Chapter 16 Motorcycle mouse-2

Ralph was soundly asleep now from the intense nights of driving through puddles, getting rid of his brothers and sisters, trying to fix his motorcycle and rebuild his bed.Suddenly, he was awakened by the angry shout of Mr. Mitch, that is, the manager of the small shop.He was talking to Madame Bramble, Jean's mother. "Look at the floor, it's disgusting!" said Mr. Mitch. "It's time for a good cleaning," Mrs. Bramble echoed. Mr. Mitch asked again, "Where's Matt? He's in charge of the front hall." Ralph's big friend was in trouble, and it made him anxious.Peering out from under the big clock, he saw Matt coming into the front hall, without even noticing the gloomy face of the manager.Matt said, "Good morning, Mrs. Bramble, Mr. Mitch. It must be a beautiful sight outside. The sun is shining on the white snow, and the sky is so blue."

Mr. Mitch ignored him.He said bluntly, "Matt, look at the floor, the dry mud on the linoleum, the rat marks everywhere, how disgusting it is. The whole front room smells... of rats! " So interesting, thought Ralph, I can't smell it at all. Matt looked at the floor and said, "Oh, there's no such thing. Why do you think so? It was clean last night." Lies, Ralph thought with some kindness.He knew Matt never said a word against a mouse. Mr. Mitch said again, "Never mind how it happened, just say what you're going to do about it." Matt said, "Don't worry, Mr. Mitch, I'll clean this place right away."

Mr. Mitch continued: "Look at your work. Although this is not a first-class hotel, the floor should not be so dirty. I know that the guests who come at night will only trample the floor dirty and leave muddy water. No trace of rats will be left. If I find any more traces of rats, I will have to get you out of here." Ralph did not want to lose his faithful friend.This is so unfair, he thought.As far as he could remember, Matt had been part of the inn, and he had come before Mr. Mitch and Mrs. Bramble.Most of the employees hadn't been at the Mountain View Inn very long. "Yes, sir." The excitement was gone in Matt's voice.

Ralph was one of those clever mice who knew that most of his countrymen had learned how to avoid traps and poisons, but he was not so sure about his brothers and sisters.What else but clips and poison?Cat.Ralph shuddered at the thought of the cruel cat stalking his innocent little brothers and sisters.The smallest one, the one that was always wrapped in the fringe of the rug, would be the first to suffer. A skier who was reading a newspaper by the luggage rack at the door heard the conversation between Matt and Mr. Mitch, and offered to accost, saying: "Now there is a new type of electronic mouse repellent on the market, which can make a very light noise. Rats can hear it and this drives them away quickly."

"Well, I'll go and see. Something must be done here," said Mr. Mitch, as he walked toward his office. Ralph thought that the electronic mouse repellent was going to drive his whole family into the snow to freeze to death crying.Thinking of this, he trembled again. This embarrassing business was finally over.Mrs. Bramble wanted to have something pleasant to say to Matt. "It's a good thing," she said, "that the skiers have gone to the slopes, so they don't bother me with a lot of laundry dripping and drying in the bathroom, making a mess." She said While talking cheerfully, I went upstairs to count the sheets and towels in the linen room.

Matt, who seems to be in a good mood these days, muttered, "If I say it, it's more like a fourth-rate hotel." He dragged the vacuum cleaner out, "Old Mickey will never buy an electronic mouse repellent for you." What am I going to do with these rats for a dime? I'll just say, 'Get out of here, rats, or that old, self-righteous gentleman will drive me away', okay?" The vacuum cleaner roared back and forth across the carpet, and Matt looked anxious, and Ralph worried about him.It is winter now, what should the old man do if he really loses his job?Where will he go?

Ralph noticed that, despite Matt's worried appearance, he never put the vacuum cleaner under the curtains, which were the best hiding places for mice. Ralph sat on his hind legs and began to wash.He ran his beard back and forth with his claws, and as he was trimming, he suddenly felt an extreme discomfort.Matt's trouble was actually his fault.If he had been a normal mouse and he didn't have that motorcycle, all the little fellows wouldn't be flocking to the front hall. They will continue to live upstairs, warm in their dens behind the floor; they will be able to steal home skier crumbs without venturing into the dining room, and they will be well fed. very fat.

Ralph couldn't help but stop washing up and concentrate on thinking.If he moved back upstairs, his countrymen would follow him, but what about the motorcycle?He couldn't carry the car up the stairs, and he couldn't leave it here.Not at all.If he kept the car, the bigger mice would steal it and stay in the front hall, at least until it was worn or crashed; How to do it?When the big clock above his head "..." strenuously struck 8, Ralph was still churning with this difficult problem.At this moment Jean ran into the hall, dressed warmly.He was going to that mysterious place called "the school" with books and lunch in his backpack.Ralph was particularly envious of Jean's snow boots.

The mud all over the ground caught Jean's attention, and he lowered his head to ponder for a while.When Matt went away to get the mop, he crouched down in front of the clock with his face on the floor so he could talk to Ralph. "I see your ruts," whispered Jean. "I bet you had a good time last night." "Yes, except the little mice," replied Ralph. "What's the matter?" asked Jean, "it doesn't seem very pleasant to hear your voice." Suddenly Ralph knew what he had to do.He has a quick brain, and coming up with ideas is effortless for him.As a mouse, you can only survive if you are sensitive. "Look, Jean," it said, "I'm in trouble, and I don't have time to tell you now, so just take me and my motorcycle without asking why."

"Go to school?" Jean was very surprised. "Yes," pleaded Ralph, "we're friends, aren't we?" "Of course we are friends," echoed Jean, "but—" "No time for 'yes,'" said Ralph.He knew that Jean was going to catch the school bus soon. "Well, that's it, if you say so," said Jean. As soon as Jean's "okay" came out, Ralph was already pushing his motorcycle out.The helmet still dangled from under the handlebar. "I will not be found," he assured his friend. "I will find a place at school."

