July 22, 2005

5:23 p.m.

The Great Chicago Mouse Caper

Last night I spent a couple of hours putting together the fourth and final chapter of The Great Chicago Mouse Caper, a story book I've been making for Dar since, oh, last August when I went to Chicago for a weekend.

It involved a little stuffed mousie I got years ago from one of those claw machines you find in restaurants. I was on a vacation with my sister, Rose, and her husband, Mike, and I brought Michelangelo Mouse along. They helped rig all these scenes where the mouse has adventures in the Big City, and we took digital photos of him everywhere. He went to the big park and met a City mouse (actually a beanie baby mouse, named Lucky Louis, from the Garfield movie which I never saw) and they got into a little trouble at the Zoo. We had a real hoot setting up photos, getting strangers to pose with Micky (not Mickey, of course... that's a different guy), explaining that we were making a picture book for our young friend at home who couldn't come to Chicago with us. (Dar is over 60.) I stretched the book out to four chapters eventually. Here are a few scenes, for the child in you:

This is Micky when he first arrives. It's easier to see from a tree, so he gets a look down the street to find the park.







The park is huge, and there are SO many things to do -- he just about wears himself out, and in the evening relaxes on a river cruise. The food was VERY good.







Before long he meets his new friend in a hotel gift shop. Lucky tells him the people who run the shop don't realize he's a real mouse! So Micky creates a diversion and Lucky escapes. They set out to see Chicago together.







The next day they go to the zoo. They ride the carousel, see animals, and stop for snacks. Lucky notices a sign on a little door, and goes up to investigate.







Woo-hoo! This looks good! They find themselves in the Africa house, where they see apes and hippos. Unfortunately, they get a little carried away with the trespassing, and get themselves arrested by two fierce-looking Rhino Cops.







Now, you may be wondering just how we came up with two rhinos dressed as policemen. Rose is an N.P., and drug companies are always giving them things that advertise products. These hardy fellows represent Rhinocort, which I believe is for allergies. Anyway, they were thrilled to be part of the cast.

Chapter two ends with a cliffhanger, the two mice in jail (behind a chickenwire fence) and the cops standing guard. In chapter three they escape. There's a suspenseful chase down a rocky mountainside and finally they elude the authorities.

...or DO THEY??

They continue on their adventures, going to the space museum and a restaurant, not noticing that, every now and then, the cops are peeking out from behind trees and buildings.

On their last night in town, they go to sleep in the hotel, and next morning notice the cops in a snapshot taken the day before. Get outta town!! Micky invites Louis to come to Connecticut with him, so they catch the plane back home and end up at the country cottage, where Micky lives with some people (who never see him). He says there are some animals there, too, but they're not very bothersome.

The people have a great rodent library.







After a sizeable snack of chips, salsa, and wine, they fall asleep in a handy wicker basket that turns out to belong to the new kitty, Arthur. Yikes!!

But Arthur has already been talking to the other household cats and he knows that if he leaves the mice alone, they'll bring him Pounce and catnip. So he doesn't bother them.

But... no sooner has he left the scene than the Rhino Cops reappear!! They've tailed the mice all the way from Chicago, and now they're really going to get 'em!

Just in the nick of time, though, Arthur returns and there's a big, exciting standoff between him and the Rhinos.

(Don't know if you can see this, but the "handcuffs" are really beaded wine glass ID baubles.)







Arthur wins out, but just as he's about to do them in, the mice run up. They thank Arthur with a nice big tummy scritch, which makes him all happy and he goes away purring. The cops realize that these two miscreants are really noble mice and ask forgiveness, and then they all have tea.







The end.

In the next entry I'll tell you about my Great 6:00am Adventure Where I Went to the Park to Run and Locked My Keys in the Car, Along with My Phone.