The Missing Letter

Mr and Mrs Weatherby lived in a cosy house in the countryside. They were a very old couple; so old, in fact, that all their hair was white; well, Mrs Weatherby's anyway - Mr Weatherby's had all but fallen out. Despite their advanced ages, they still made time for a game of Scrabble every evening, and Mr Weatherby, himself, would climb the ladder into the attic to retrieve the box from where it lived. For those of you who don't know, Scrabble is a board game where you spell out words with letters, and compete for the best score.

Mr and Mrs Weatherby were entirely sure that the Scrabble board was special to them, as they'd played for the majority of their long, happy marriage; and, in many ways, Scrabble had been the very reason they'd met. Little did they know, however, that their very own Scrabble board, which was oh so special to them, was equally, if not more special, to a pair of little house mice; Miki House Mouse and Oliver House Mouse, to be specific - and they used it for a very important purpose, indeed.

Oliver House Mouse had always been a little easily confused by things, which others didn't fail to notice. He certainly wasn't the brightest little house mouse there ever was, but he was very gentle, and kind to a fault. Miki House Mouse, his older sister, had also adopted the role of being his mother; for when they were much younger, their parents had had a nasty encounter with a fox, from which neither of them had returned. This lead Miki House Mouse to be very protective of her younger brother, which he, most of the time, perceived as her just being much too strict. But the two little house mice loved each other very dearly, and in the huge world of the cozy cottage, where they lived, they had only each other, and that was just enough.

That's right, I was going to tell you why the Scrabble board was so important to the little house mice. And why they so eagerly waited, perched upon a bookshelf in the living room, somewhere between War and Peace, and Romeo & Juliet, for the current game to end, so they could use it for themselves. Oliver House Mouse was much more impatient than his sister and it showed; he tapped his back feet onto the shelf, quite noiselessly, but Miki House Mouse still shot him a chastising look and a shake of the head, which communicated him to stop, without the need for words. And Oliver House Mouse, knowing very well he should listen to his sister, wanted to obey, but his excitement continued the thumping of his hind legs. Miki simply rolled her eyes and shook her head once more, but somehow with less seriousness to the action this time, as she found her naive younger brother's behaviour quite endearing, if she were being completely honest with herself.

There had still been no words between them, not even hushed ones. It's not that the little house mice were afraid of their speech being heard by Mr and Mrs Weatherby; because everybody knew humans couldn't hear mice speech. It was simply because Oliver House Mouse had never learnt to speak. Not as a baby, not as a child, and somehow, not even now. Miki House Mouse had tried and tried, to teach him, but it just never seemed to go in, and the words never seemed to come out. It had been many months since she had resigned herself to the fact that her little brother would never speak, when she had seen Mr and Mrs Weatherby playing Scrabble, and that had given her a most splendid idea - they could use the board to spell out what Oliver House Mouse had wanted to say. That was last summer, when Mrs Weatherby had spelt out "MOUSE", which got her twenty one points, as it was on a triple word score. And the little house mice, Miki and Oliver, had used the board ever since, at night time when the Weatherbys slept soundly in their bed.

You may be wondering how Oliver could learn to spell, if he couldn't learn to speak; but just because someone, or somemouse in this instance, couldn't speak, doesn't mean they can't learn other things. And although Oliver House Mouse often spelt every single word wrong, he still tried his best, and it was still, mostly, discernible, so that's all that counted in the end. Especially to Miki House Mouse, who was very proud of her little brother for almost learning to spell at all - him being quite a really dim mouse, after all.

Finally, the game was over; the victory being Mrs Weatherby's - as was usual. And it became time again for Mr Weatherby to make that familiar journey up to the attic, to put the Scrabble board back where it lived until tomorrow. The little house mice took their secret path to the same place; through a tiny hole in the wall, then between, in the hidden spaces we humans very rarely see, until the path slanted upward steeply, until then they were out into the famiiliar attic space. The attic was noticably cooler than downstairs, but somehow warmer at the same time, to the little house mice anyway. Mr Weatherby shivered a little, but old people always seemed to feel the cold more. Miki and Oliver House Mouse were very close the slanted ceiling, as they ran along the wooden beams of the cramped, open space, toward where Mr Weatherby was - but not much too close, of course.

The attic was quite well-organised, by human standards anyway; Mr Weatherby leaned forward after ascending the ladder, to put the Scrabble box back on the shelf, and in his impatience to get back downstairs where it was warmer, he quickly shoved the box back on the shelf, and in doing so the bag of letters from inside slid out and hit the wooden floor boards beneath him, scattering some of the letters around the ground. Mr Weatherby sighed with age and collected each one, or so he thought, and placed the bag back inside the box, then the box back on the shelf, and he descended the ladder once more after extiguishing the light bulb and closing the attic hatch after him.

