Red Raiders

by KH Gordon

  Chapter Seven

  Although he spent the next day inside the den, it wasn’t at horrible as he had feared. His father gave him some things to do around the house, so while the little ones played, he busied himself enlarging the food nook and re-stacking the bed.

  The food nook was easy. It had originally been a large knothole in a beam of the floor above them and had been enlarged by successive families that had used the space. Torus decided the hole needed to be slightly deeper and to have a flatter bottom, so he spent the first half of the day carefully gnawing away with his sharp front teeth. It felt good to be working at something constructive. He was so absorbed in his project that he didn’t notice Shona talking to him until she pulled his tail.

  “Ow! Don’t do that!”

  “Torus…”

  He pulled his head out of the hole and looked down at her.

  “What is it Buggle?”

  “Can I eat some of that?”

  They had eaten the popcorn for breakfast, but their father had brought quite a bit of food during the night and it was piled in a neat stack on the floor while Torus worked on the nook. Among the food was a packet of crumbled cookies – a rare treasure – and the pups were anxious to open it up. This was the third time he had been interrupted with the request.

  “No, we need to save that until Dad comes back. Have some of the apple core if you’re hungry.”

  “No, I don’t feel like apples…” she said sadly.

  “Sorry,” he said, smiling to himself.

  By the time his father came home at midday, he was done gnawing at the hole and was busy hanging a scrap of cloth to cover the opening. He chose a bright flower print that had been one of his mother’s favorites and carefully worked it onto the wire hooks that were jammed into the gap between the beam and the floorboards above.

  As soon as his father entered the den the little ones ran to him and started jumping up and down in circles around him.

  “Daddy! Daddy! Can we have cookies? Please please please please Daddy?”

  He sighed tiredly.

  “Sure, I guess so. They’re not going to get any fresher.”

  The little ones squealed and danced with excitement while he came toward where Torus was working to get the packet.

  “Hey,” Torus said, still working.

  “Hey,” said his father, casting a look up at Torus’s work. He didn’t say anything else, and Torus hoped that meant he was pleased, or at least he wasn’t disappointed. He finished hanging the cloth and went over to where the others were gathered to get his share of the cookies. His father opened the package carefully and started passing out the small, crumbled pieces. Nosha and Shona started nibbling on their pieces right away, but Moki just held on to his first piece, evidently waiting to see if the distribution would be fair. Torus was going to wait, too, just to be polite, but once he smelled the cookie in his paw he couldn’t resist. He bit into it and a flood of sweetness filled his mouth. The cookie was dark and crumbly, with bits of white frosting still stuck on one side. He had a sudden urge to stuff the whole thing in his mouth, but he was able to refrain. His father continued passing out whatever pieces were worth bothering with until there was nothing in the package but crumbs.

  “Hey, what about you?” Torus suddenly asked. “Aren’t you going to have any?”

  His father answered without looking up.

  “What? Oh, no, I had some the other night before I brought these home. You kids go ahead and I’ll have something else later. Right now I’m just tired. I think I’ll lay down for a little nap.” He folded up the package with the remaining crumbs and put it carefully back on the stack of food on the floor. “If you’re done with that food nook, will you put all of this back up?”

  “Sure,” said Torus. He and the others kept eating their cookies until they were all gone. Torus considered for a moment that he should save a couple of pieces and put them back in the package for later, but the sweetness was overpowering. He finished the last piece, and then licked the last tiny crumbs from his claws. The little ones were already done and had started bouncing up and down and chasing each other back and forth squealing hysterically. He looked over at his father lying on the bed with his back to the room and then spoke to them.

  “Listen, Dad’s trying to rest. Why don’t you go out and play in the tunnel just outside?”

  “Really? Can we?” said Moki?

  “Sure, just stay in sight of the entrance and come back inside if you hear anything or see anyone you don’t know.”

  They scampered off and Torus busied himself with putting all the food back in the newly enlarged food nook. He worked carefully, trying to organize things in a way that made sense. He put anything that might spoil soon on one side, like the apple core and a small bunch of grapes. On the other side he put the folded package of cookie crumbs and another small package of something that might be nuts. In the middle he put everything else; some more bread crusts, an orange peel, some chicken bones and other miscellaneous, barely identifiable foods.

  He stepped back and looked at his handiwork before letting the bright flowered cloth fall back into place covering the nook. He looked back over toward the bed and saw that his father had rolled over and was watching him.

