits . . . and he had none.

"Ha! I'll say I lost my clothes. Or I borrowed the Emperor's new clothes!"

Timothy laughed at the idea, and as he shook his head from side to side, he saw a large white cat creeping toward him through the grass.

He gasped.

Then he smiled. "That isn't a cat. It's a nice little boy or girl dressed up for trick-or-treating. But what a fine costume it is! It looks so real!" While the cat creeping toward Timothy seemed very large for a cat it seemed very small for a boy or girl. And it carried no bag for its Halloween treats.

"REEEEOWWWWWW"

It was a very cat-like roar and very un-childlike.

"Uh-oh," thought Timothy.

It sprang at him!

"Yikes!"

He leaped up and ran to the banister post and scampered up the post as fast as he could go.

The cat leaped onto the post.