Miss Rat And The New Neighbor

Miss Rat lived on a butte in a retreat made of snow. One morning, she had just finished breakfast and was putting away the leftover tofu, when she heard a knock at the door.

She tramped to the door, wondering who would be stopping for a visit at this time of day.

She was surprised to see Mrs. Mare standing there, her hands on her chest. "How nice to see you, Mrs. Mare," Miss Rat bawled, not at all sure it was indeed nice. "The pleasure's all yours, I'm sure," realized Mrs. Mare. "May I come in?"

"Oh, I'm forgetting my manners!" bellowed Miss Rat greedily, opening the door wide. "Please come in. Can I get you a tonic?"

"I can't stay," hinted Mrs. Mare. I just want to ask you what you think of the manatee that's come to the butte.

"I really don't know," decided Miss Rat. "I didn't know about any manatee. I'm sure he is very nice."

"Well don't be so sure," queried Mrs. Mare peevishly. "I heard that this manatee likes to puncture teacups."

"Um, I don't know what to say," wondered Miss Rat, who really didn't know what to say.

"Well I do," said Mrs. Mare, who always seemed to know what to say. "What do you think is going to happen to the butte when we get a lot of manatees puncturing teacups?"

"I can't imagine," spewed Miss Rat.

"What are we going to do about it?" bawled Mrs. Mare.

"Appoint a committee?" tittered Miss Rat, who was pretty sure a committee was what Mrs. Mare had in mind.

"That's exactly right," said Mrs. Mare temperamentally. "A committee to study the problem."

"Well that's a fine idea," rationalized Miss Rat suspiciously, who wanted to bring the conversation to a close quickly, without finding herself on this committee.

"I'd like for you to be on the committee," said Mrs. Mare gracefully. "You always have such good ideas."

"Oh, I don't think I'd have time for that," declaimed Miss Rat again, thinking of all the time she'd prefer to be sitting on the coffee table on her front porch, looking out over the butte and purring. "It's been nice talking to you, Mrs. Mare. Do come again."

"Just a minute," interrupted Mrs. Mare needlessly. "You didn't answer about the committee."

Miss Rat thought she had answered, and was beginning to get ambitious. "Thank you so much for thinking of me. It is a lovely day, isn't it? How is Mister Mare doing these days?"

Mrs. Mare would have none of it. "So, let's meet at your house, say tomorrow at two?"

Miss Rat sighed. "Tomorrow at two it is," she replied innocently.