  “How’s that?” Torus asked.

  “Looks pretty good,” said his father. “With a little luck we’ll be able to find enough food to really fill it soon.”

  Torus thought he was probably talking about the new arrangement with the dumpster in the park, but he didn’t say anything other than “Yeah, I hope so.”

  There was a sudden sound of running and shouting outside and Moki came tumbling in laughing and out of breath.

  “Hey Torus,” he gasped. “Your friends are here. Chello’s here and he raced us and I beat him!”

  “No you didn’t either beat him!” The girls’ voices came down the entrance in unison. “He let you win!”

  “No way!” Moki shouted, and he ran back up the tunnel.

  “Can I go out and talk to them?” Torus asked his father.

  His father considered for a moment, glancing at the newly enlarged food nook.

  “Sure,” he said. But don’t wander off anywhere. Bring the little ones back in before too long.”

  “Thanks, I will,” Torus said. “Thanks.” He turned and raced up the short entrance tunnel and found Nevi and the girls watching a spinning ball of fur that he could only assume was Chello and Moki.

  “Hi,” he said. “What brings you guys over here?”

  “We didn’t see you anywhere today, so we thought we’d come over and see what was going on.”

  “Oh.” Torus paused. “Nothing…just doing some stuff with the kids and taking care of some things in the nest.”

  “Yeah, I figured…” said Nevi. “Sorry about last night. I didn’t expect it to lead to any trouble.”

  “Oh, it’s no trouble. It’s all cool.” Torus wished she would talk about something else.

  Chello and Moki stopped wrestling and stood staring at each other, panting.

  “You’re pretty fast, Micromouse.”

  “Yeah I am! I’m faster than you any day!”

  “Maybe so…in like a hundred moons!”

  “Nyaah!” said Moki. “Hey, Torus! I beat Chello in a race and then I beat him just now wresting!”

  “Yeah, I saw you!” said Torus. “We better all be careful now!”

  Shona tugged on his elbow and looked up at him.

  “Can we go down the long tunnel?” she asked.

  “Sure,” he said. “Just stay where I can see you, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said, and she and Nosha started away.

  “Hey, I wanna come!” shouted Moki, and he scampered off after them.

  Chello came up laughing and shaking dust out of his fur.

  “He’s great!” he said.

  There was a pause that went on too long.
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br />   “So…what’s going on?” asked Torus.

  “Nothing, really,” said Nevi.

  “Yeah,” said Chello, “nothing unless you count the Pigbirds taking over the Clan.”

  “Shhh! Keep it quiet! My dad doesn’t know that’s where I was last night.”

  “Yeah, well, at least you were somewhere other than home listening to your parents fight. You guys should have had me come along…”

  “Sorry,” said Nevi. “I already told you we didn’t know what was going on until we were already there.”

  “Okay. Whatever.”

  “But that’s what we came to talk about,” said Nevi. “There’s some things that don’t make sense.”

  Chello snorted.

  “None of it makes sense.”

  “Hush,” said Nevi. “For example, your dad was there and my mom, but Chello’s parents and his big brother weren’t. How come? And did you see Mr. Nile? He’s at almost every meeting whether he’s invited or not.”

  “No, I…well, I wasn’t looking for him, so…” Torus trailed off. He glanced down the tunnel and saw his siblings in the distance. “Hey!” he shouted. “Not too far!” Moki waved a paw at him and they continued wandering.

  “So why do you think those rats weren’t around last night? There were others, too. It wasn’t the whole Clan that was there.”

  “I’ll tell you why,” said Chello. “If me and my brother were there those stupid birds wouldn’t even have a chance to land.”

  “What is it with you and pigeons?” asked Torus.

  “Are you serious? Where have you been?” Chello was incredulous.

  “But they’re just birds, right? What’s the problem with them?”

  “Have you seen my dad? His eye? And his crippled paw? He didn’t get those falling down the stairs. Pigeons did it to him!”

  “What?” Torus was stunned.

  “They’re vicious,” said Chello, his voice rising. “He got in a fight with them when I was just little, right after my little brothers were born. He almost didn’t make it home.”

  “Chello, quiet.” Nevi put a gentle paw on his arm.

