opened. Squeak and Louise scuttled away.
Rolo caught a glimpse of their tails disappear and grabbed the bars. ‘Don’t go. I hate my life. I want to come back here.’
The manager said, ‘Michael Moonwalk Mouse is getting less popular. He needs to learn new tricks.’
The usher asked, ‘Will you be able to teach him a new trick?’
‘If he can’t learn a new trick then we’ll get him stuffed and sell him as an exhibit.’ The manager’s face went stony. ‘It’ll save on the food bill. Come on. Let’s go.’
As the door slammed shut Rolo gulped, buried his head in his bedding and gently sobbed.
There was a flapping of wings. Rolo wiped his eyes, turned and saw Roger.
Roger beamed. ‘How are you?’
‘Roger! Am I glad to see you!’
‘What’s it like being an international superstar?’
‘I hate it and it looks like if I can’t learn a new trick it could be the end for me. I just want to go back to being normal.’
‘I thought you were on top of the world?’
Rolo sighed. ‘No I’m just on a treadmill. I can’t get any sleep, the food is rubbish and there are no films. I want to go back to my old life.’
‘I thought Squeak and Louise were going to break you out?’
Rolo shuffled his feet. ‘Squeak asked me, but he was so smug I couldn’t admit the truth. Then the manager came and they ran away.’
Roger flapped his wings. ‘I’ll go and tell them the truth.’
Rolo opened his mouth to argue then closed it.
Thirty minutes later Squeak was busy working on the cage lock with a bent paperclip when the air was filled with a satisfying click.
Rolo pushed open the cage door. Louise hugged Rolo so hard he thought he’d burst. Rolo and Squeak eyed each other then shook paws.
Squeak said, ‘We’d better get out of here before anyone sees us.’
Rolo held up a paw. ‘We need to free the other animals.’ Rolo jumped along to the next cage and peered through the bars. ‘Elvis. We’ve come to free you.’
Elvis sneered. ‘I don’t want to be saved. I love the spotlight.’ He looked in his mirror and brushed his quiff. ‘I don’t really love the spotlight, but where would I go and what would I do if I wasn’t in the show? I don’t want to spend the rest of my life running around the sewers looking for food and avoiding traps. I don’t want to be hunted, I want to be pampered. I like my jacket and I love the music. I’m not like you, I don’t have friends that want me back.’ And with that Elvis turned away and wiggled his hips. Then he looked back, his face filled with a hint of sadness. ‘All I have is fame. You have something much more important, you have friends.’
Rolo was lost for words. Every cage Rolo went to he heard a similar story. Eventually he scampered back to Squeak. ‘They don’t want to be free.’
‘For some of them this is all they know. You have a life outside of show business. You have Louise, Roger, Froggy.’ He paused for a moment. ‘And me that all want you back.’
Rolo wiped away a tear.
Three weeks later Rolo had put back on some weight and was happily watching a movie with Squeak.
Squeak asked, ‘Do you miss being famous?’
‘No.’
‘Do you ever do your old trick?’
‘I do sometimes, but only in private.’
Squeak looked at his paws. ‘Do you think you could teach me?’
Rolo laughed. ‘Of course I could. But you have to practice.’ He shuffled his feet. ‘And do what I told you.’
Squeak smiled. ‘I could do that.’
Rolo thought for moment. ‘Of course you’ll have to teach me your card trick.’
Squeak grinned.
A few weeks later Rolo and Squeak were moonwalking in unison, with Froggy, Louise and Roger all applauding, when a man spotted them. Rolo and Squeak gazed at him in horror. The man fumbled in his pocket. The animals all scattered as fast as they could.
The man cursed, ‘If only I could have got my camera phone out in time that would have been an internet sensation!’
Rolo peered out of their hiding hole. ‘Never again.’
Squeak patted his shoulder and they chuckled.
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Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this short story. Please let me and others know what you think by posting a review; even a review of few words is helpful. Thank you.
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