The room was dropped into darkness, but Miki House Mouse was a very clever house mouse - one of the cleverest - or so she'd like to believe; she leapt bravely from the wooden beam, toward the, still swinging from Mr Weatherby's touch, hanging cord, which controlled the light, and hung from it; allowing even her small size to be enough to bring the light back into life. Oliver House Mouse was used to his sister doing this, but still, he felt quietly yet very noticeably impressed every single time. She hopped down from the light switch, onto the Scrabble box, and looked up to her little brother. "Come down. The safe way." There was almost a warning in her tone - her protective nature seeming overbearing at times, of which she was only too aware.

Oliver House Mouse wanted to obey his sister oh so completely, but he was reckless, young and not so very bright, so often struggled to do the sensible thing. He stretched his body and dug his feet into the wood before running forward and jumping, trying to immitate Miki's earlier manoeuvre. He missed the mark by a couple of inches, his grasping paws clutched only thin air and he came bounding down, much more gracelessly than his sister had, and fell upon the Scrabble box with a thud. Miki House Mouse was most definitely not impressed; she folded her arms sternly and simply stared at the heap of fur that was her little brother. Oliver quickly gathered himself up again; stupid enough to jump in the first place, but clever enough to try to hide his pained foot, which his sudden limp betrayed.

"Serves you right." Miki House Mouse scolded with a nod, before roughly moving him from the lid so she could open it. She knew it wasn't a serious injury, or she would have been even crosser, and much more afraid. Oliver looked very sorry for himself and kept even more quiet than usual; his tail hung between his legs in embarrassment and shame, and he stayed where he was put as he watched his sister lay the board and bag of letters out on top of an old cardboard box, which was full of motorcycle magazines - the only remaining symptom of Mr Weatherby's midlife crisis, all those thirty five years prior.

Oliver House Mouse had been so excited to be able to write out his thoughts of the day, but now, in the wake of his sister's scolding, he just stood awkwardly next to the bag of letters. "Well, spell something. That's why you wanted to come here, isn't it?" She said, still quite impatiently. I think she must have realised how this was affecting Oliver, because she suddenly allowed her face to become kinder, and her words softer. She placed a gentle paw on his shoulder and rubbed his back, like their mother used to. "I really want to see what you couldn't wait to tell me." She smiled and all was instantly forgotten; Oliver House Mouse returned to his usual, energetic, impertinent self - for better or worse - Miki thought - but he was happy again, and that was enough for now.

Oliver pulled the velvet letter pouch open excitedly and began to collect the tiles he needed. Although he couldn't speak, he made little happy noises and lyrical giggles as he searched - it was just like a treasure hunt, he thought; a treasure hunt for the feelings he yearned, so desperately, to express.

Oliver House Mouse checked a whole four times before he concluded something was amiss. His little snout dug into the bag once more, this fifth time more anxiously, as he searched and searched. He had already gathered eighteen of the nineteen needed letters. Miki House Mouse watched, growing a little impatient again. "Which letter have you lost?" She then quickly remembered her brother couldn't speak, and she tried to hide it, but became a little irritated once more. She coughed a couple of times, almost to cleanse her voice of any obvious annoyance, because she really didn't want to upset her little brother again. "If you can't find it, just use a different letter and spell it wrong... Like you usually do anyway." She said that last part under her breath, deliberately quiet so he wouldn't hear her. But she underestimated the hearing abilities of her younger brother's large ears; Oliver House Mouse wasn't sure what she had said, but heard her say something, so he dug his head out the bag and looked at her in such an innocent and childlike way, that it disarmed any kind of growing irritation within her, even the secret, smothered, usual kind.

"Let's look for it together, okay?" She offered, ruffling the fur between the large domes upon the sides of his head. Oliver House Mouse nodded and look they did; but find, they did not. They searched everywhere in the attic with still no sign of the missing letter. After counting the contents of the bag, Miki had worked out it was the letter Z they were missing, which made her even more confused about what her little brother had been so desperate to tell her, which contained the letter Z, of all things!

Just when she was about to give up, almost calling their quest a wild goose chase, which means a foolish pursuit for something unobtainable, Miki House Mouse spotted a small hole in the brickwork, in the lower-left corner of the attic. Her nose twitched as the faintest scent of outside wafted from the tiny gap, as she hopped down next to it. And wherever she went, Oliver wasn't too far behind. "This could be dangerous. Stay here." Miki ordered her little brother, and even though this order felt so unnatural, to be away from his sister whom he loved very much, he went to protest wordlessly, but then obeyed and sat down on the Scrabble board, before reaching into the bag and spelling out "OK", which was one of the only words - the only word - he could always spell correctly. Miki sighed and climbed back up to where he was, so she could read the message. She noticed Oliver's eyes move between the two letter word, and her face, eagerly; he always brighened up so beautifully when he could really communicate with her in this so very strange way, which made her smile, and she hugged him closely before junping back down to the hole.

