That night Rolo was swaggering around the theatre foyer. ‘The people love me. Squeak is just being an old worry head. Nothing bad will happen.’
His nose twitched as a heavenly aroma reached him. ‘Toffee coated popcorn.’ He licked his lips and moonwalked in the direction of the smell.
Soon Rolo was munching through a trail of popcorn. He slobbered, ‘Delicious.’
Suddenly Rolo was engulfed in darkness and his heart sank. He heard excited voices. ‘We’ve got him! I’m going to be rich!’
Rolo gulped. ‘This doesn’t sound good.’
Rolo was thrown around in the darkness. Suddenly light appeared as he was tipped upside down and landed on some soft bedding. He saw a mesh with a gap in it and desperately tried to get through the hole, but the air was filled with a metallic clanging as the cage door slapped into his nose.
The manager’s face appeared behind the bars. ‘Welcome to your new home. You’re going to make me rich!’
Rolo darted underneath the bedding.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll talk good care of you.’ The manager sneered. ‘As long as you make me money!’
The usher’s face appeared. ‘What are you going to do with him?’
‘He’s going to be on TV. There are a performing rat and a couple of hamsters he can team up with and then he’ll start making me loads of money!’ The manager cackled then raised an eyebrow. ‘We need a name for him.’
‘What about Michael Mouse?’
‘Hmm. Maybe.’ The manager scratched his bold head then clicked his fingers. ‘We’ll call him Michael Moonwalk Mouse.’
Rolo peaked out from under the bedding. ‘Actually my name is Rolo.’
The manager peered into the cage. ‘I don’t know what you squeaked but from now on you’ll be known as Michael Moonwalk Mouse.’
The cage was dropped on a table. The manager went off laughing and singing, ‘Money, money.’ The usher shuffled along behind him.
Rolo cautiously crawled out from underneath the bedding and looked around. The cage was clean, warm and the bedding was fresh. There was a brand new running wheel and water bottle, plus a bowel of food. Rolo settled down on top of the bedding. ‘This is nice. It’s better than the den. The bedding is cleaner and it’s warm. I don’t have to run around to find food. I could get use to this.’ He stroked his whiskers. ‘In fact I think I was born to live this way.’
Rolo heard a scuttling noise then Squeak and Louise appeared. Squeak whispered, ‘We’ve come to rescue you.’
Rolo bristled. ‘I don’t need to be rescued. Look at my nice clean, warm cage.’
‘But it’s a cage.’
‘I’m going to be on TV. I’m going to be even more famous than I am now.’
Louise looked at Rolo. ‘Are they going to take you away from here?’
Rolo swaggered. ‘Yes. I’m going to live in a lovely cage, travel the world and be famous!’
Louise’s shoulders sagged. ‘I don’t want you to go. I’ll miss you.’
Rolo seemed to shrink slightly. He smiled bravely. ‘Don’t be upset. I want to be a special mouse!’
Squeak shuffled his feet. ‘We’d better go.’
The three mice exchanged sad glances then Rolo tried to sound bold, ‘Don’t worry. I’m going to be a star.’
As Louise and Squeak scampered out the door, Rolo felt a lump form in his throat. He clung to the bars and opened his mouth to shout out for them to stop, but the manager appeared. ‘Well little Michael Moonwalk Mouse how do you like your new cage?’
Rolo smiled but his heart felt heavy.
The weeks passed slowly in the theatre. Squeak and Louise saw videos of Rolo on the internet as he became a global superstar.
Louise pottered around the den. ‘I wonder if Rolo misses us?’
‘I’m sure he’s having too much fun to worry about us.’
‘I miss him.’
Squeak gulped. ‘I suppose I do to.’
Meanwhile Rolo sat in his plush new surroundings, a gold running wheel, beautiful bedding and a wardrobe full of sequin jackets and silver gloves for his routine. He looked at the stacks of fan mail and posters of Michael Moonwalk Mouse and sighed. ‘My feet and hips hurt.’ He looked up at the moon. ‘I miss the theatre. I miss my friends. I miss my old bed. I miss the films.’
Rolo poked his nose through the bars and called out. ‘Elvis are you there?’
Elvis Rat responded, ‘Yeah.’
‘How are you?’
‘I’m all shook up!’
‘What’s new in your cage?’
‘My quiffs still good. I can waggle my hips and sneer to the music, so my life is good.’
Rolo was bemused. ‘How did you end up here?’
‘I was caught in a trap and I thought it was the end. But then someone saw my quiff and mentioned Elvis. Next thing I knew I was here. How about you?’