  “All I remember, my whole life, is my dad laying there hurt and my mom screaming. Then he gets a little better, but he can’t forage right, and he doesn’t like to leave the nest. Someone’s always got to scratch his back ‘cause of his bad paw. He talks tough at home, always saying he’s going to go out and kill them and stuff, but you saw what he was like last night, right? As soon as he’s out of the den he starts shaking unless he’s with a crowd. Pathetic. So my mom’s always on his case and my brother’s in and out of the den all the time. It’s a mess. Those birds wrecked my family. I can’t stand them!” His voice was shaking.

  “Okay,” said Torus. “Okay, that’s…wow…”

  Nevi continued. “So we think maybe anyone who might be a danger to the plan was ‘left out’ of the meeting last night.”

  “Whatever’s going on, it stinks,” said Chello. “It stinks like scat.”

  “Calm down,” said Torus. “If my dad hears you I’ll be stuck in the den forever.”

  “Are you really in trouble for last night?” asked Nevi.

  “Kinda, yeah…” Torus didn’t like to admit his father still treated him like a pup. “I’ve got to keep my tail clean until it blows over.”

  “What about gatherings? Can you go to gatherings?”

  “I don’t know, I’d have to ask. Why?”

  “They called a Young Gathering for tomorrow. See if you dad will let you go.”

  “If they talk about this stinking deal with the pigbirds I’m walking out,” said Chello.

  “Yeah, fine, I’ll ask my dad – hey! Where are the pups?” Torus jumped up and looked as far down the tunnel as he could. He could just make out the form of some small creatures in the distance and he took off running toward them.

  “Hey!” he shouted. “That’s too far! Come back!” As he drew closer, however, it became clear that these were not his brother and sisters. There were only two of them, and they weren’t rat pups but full grown mice. They regarded him with skepticism as he ran up panting.

  “Have you seen three little rats?” he asked.

  “Oh, aye. Down yonder,” said one of the mice waving further down the tunnel.

  “Thanks!” Torus gasped and he headed off again. He was almost at the far wall of the building when he found them crouched in a small nook off one side of the tunnel. They jumped out at him.

  “Bark bark bark!” they said.

  “We’re dogs!” said Shona, “and you’re a pickle hunter!”

  “We got you!” laughed Nosha, falling on her side in hysterics.

  “No pickle for you this time!” said Moki. “The dogs ate you up!”

  “You shouldn’t have wandered this far away,” said Torus. “This is too far! It’s time to come home now, anyway. Let’s go.”

  “Awww! How come?”

  “Because I said so! Come on, I’ll race you!”

  They all set off running back toward the den. Torus thought about letting Moki win, then changed his mind. But he was already tired from running to find them and by the time they came close to home he was trailing behind all three of them.

  “I winned!” shouted Moki. “I winned again!”

  “Yes,” panted Torus. “Yes you did. Go on inside now and see if Dad has a snack for you.”

  They tumbled down into the den, leaving Torus and his friends outside. Chello looked at Torus and shook his head.

  “Pitiful,” he said.

  “Whatever,” said Torus. “I ran twice as far as they did.”

  “Yeah, and you’re also twice as slow, so if you run twice as far but you’re twice as slow, you’ll get there at the same time as them. That’s math.”

  “Very impressive.”

  “Are you coming to the south dumpster with us?” asked Nevi.

  “No, I’ve got to stay here, I already said…”

  “Okay, House-Mouse,” said Chello. “We’ll bring you a pickle!”

  “Whatever,” said Torus again, but this time he was smiling.

  Chello and Nevi turned to go and Torus went back into the den. The pups were sitting around an orange peel arguing about splitting it up and his father was over near the bed grooming himself to go back out.

  “Hi there,” he said.

  “Hey,” said Torus. “There’s a Young Gathering tomorrow. Can I go?”

  His father glanced up and then went back to grooming.

  “What’s it about?”

  “I dunno.” Torus shrugged although he suspected it had something to do with the pigeons and the dumpster. “Probably more about coming of age and ‘what do you want to do for the Clan’ and that kind of thing. I don’t have to go if you don’t want.”

  His father continued grooming the fur on his back without looking up.

  “No, I think it’s alright,” he said. “Just come home as soon as it’s over, okay?”

  “Okay, thanks! I will, sure, thanks!”

  Torus was suddenly hungry.

  “Is it okay if I eat that apple core?”

  “Let’s split it. I need to go back out and I’ll try to bring more back tonight.”

  Torus got the apple out of the nook and handed it to his father, who broke it in half. He handed Torus the larger piece and they ate in silence for a while. Then, Torus cleared his throat and spoke.

  “How’s the foraging going?” His father paused and looked at him questioningly. “I mean, with winter coming, will there be enough food?”