"Be good." She warned, before disappearing into the dark crevice. Oliver sat down, more comfortably, but less comfortable because his sister, his best friend, was no longer with him. Tears filled his eyes as the heavens opened outside, and loud raindrops thundered against the roof and skylight of the attic. Oliver laid down and covered his large ears with his small paws, thinking maybe if he were a better behaved little house mouse, or if he were just a tiny bit more clever so he could speak, maybe he wouldn't be alone now; and he cried as he waited for Miki to return.

The darkness of the hole didn't last long as Miki House Mouse's little house mouse eyes adjusted to it; the space was really very cramped, even for a small rodent like her, and really quite damp underfoot. She could hardly stand upright as she navigated the unknown space between the attic and outside. She jumped as thunder struck devilishly outside, but more afraid for her brother than herself. She hadn't wanted to leave Oliver behind, but if anything bad ever happened to him, she simply would never forgive herself. Awful circumatance had forced her to become a mother figure to him, and she was going to take it very seriously. He was so naive and couldn't look after himself, so she had to do the thinking, and worrying, for both of them. She had to protect Oliver and safeguard the things that afforded him even a little happiness - even if it meant searching for a missing letter Z in this unwelcoming, oppressive place.

The narrow pathway lead to a very steep drop into a pit leading almost outside, but still confined between sheer, gripless walls. The imposing pit was half full with rainwater, with more drops being added at a constant rate, through a cold, yet glistening, grate above. Miki House Mouse almost lost her footing over the edge, when she felt an unknown cold thing grasp her shoulder. She froze. Seconds passed, then she turned. Oliver. Oliver's guilty, innocent face. She was so relieved it wasn't anything worse, that she smiled. But then remembered the order she'd given. "Oliver! What are you doing? I told you to stay in the attic!" Miki almost yelled, as she hissed. Oliver wanted to tell her how afraid he had been about the thunder strike and boom, by himself, and how much he always wanted to be with her, but he couldn't speak, so he just whimpered again, as more tears filled his, already damp, eyes. He sniffed and looked down, and when he looked down to his little mouse feet, not unnear the drop, he noticed something.

The missing letter. The missing Z, laying buoyant in the muddy rainwater below. He was so excited - he could finally say to his big sister what he wanted to say! But first he had to get it, and in his desperation for his feelings to take word form, he jumped, without thinking, into the pit. Miki couldn't react quickly enough - Oliver had already jumped and then there was a solitary, heart quickening splash.

Oliver's head was forced in and out the water as he struggled to stay afloat. His intial landing had been basically on top of the missing letter, so he had grasped it, and he now clasped it, still, as he struggled to breathe.

Miki felt all her fears come to life as she helplessly watched her brother struggle in the deep water. Fear and shock paralyzed her, but then love and courage took over, and she looked for a way to help. She spotted an old, rusted pipe, which, in the reluctance of an unwanted parting, hugged the side of the steep drop. She carefully climbed down it until she was at water level. She reached a paw out and grabbed a big tuft of Oliver's fur and pulled him toward her. He moved the missing letter into his mouth, to free his paws to climb out. With Miki's help, Oliver ascended the old rusted pipe, climbing back up to the apparent safety of the overlook from where they'd stood before.

Oliver breathed heavily and coughed a little water up, on all fours - the missing Z spluttering out onto the cold, blind ground. Miki was shaking with worry and anger. "How could you be so careless? And for a stupid letter! If you weren't so dim and could just speak, none of this wou-" Miki quickly caught herself, but she'd already said too much. Oliver looked scared, defeated and more ashamed than ever.

An uncomfortable, heavy silence filled the sudden void between them. "Just do exactly as I say from now on. Promise?" Miki instructed, trying to not let her emotions take over. Oliver nodded sadly and looked down at the missing letter, between his feet, and gathered it into his paws. As he stood once more, and looked down at the precious tile within his touch, his sister's words repeated in his mind, and to silence or amplify them, he turned and, with a sudden, old guilt, he dropped the letter back into the water once more. "You didn't need to do that." Miki said but Oliver just looked at her emptily.

A piece of the tunnel they had walked through began to come apart with the abuse of heavy rain from outside, which allowed a threatening water to bulge at the cracks of it. "Quickly, we need to get back to the attic." Miki ordered desperately, and they both began to rush back through the tiny space between outside and the attic, but it was too late. The wood came away, allowing a cruel rush of water to enter the tight space. Somehow finding a new strength, Oliver House Mouse kept his position, within the torrent, but Miki was carried away down the shaft, and down into the pit from before; with the sudden onrush, the rusted piping, their tool of safety from before, fell and was lost to them.

