Commander in Cheese #1
Page 4
That’s all I can tell you. It is a TOP-SECRET room where TOP-SECRET stuff happens.
The mice had smaller rooms built into the walls of big White House rooms. The mouse Situation Room looked like the human one. Mice in military uniforms sat at the table, drinking tea. Aunt Agnes also worked in the mouse Situation Room. She dressed different than other mice. Today, she wore overalls and sandals. Sometimes she colored her ears purple.
Aunt Agnes was a computer wizard. She could fix anything. She set up microphones for the Squeakerton radio broadcast. She wired electricity in the main mouse area. She could probably make world peace if humans ever bothered to listen to animals.
Aunt Agnes waved. “Oh, good. We’re all starving. That was so nice of Libby to think about us.”
Dean unpacked a piece of blue cheese. Humans think blue cheese is stinky. Mice think it smells better than roses. “We didn’t have any plans today. We’re happy to help.”
“Well, we were going to build a paper airplane,” Ava said. She loved to fly, and Dean loved to build. They were a good brother-and-sister team.
“Just as long as you stay out of trouble.” Gregory stacked some berries and bread onto the table. “That should be enough food for everyone.”
“We just never know what to expect when a new president starts,” Aunt Agnes explained. “We heard she’s already having a meeting in the Oval Office.”
“Do you think she’ll be a nice president?” Ava asked.
“Nice isn’t a problem. I just like clean and organized. Humans can be dirty animals,” Aunt Agnes said.
“Can we watch the meeting?” Dean asked.
Gregory snorted. “Of course not. The Oval Office is the most famous office in the country. We don’t enter when there are humans around.”
Gregory ruined fun before it even started. In fact, ruining fun was fun for Gregory.
“Well, we’re going to make paper airplanes, then,” Ava said. “Bye, Gregory.”
A soft alarm started to beep. A red ceiling light blinked. The ten mice sitting at the table jumped out of their seats.
A brown mouse burst into the room. He was shaking from head to tail. “We have a situation!”
“Of course. This is the Situation Room,” Aunt Agnes said.
“No. This is serious. It has to do with a”—the mouse lowered his voice—“a…c-a-t!”