  “Winter’s always hard,” said his father. “You were born at the beginning of the last winter, so you don’t remember it, but it was harder than most. There’s always less food, but we can always find enough to get by. That’s what we do.”

  “Yeah, I know. At least this winter I’ll be able to help, though, right?”

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sp; His father’s expression was unreadable. “I suppose so. It depends on a lot of things, you know.”

  Torus didn’t know what to make of that statement, so he finished the rest of his apple in silence.

  After his father left, Torus turned to the task of re-stacking the bed. The bed was a pile of neatly stacked pieces of cloth they family had collected over many moons. Periodically they took the stack apart and shook out the cloths to fluff them. They discarded any worn out pieces and added any new scraps they had collected. Torus had helped his father with the chore, but this was the first time he had been asked to do it himself. The pups were playing on the bed, so the first step was to push them off onto the floor.

  “Tor-RUS!” shouted Moki. “We were playing there!”

  “Sorry, I’ve got a job to do.”

  All the pups started yelling at him at the same time.

  “Cheese, you guys are too noisy!” He took a piece of green dustcloth and threw it over the top of them. “Noisy noisy noisy!” As quickly as he could he snatched pieces of cloth from the bed and tossed them over the squirming, giggling pile on the floor. Soon Moki and the girls scrambled out and started throwing them back at him.

  “Hey! Stop that! I’m trying to work here!”

  Eventually there was nothing left where the bed was and scraps of cloth were scattered all over the den.

  “Okay,” said Torus. “Help me put all this back together now.”

  “How come?”

  “You started it!”

  “I’m hungry!”

  “After the bed is back together we can eat, okay? Just bring me the pieces and I’ll put them back.”

  The pups grumbled, but soon made a game of retrieving the scraps and bringing them to Torus. While the pile grew at his feet, Torus worked to lay each piece smoothly in place. It was more difficult than he remembered. Every time he lay a piece down and tried to smooth it out with his paws, the pieces underneath would become crumpled. He became increasingly frustrated until he finally picked up a piece of brown cotton that was too worn to be useful and he threw it across the room. Something about the way he threw it made it unfurl in the air and it flattened out and sailed through the air to land on the floor almost perfectly flat. Torus stared at it for a moment, then picked up another piece and tried throwing it the same way.

  “Hey, I just brought that over already,” whined Nosha.

  “Shush, I’m trying something,” said Torus. The second piece also sailed through the air although it didn’t land as smoothly as the first piece. Picking up another cloth, he tried throwing it over the bed. He soon figured out how to fling the cloths over the bed while holding one or two corners. The cloths settled gently and slowly where he wanted them, without any wrinkles or crumples. When he was done, the bed was smooth and flat and more fluffed up than he remembered it being in a long time. The little ones wanted to jump on it, but he made them stop.

  “Wait until Dad comes home so he can see what a great job we did.”

  “Where is he?” asked Shona.

  “I don’t know. It’s kind of late, I guess he’s gone out foraging at this point.” He got them all something to eat and they were so tired from all the day’s running that by the time they finished the pups were nearly asleep where they sat.

  “Alright, up on the bed you three,” he said. He expected them to argue, but they only resisted feebly while he guided them to the back of the den. They curled up together in their favorite corner and fell asleep almost at once.

  Torus made sure they were asleep and then sat in his waiting spot under the food nook. This was a good day, he thought. I did good today. If tomorrow is just as good then everything should be back to normal after that.

  Thinking these thoughts, he rested his chin on his paws and prepared himself to stay awake until his father returned.

  He woke up suddenly to the sound of footsteps in the entry and snapped his head up just in time to see his father coming in with a large bundle in his arms.

  “I’m awake!” he said.

  “I can see that,” his father smiled. “Jump up in bed. I’ll just put this stuff away and be there in a minute.”

  Torus wanted to stay up and talk, but while he was thinking of what to say his mind wandered away. He started thinking about looking for a piece of string and it was lost under some papers. He picked up the papers one by one and they floated up into the air and swirled around him, fluttering gently. Then his father’s voice startled him awake again.

  “To bed! To bed!”

  This time Torus got up and shuffled over to where the pups were sleeping. He climbed up and stretched out, yawning. He barely noticed when his father came over a few minutes later and scratched him behind the ear.

  “Goodnight, son,” he said.

  “Mm,” said Torus. He was looking for string again.

  * * *