The water strength subsided a little, after long seconds, so Oliver made it forward, so frightened, to the overlook, and looked very worried as he saw his sister struggling for breath as he had been before. Thankfully, she managed to find some safety of footing, at least for now. This allowed her time enough to speak to her brother, but the water was rising, so she couldn't say too much. "I know I saved you, but the piping has fallen. Don't try and help me. For once, listen to what I say. If you try and help, neither of us will be able to get out. You promised. Remember what you promised!" She said, and as she said those final words, the water had already destroyed the brief safety her feet had found, and she was plunged again beneath the heavy, suffocating blanket.

Oliver was extremely conflicted, but closed his eyes, nodded, and then opened them again before running back up the tunnel and toward the attic.

Miki could only think of leaving her brother only, if this would be her end. She tried to find a footing of some kind, any kind, as the unkind water kept pushing her mouth and snout under itself, and relentlessly embraced her so much she couldn't breathe. Even within all Miki's deperate attempts, something finally, after much exertion, forced her to give up, and as her kicking stopped, and her eyes closed, she quietly said sorry to Oliver, and to her parents, for leaving him all alone in the world, and without her as his protector.

She thought it a heavenly dream at first, but once she opened her eyes again, she knew it was real. The loving, desperate, pleading, disobedient noises from her little brother, of her Oliver, from atop the overlook. He had what seemed to be a shoelace tied around his waist, and the other end tied to a nail deeply embedded into the tunnel. He had no time to think, so he jumped, for the third time that day, but for the first time out of complete love, and not stupidity. He fell almost into the water too, before the shoe lace tightened its grip around his fluffy waist. He reached his paw out for Miki, who took it and she could finally breathe freely once more, as her head was clear of the water line. Oliver began to pull them out of danger, when Miki noticed the missing letter from before.

Now it was her turn to be reckless; she let go of Oliver's paw and dived back down into the perilous water, in an attempt to retrieve the missing Z. Oliver looked very scared as she disappeared under the merky water, but smiled as he saw Miki's face reappear from the gloom once again, and he grabbed her paw once more. She was holding the missing letter in her mouth, exactly like he had before. And as they reached safety for the final time, thanks to Oliver House Mouse's rescue, they were both very breathless and still terrified, and shaking from their extreme fright and cold.

Oliver House Mouse tried desperately to apologise for disobeying his sister again, and for being responsible for everything bad that had happened; not only that night, but all their lives, with his stupid inability to speak. But all that came out was a strange noise, which didn't really resemble word speech at all. Miki just shook her head, knowing exactly what her little brother was trying to say. "I'm just so glad you're safe. We're safe." They both hugged tightly and fell into each other as they collapsed once more in their own exhaustions.

After a while, the little house mice felt much less scared, and the storm outside had quietened. They returned to the attic, to the eightheen letters missing their much loved friend. Oliver House Mouse became suddenly embarrassed as he gestured for his big sister to turn around while he assembled the letters, after she'd dropped the missing, but now found, letter Z. Mostly to humour him, Miki obeyed, with a slight smirk upon her own lips. "Fine. Just tell me when you're done." She obeyed, turning around. It didn't take long for Oliver to shape the words, especially now he had all the letters required. But he pretended it took him longer, because of what he'd wanted to say - what he had wanted to say his entire life, to his big sister; the words - the words - so perfectly spelt out, he believed anyway: this confession; it made him feel vulnerable and scared - not water-scared, but the type of scared you might feel if you're not sure if someone will like a gift you've made them or not.

A tiny, meek voaclisation made its way out of Oliver's voice box, before he was really ready, so he quickly became committed and lifted the board shyly, to exhibit what he'd written. Miki turned around and read the board.

It read: "I NEVAR WONT TU LOZE YEW"

Noticing where was Z was placed was all it took to release the tears from the eyes of both the little mice, and they hugged once more, very tightly; their heads fitting against the other's necks so perfectly and bespokely as if they were truly made to fit that way - as they were. And, even though Oliver never learnt to speak, Miki could read, and feel all the love from both the Scrabble board and his little voice making sweet noises beside her ear and heart. And just like the missing letter Z had been found, they truly found love in each other every day before, during and after that very special moment between them.

And even though the little house mice tried desperately to clean it up, the letter Z was stained much darker than any other letter, after its ordeal. And even though Miki House Mouse, and Oliver House Mouse, were so terribly worried they would be upset, that their letter Z was ruined, Mr and Mrs Weatherby never ever noticed.

The End