Saturday's Storyteller: "In the old jack o'lantern lived a family of mice, each of which had a special gift."

by Belinda Roddie

In the old jack o'lantern lived a family of mice, each of which had a special gift. And when October became November, and the Johnson family decided to throw out the pumpkin, the mice would have to use each gift to find or build a new home.

Rodrigo, the father of the family, had excellent strength. So he prepared a little wagon made of tree bark and twigs to pull all of their belongings in one trip, never breaking a sweat. Sally, his wife, was very fast, and she could scurry to a place a mile away and come back in only a second. This way, she managed to find an excellent spot to build a house, away from the noise and tumult of human existence.

The eldest, both boys, had somewhat different abilities. Oliver had eyes so sharp that he could see through everything. That way, he managed to stare straight into the earth's core right below where they would build their new house, and he found that the tectonic plates were quite stable, and no risk of an earthquake could be seen. Nicholas, with his abnormally long tail for a mouse, could pick up radio signals, which would transmit from the tail end of his spine down to his whiskers, in order to ensure that the family could receive any news of human activity.

The family all went to work on the house, Sally speeding off to get wood and stones while Rodrigo lifted up everything. His oldest daughter, Alice, had saliva as thick and sticky as the best adhesive, and she spat and spat so all the walls could be glued together and held stable. The second oldest daughter, Maya, could speak insectese, instructing the dragonflies and butterflies to bring in plants and stems for the roof. And the youngest daughter, Desdemona, had by far the most important ability of all, one held most useful despite her being almost infantile.

Once the house was done, Desdemona took a deep breath and summoned, in low, terrifying volumes, all of the demons of the planet to come to her bidding. They constructed all the security benefits of the place - rings of fire, fences made of the sharpest blades, and even swinging pendulums of spikes and axes. One demon even allowed the family to have a pet dragon, named Garth, to guard the vicinity at all times.

It was a splendid little miniature cottage, and the demons and mice family all sat down to eat dinner, which consisted of the souls of the living, the despair of sinners, and of course, salad with vinaigrette. And as they ate, Rodrigo asked between chews,

"Dessie...perhaps we can also invest in a giant guillotine for those who dare try to destroy our home, like the last family?"

Desdemona smiled and shared a high five with the Grand High Demon, then sprinkled some pepper on her salad.

This week's prompt was provided by Daniel Bulone.