A Gift For a Mouse — A Short Story
One by one, twinkling stars appeared in the sky as it grew dark. Thomas snuggled into his bed as the sounds of the day slowly quieted.
He peeked at his grandfather who was settling down for a nightcap in his rocking chair. He knew that he was supposed to be falling asleep, but he just couldn’t. Turning over, he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for sleep to overtake him. As the minutes went by, he was still wide awake. All mice should be in bed at a decent hour and it was getting long past that time.
The squeak of the rocking chair let Thomas know Grandpa was still awake.
Thomas turned over and lay still. He watched as his Grandpa rocked back and forth, back and forth looking into the night sky. His soft ear twitched every couple of seconds.
“Having trouble sleeping, my son?” his grandfather asked in a quiet voice.
Thomas blinked. How did Grandpa know he was awake? Softly, he mumbled a reply.
“What’s keeping you awake tonight?”
“I don’t know. Just can’t sleep.” Thomas turned over to face his grandfather. “Could you tell me a story? One from the time when you were young?”
“Don’t you ever get tired of hearing those stories so often?” he laughed.
