Mouselight Sonata

by Jeff Baker

(February 6, 2024)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The draws for the February 2024 Flash Fiction Draw Challenge resulted in a Fantasy, set in an Empty Gymnasium, involving a Giant Mallet. My story flashes me back to my much, much younger days… —jsb

As it did once every so often a shaft of moonlight from the upper window shone on the wall of the old school gym, the gym largely used for calisthenics or storage since the new gym had been built.

The walls had been decorated with murals when the building had been part of a Grade School showing cute cartoony animals doing exercises. But this mural was something special. Illuminated by the light, the three jogging little mice in gym shorts suddenly hopped off the wall and began happily running around the gym floor on their hind legs, squeaking as adorably as they could. But the moonlight wasn’t done. It shone on the part of the mural where a tall, scowling cat wearing gym shorts and a shirt with “COACH” on it narrowed its eyes, licked its lips and jumped off of the wall and began scampering after the mice.

The mice looked up at the swiftly advancing cat in terror and scattered. On all fours the cat scrambled on its four feet trying to gain traction on the polished gym floor and slammed into the brick wall, for an instant crumpling like a concertina.

The mice stood and laughed until the cat suddenly uncrumpled and pounced, grabbing two of the mice and holding them down with one paw by their tails. The third mouse jumped back to the mural and quickly pulled out a pocket mirror. Using it to shine the moonlight onto another part of the mural, where the artist had painted a large mallet. The mouse quickly pulled the mallet off the mural, ran over and slammed the mallet down on the cat’s tail. The cat let out a yowl and let go of the mice who ran away. The cat quickly pursued them around the gym until they reached the spot they had been before. The mice ducked under the mallet the third mouse was holding but the cat, in hot pursuit, didn’t notice in time and slammed into the mallet head first.

The cat staggered back, a lump quickly rising on his head, surrounded by cute twittering birds and glowing stars. He shook his head to clear it and began the chase again, keeping an eye out for the mallet.

There was a distant noise, a metallic clatter, footsteps and soft voices.

The cat and mice glanced at each other and quickly raced back to their proper places inside the mural, grabbing the mallet along the way.

The door to the Gym opened and the lights came on, the first man in the suit leading the second man in.

“I don’t mind showing this off even early in the morning,” the first man said. “This is why this building is on the National Register of Historic Places.” He stopped before the mural. “A few years after he painted this, he went to work for a Hollywood studio and created the cartoons about the mice Len, Lon and Lou and their nemesis Catterwaul the Cat. The characters won an Oscar in 1955 and this mural was probably an early version. Right down to the wooden mallet they always had somewhere.” He paused. “You know, that’s odd,” he said.

“What’s odd?” said the second man.

“I would have sworn that mallet was on the other side of Catterwaul. Oh well, it’s two in the morning anyway.”

As they walked out of the gym and turned off the lights, the second man asked “Why a mallet in all their cartoons?”

“Didn’t you know?” the first man said. “Artist Buzzy Hanks’ real name was Henry Isadore Haptish. It means Mallet…”

Addenda: As may be too obvious, my homage to the cartoons I watched as a little kid and the people behind them. —jeff