Jean put the motorcycle into a pocket of his coat, and then lifted Ralph carefully, for fear of breaking his little ribs, "Do you want to stay in school for a while?" "Yes," Laerguan said, suddenly he was taken aback by his decision, "There must be a place for me to hide." Jean thought for a moment, and said: "Well, Malice Haupa has a boot, and you can hide it there." "Don't she wear it?" asked Ralph.This image came to mind: he was curled up in Malice's boots. "No way," said Jean, "Malice hates these boots and that's why she put them in school so her mother can't let her wear them." "A bright girl," thought Ralph. Mrs. Bramble hurried back to the front hall: "Jean, what are you kneeling there for? You should go, or you won't be able to catch the car." "I'm just checking the mud on the floor," Jean lied, putting Ralph quickly into his pocket. "Goodbye, Mom." He ran out the door, crunching the snow toward the road. Jean, who had other ideas about taking Ralph to school, said, "I guess Miss Carter wouldn't mind." "Who's Miss Ka?" asked Ralph. "My teacher," Jean explained, "is actually called Miss Culkenbacker, but she says Miss Cuckenbacker is all right, because it takes too much time to be called Miss Cuckenberger." "Ah..." Ralph was puzzled. For Ralph, school is a strange and mysterious place.When he was a child, he had an impression that school seemed to be like a car, because his parents often said, "It's good as soon as the school starts." At that time, they drove their children through the long, hot Sacramento Many canyons ①, or ride over the winding, winding Cerro Sierra Nevada ② came to this inn.Ralph took it for granted that since cars could drive, schools could "drive," so schools would probably be like cars. As Ralph used to listen to the children, he became more mature.He came to realize that the children were walking, while the school was standing still.Later he learned that there were grown-ups called "teachers" who also went to school.Some teachers lived in the inn during the summer.From all that Ralph knew, teachers were just like ordinary people, except that they were not like ordinary fathers and mothers, and that was what they used to say: "Oh my god, school is starting again." Ralph found a clue from the TV commercial that was played several times a day: he probably knew what the teacher was doing in that mysterious place.In the ad, a woman who calls herself a teacher walks around with a tube of toothpaste in her hand and says, "Toothpaste doesn't irritate me, what irritates me is a thorough dental checkup." This sentence confused Ralph.When he was living upstairs, once a careless guest forgot to unscrew the toothpaste cap, Ralph took the opportunity to taste it, and he found his mouth was full of white foam, so he frantically ran around looking for water .Then a servant came running downstairs screaming, "The mouse is crazy, the mouse is crazy!" No, Ralph couldn't agree with what the teacher said in the TV commercial, the toothpaste was too irritating. "How's Miss Ka?" asked Ralph when Jean walked to the bus station. "Oh, she didn't pick one," said Jean, stomping his feet to keep them warm, "she always ① Sacramento Mountains, in southern New Mexico, USA. ② Sierra Nevada, in eastern California, USA. Come up with fun ideas for language lessons.For example, our school is called Evan Jay Snead Elementary School.Last week she asked us to write this essay: Who is Evan Jay Snead?Why is the elementary school in Quicaricola, California named after him? Jean grabbed a handful of snow, squeezed it into a snowball, and chopped at a pine branch, and the snow on the pine tree fell with a soft "puff" sound. "Some kids wrote Evan Jay Snead as a monster from space," continued Jean, "and I think he was a horse thief in the days of the gold rush. Queccarich was a mining town then. . I said he was the first to be caught and put in prison in Cuica, so people named the school after him.Miss Ka is very excited about the fact that Quecaricha has historically been a gold rush town. " "Well," said Ralph, puzzled, "then who is Evan Jay Snead?" "He's a great old guy on the school board, back in the '70s when the school was first built," Jean explained, shaking another snowball. Ralph understood nothing of what he was saying. Jean threw snowballs one after another, and suddenly a thought flashed in his mind."At school, I'd better be careful what I talk to you, or people will think I'm crazy," he said. "Maybe some people can understand me," Laerguan suggested. "Maybe they'll enjoy watching me ride a motorcycle." Jean thought for a while and said: "You'd better not show off, maybe someone will steal your motorcycle, and maybe everyone wants to bring rats and motorcycles to school. If the whole school is full of rats Running around on a motorcycle, I guess that's not a good idea. One is fine, but more than that. You know some people are neurotic about rats." The school bus is "buzzing" on the road.Ralph's experience at the inn forced him to agree with Jean.One or two or three mice is justified, but too many will not work.He asked Jean: "I said, do you think there are mice in the school?" "No," Jean said.At this time, the bus had stopped in front of him, "Mr. Coster always keeps the school very clean, so there will be no mice." Of course, by saying that, Ralph's feelings were hurt. "Remember: don't show your face." Jean told Ralph the last sentence before getting into the car. Ralph stayed in the bottom of his coat pocket, sad, brave, noble, frightened and bewildered: Sad, because he didn't have time to say goodbye to Matt; brave and noble, because he went out to a strange place to keep his little fellows safe; Because everything happened so suddenly.In the pocket, however, he felt very comfortable again.In one of the deepest crevices, Ralph found a raisin, which would have been a delicious breakfast if he hadn't been so nervous about the mysterious place at Evan Jay Sneed's elementary school.He took a bite and said to himself that school must be a safe place because so many kids go there. Sure, I'll be fine, he told himself.At this time, he put on an air of indifference.However, he still muttered, "But I must be careful of Miss Ka's toothpaste, and stay away from it."