Rolo sighed. ‘I didn’t listen to my friends.’
Rolo poked his nose through the bars again and called out, ‘Hanging Hamsters are you there?’
‘Only me, Harry. The other two are asleep.’
‘I wish I could sleep and had some decent food.’ Rolo looked up at the bright lights. ‘Don’t they ever turn off the lights?’
Harry laughed. ‘They are for the 24 hour “Celebrity Animals” website. People love us so much they want to be able to see us 24 hours a day.’
‘But it stops me sleeping.’
‘Yeah. It’s not the only thing that keeps us awake. I’ve just drunk some water so I won’t be able to sleep for a bit.’
Rolo scratched his head. ‘The water stops you sleeping?’
‘Yeah it makes us all hyper when we drink too much.’
Rolo remembered a film about a drugged man who couldn’t sleep. He eyed his gleaming new water bottle suspiciously. ‘Have you got anything decent to eat?’
‘No. We’ve just got stale seeds, same as everyone else. I heard the usher say we needed better food.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, but the manager said the seeds were going cheap and we didn’t deserve anything better. He wants to keep us lean and hungry.’
Rolo sighed at the sight of his food bowl. He laid down on his bed. ‘I miss toffee coated popcorn.’ He rolled over. ‘I even miss Squeak.’
Rolo’s cage was violently shaken. The manager’s face appeared behind the bars. ‘Stop sleeping! We need you to perform again. Put on you jacket and get ready!’
Rolo shouted out, ‘I’m tired. I need a break!’
The manager glared. ‘Stop squeaking and get ready.’
Rolo crawled to the wardrobe, forced himself into one of the jackets and slipped on a single glittery glove.
Squeak emerged from the den to find Louise, Froggy and Roger gathered around a badge adorned with Rolo’s beaming face. Louise touched the image. ‘Just think we use to know him before he became famous.’
Froggy and Roger nodded.
Squeak coughed. ‘I’m sure we could find him on the Internet.’
Ten minutes later Squeak and Louise were watching a live stream on the internet and saw Rolo being pushed out in front of the studio lights and start to perform to the music. He protested, ‘My paws are red raw! I’m exhausted! I want to stop!’ Louise and Squeak saw his sad face, emaciated body and heard his pleas, but no one else noticed.
As soon as the music stopped the manager’s fat face appeared on the screen.
‘So how did you discover Michael Moonwalk Mouse?’
The next few minutes disappeared in a blur of the manager blabbing on. Then the interviewer drew the discussion to a conclusion.
‘I understand you’re going to put on a show at your old theatre.’
‘Yes. For one night only we’re going back to my old theatre, so make sure you buy a ticket for next Tuesday’s show to Michael Moonwalk Mouse, Elvis and the rest of the stars.’
Louise smiled. ‘We’ll be able to see Rolo again!’
Tuesday arriv
ed and Squeak and Louise crept into the manager’s old office and stealthy moved from one cage to the next. Louise quietly called out, ‘Rolo. Rolo.’
A scuttling noise came out of one of the cages and Rolo’s face pressed against the bars.
Louise gushed, ‘Rolo!’
Rolo’s eyes went damp. ‘Louise!’
Squeak asked, ‘How are you?’
Rolo felt his pride welling up. ‘I’m good. How are you?’
Squeak smiled smugly. ‘Everything is just the same here. We saw you on a show and heard you say you wanted to stop. I’m sorry fame didn’t work out for you. But now we’re here to save you.’
Rolo remembered the card trick and his skin prickled. He leant forward. ‘It did work out for me. I like being famous and seeing the world.’
Squeak flustered, ‘But you look so thin and your eyes are bloodshot.’
‘That just because I’ve been busy doing shows for all my fans.’
‘We thought you’d want us to help you get back to your old life.’
Rolo huffed. ‘You mean come back to being bossed around by you and scavenging for food.’
Louise eyed Rolo. ‘O. We thought you didn’t like doing all the shows?’
Rolo puffed up his chest. ‘I love the attention and glamour’
Squeak asked, ‘I thought you’d like to come back here to live.’
Rolo thought of Squeak’s put downs and bristled. ‘That’s where you’re wrong Mr smarty pants. I love being famous. I don’t get treated like I’m dim. I’m someone. Why would I want to live here?’
Squeak asked, ‘But on the show you said you were tired and wanted to stop.’
‘I was just having an off day. All of us artists are temperamental!’
Louise’s bottom lip quivered. ‘So you don’t want to come back to us?’