The sun rode low in the sky

by the time the rabbits

returned,

walking steadily and slowly

with only

           occasional

an                               hop.

They flopped to the ground

and said

not a word.

The birds flocked

to the tree

next to Gus’s house,

twittering so softly

among themselves

that Patches couldn’t make out

a word they were saying.

Then at last,

the small red squirrel arrived

with his friends,

all of them

dragging their tails

like furry rags.

“There are just too-too-too many

houses

and too-too-too many golden trees,”

the squirrel explained,

“and too-too-too many

watching windows, too-too-too.

I’m afraid we will n-n-never

find your house

and your girl.”

Patches’s

heart

dropped

like

a

stone.

She had been foolish

to leave home

without once

turning

to look back.

She had been foolish

to leave home

at all.

“Oh my,”

she said.

And she gazed

at her tiny babies.

Would she and they

have to make their way

in the world

alone?

And then,

for the first time,

she remembered

someone else.

The mouseling!

The mouseling with

the bright berry

in his mouth.

The same kind of berry

that grew on the bushes

around her house!

She hadn’t told her new friends

about the berries.

She hadn’t told them

about the mouseling,

either.

Maybe,

just maybe,

the bright red berry

came from her bushes.

If so,

surely

the mouseling could help!

And so Patches explained again.

This time not

only

about her girl

and the golden tree

and the watching window.

This time

she explained

about the bushes

filled with bright berries

around the base

of the house.

And about the mouseling

who,

perhaps—

just perhaps—

knew right

where those bushes

grew.

Then,

although it was very hard

for her to leave her kittens,

even for a moment,

she gave each

a lingering lick

and said,

“Gus will watch over my babies

while they sleep.

Why don’t I come with you?

We’ll find the mouseling,

and together

we’ll find my house.”

And so squirrels

and rabbits

and birds

and Patches

set off in search

of a mouseling

who surely knew

exactly

where to find

her house.