Home Is Where the Cage Is

On Sunday afternoon, Ryan came over to Kyle’s house. Kyle and Mia were playing with Rex on the front porch.

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked as he walked up.

“Trying to teaching Rex the don’t-eat-the-cookie-on-your-nose trick,” Kyle said.

He broke a dog biscuit in half and held it out in front of Rex’s nose. “Rex, sit,” he said firmly. Then he put one piece of biscuit on the dog’s nose. “Stay!”

But Rex clearly didn’t get the point of the trick. Kyle was supposed to put his hands around the dog’s snout so he couldn’t eat the treat, but Rex was too fast. He tossed the biscuit up in the air and swallowed it whole. Then he wagged his tail and looked up at Kyle.

Kyle threw up his hands. “Rex, you’re supposed to stay!” he said.

Mia picked up the second half of the biscuit and tossed it to the dog. “Catch!” she called.

Rex caught it in his mouth and ate it in one bite. He looked up at Kyle expectantly.

“I don’t have any more,” Kyle said. He showed the dog his empty hands.

Rex sniffed to make sure. Then he spun around and took off after a squirrel that was digging for in the yard.

“Did you find anyone to take the mice?” Kyle asked.

“No, not yet,” Ryan said.

“Bummer,” Kyle said. “I’d take them, but I already have Rex. He’s enough work as it is.”

“I can’t take them, either,” Mia said. “My cat destroys toy mice. Imagine what she’d do to real mice.”

“Maybe Mr. J will take them back,” Kyle suggested.

“Good idea!” Ryan said. “Let’s go find out.”

The kids walked over to Mr. J’s Pet Haven. “Hello!” Jethro squawked as they walked in.

“Well, hello there, my future zoologists!” Mr. J greeted them, grinning widely. “How did your musical mouse experiment go?”

“Great!” Mia said. “Ryan won first place.”

“And I found out that classical music makes mice smarter,” Ryan added.

“Or maybe it just calms them down so they can concentrate,” Mr. J suggested. “Do you need more mouse food?”

Ryan shook his head. “Actually, I have a problem,” he said. “My mom won’t let me keep the mice.”

“We can’t find anyone else to take them,” Kyle said. “Do you think you could take them back?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid not,” Mr. J said, shaking his head. “I just got in some new mice.

Ryan sighed. “Okay,” he said. “Thanks anyway.”

Monday morning didn’t bring any better news. “My mom said the mice have to be gone by this afternoon,” Ryan told Kyle and Mia when they got to school.

“We have to do something,” Kyle said. After Mrs. Lockwood took attendance, he raised his hand. “Can I talk to the class for a minute?”

“Of course, Kyle,” the teacher said. “Go ahead.”

“We have to find a home for Ryan’s mice or something awful might happen to them,” Kyle said. “Can’t one of you can take them?”

“I already asked, but my dad doesn’t think I’ll clean the cage,” Connor replied. “He won’t take a chance even though I promised. Sorry.”

“My mom said mice give people the plague,” Billy said. “That sounds cool to me, but she said no.”

“That was rats in the Dark Ages,” Mia corrected him.

“I think she just doesn’t want any mice,” Billy said.

“I’d do it, but my brother has a python,” Lacey Ortega said. “My house is a major mouse danger zone.”

Mrs. Lockwood stood up. “So it seems that all of you would like to keep the mice, but your parents, or your brother’s snake, won’t let you. Is that right?” she asked.

“Yes!” the whole class shouted.

“Then there’s only one solution to this problem,” Mrs. Lockwood said. She turned to one of the experiment tables and lifted a cardboard box. Ryan’s cage was underneath it, and his three black-and-white mice were inside.

“Our class now has three prize-winning mascots!” the teacher said. “I spoke to Ryan’s mom, and she brought them by this morning.”

“Yay!” everyone cheered.

“Since they’ll be our classroom pets, should we rename them?” Mrs. Lockwood asked. “Does anyone have any suggestions?”

“How about Mozart, Slash, and Joe?” Mia suggested.

Everyone agreed that those names seemed like the perfect fit.