Beg, Borrow, and Buy

The next afternoon, Kyle and Mia met Ryan. Their plan was to head to Mr. J’s Pet Haven so they could look at some mice. Mr. J’s Pet Haven was the best pet store in town. Mr. Jabowski, who everyone called Mr. J, had opened it thirty years ago. His store didn’t have as much stuff as some of the big chain stores, but he always remembered his customers and their pets.

“Mr. J is really nice,” Kyle said. “He likes kids.”

“And he has everything you’ll need,” Mia added.

“Cool,” Ryan said. “My dad is going to help me build a maze, and he has a stopwatch I can use. Now I just need to get a CD player and CDs. I want to try having the mice listen to different kinds of music.”

“Don’t you already have music you can use?” Mia asked.

Ryan shook his head. “I download all my songs straight to my MP3 player,” he said. “And I can’t exactly put my headphones on the mice.”

“I guess not,” Kyle said with a laugh. “Too bad, though. I bet Mrs. Lockwood would give you extra credit for teaching mice to wear earbuds.”

“You can borrow some of my dad’s CDs,” Mia said. “He mostly listens to music from the ’80s. I’m sure he won’t mind. And I’ll ask my mom if you can use the CD player we keep in the garage.”

“Awesome!” Ryan said with a grin. “Thanks!”

“Sometimes my mom plays classical music in her vet clinic at night to help keep the animals calm,” Kyle added. “I’m sure she’d be willing to let you borrow one of her CDs, too. I’ll ask. ”

“Okay,” Ryan said. “I hope the classical music isn’t boring. What if it makes the mice too lazy to run through the maze? But I guess that’s the point of the experiment.”

A bell chimed as they walked through the front door of Mr. J’s Pet Haven. Jethro, Mr. J’s pet parrot, sat on his perch near the front entrance.

“Who’s there?” the parrot squawked.

“It’s just us, Jethro,” Kyle said, pausing by the bird’s perch.

Jethro looked at Mia and let out a whistle. “Pretty bird,” he squawked.

“I think the parrot has a crush on you, Mia,” Ryan said.

“He just wants a treat,” Mia said. She grabbed a cracker out of the dish Mr. J kept on the counter and fed it to the parrot.

“Mine!” the bird screeched.

“He sounds like my sister!” Ryan said with a laugh.

Just then, Mr. J appeared from the back of the store. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite customers!” he exclaimed with a grin. “What brings you kids in today? Anything I can help you find?”

“Our school science fair is next week,” Ryan explained. “I need to get some mice for my experiment. I want to find out if music makes them smarter.”

“This sounds like a very interesting project,” Mr. J said. “You’ll have to come back and tell me what happens.”

“Definitely!” Ryan said.

Mr. J helped Ryan gather the things he’d need. Together, they carried everything to the register. “Let’s see,” Mr. J said. “Water bottles, food, an exercise wheel, bedding, and chew toys. And you’ll need to make nesting beds for the mice out of cardboard boxes.”

Ryan looked confused. “Nesting beds?” he repeated.

“I’ll show you how,” Mia offered. “It’s easy. You just need someplace for them to sleep. We can line it with paper towels or toilet paper so it’s soft.”

Mr. J rubbed his chin. “Now, what are we missing?” he asked.

“The mice!” the kids hollered in unison.

“Oh, that’s right,” Mr. J said, shaking his head. “It’d be hard to do your experiment without those!”

He led them to a row of cages filled with mice. There were gray mice and black mice and white mice. There were even spotted mice.

“I don’t want white ones,” Ryan said. “I won’t be able to tell them apart!”

“I don’t think you want those guys either,” Mia said, pointing to a black mouse and a brown mouse that shared a cage.

“Why not?” Ryan asked.

“Because the brown one is a total bully,” Mia said.

As they watched, the black mouse took a chew stick into a corner. As soon as it left, the brown mouse dragged the chew stick right back to the middle of the cage. Then the black mouse picked up the same chew stick and dragged it back to the corner. They repeated the routine over and over again.

Kyle peered into the next cage. “This gray one is hilarious,” he said.

Inside the cage, a small, gray mouse ran like crazy on a plastic wheel. Suddenly, it stopped running. The wheel lurched, and the mouse fell out. It got right back up and started running again.

“I think I should get three mice that are as alike as possible,” Ryan said. “That way my experiment will be more accurate.”

“I have three mice that are brothers,” Mr. J said. He moved to a cage that held three black-and-white mice.

“Perfect!” Ryan said, peering at the mice. One had a black spot on its back, one had a black spot on its head, and one was almost entirely black except for a white spot on its middle. “They all have different markings so I’ll be able to tell them apart.”

Mr. J put the mice into a carrying box and brought them to the front of the store. Ryan paid for his purchases, and the kids gathered up the mice and the rest of the supplies.

“Get lost!” Jethro shouted as they left.

“Do you guys want to come inside and help me set up?” Ryan asked when they reached his house.

“Sure,” Kyle agreed. “My dad is taking me to the store later to buy bats for my experiment, but I have time.”

Mia and Kyle followed Ryan into his room. Right away, they got to work setting up the cage. Kyle filled the water bottle and attached it to the inside of the cage. Then he spread the bedding around and added the chew toys and food.

When the cage was ready, Mia handed Ryan the box with the mice so he could put them in their cage. “Here you go!” she said.

Ryan immediately handed the box back to her. “Um, that’s okay. You can do it,” he said quickly. “I . . . uh . . . I have to go to the bathroom.”

With that, he abruptly hurried out of the room and slammed the door.