by Nancy Quinn

Created on: January 09, 2010

"What is that noise?" asked Molly. She stretched and shook her tail as she peeked out the wooden slats of the front porch. It was way too early in the morning for that ruckus.

"Oh, it's that darn big, red machine again. He keeps spitting snow back onto our back deck every time he uses it." Squeaked Joey.

"I thought you took care of that last week." Sighed Molly as she washed her face in the thimble.

"Well, I don't know how that thing works. I thought I chewed on the wire that started it, but he either fixed it or I did something to just make it noisier."

Molly laughed and agreed that it did sound noisier. Soon six little noses appeared over the old blanket. "Mom!" They squeaked out in unison. "We're hungry."

"Everybody wash their whiskers. As soon as Daddy digs us out again, he'll get you some nuts from our pantry."

The rumbling finally stopped and the little family peered out and saw the big machine being pushed back into the garage.

"Maybe you could write a letter and put it in his mail box." Suggested Molly. "I'm sure he wouldn't blow the snow on our house if he knew we were here. He seems like such a nice neighbor."

"You're right. That's the neighborly thing to do." They found a scrap of paper and the pencil tip was soon poised.

"Wait a minute, I don't know how to write!" laughed Joey.

"We do!" squeaked Mindy. "We learned in school." The six mice circled the paper and little paws reached out to hold it down while Mindy wrote a careful, but polite of course, note. Joey grabbed the paper in his teeth and scampered the long way to the mail box. Looking up, the pole seemed as tall as a sequoia. With renewed determination to deliver the letter, he quickly scampered up and set the note in the metal box and slid back down the pole.

A deep growl from next door startled him and he raced back to the safety of the front porch. Breathing fast, he placed a paw on his furry chest with relief. Without turning from the sink, Molly commented, "Brutus was let outside again, wasn't he." Too winded yet to reply, Joey merely nodded. He didn't know which was scarier, the big red machine or its owner with the huge paws and teeth.

Heavy footsteps sounded on their roof and they all curiously peeked through an opening in the floor. "It's the neighbor!" hissed Molly.

"Sssh, let’s see what he wants." Whispered back Joey.

"Yes?" Inquired the tall woman as the door opened a crack.

"Hi. I'm Mark Wells from next door. I got your note. I didn't realize I was blowing snow on your house. I'm so sorry. I'm still learning how to use this machine and I'm still working on learning how to aim the snow."

Confused, the lady replied. "Oh, that's okay. Thank you so much for stopping by."  Shutting the door, she leaned against it and thought, "Well, that was nice of him to stop by. Hey, what note?"

A cheer went up from under the porch. "See, I told you our neighbor was nice. Now if we could just do something about Brutus. I need more paper." Commented Molly as a unanimous groan of seven little mice arose.

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