The Rockin' Rodents

Read the Small Print

   The next day, Jerry made the same excuse about working on a school project with Wayne and Bill.

"What's this project about Honey?" his mom asked.

"Music," Jerry said without thinking.

"Music?" his dad piped in curiosity as he came into the kitchen, "What kind of music project is it?"

"It's about the classical composers, you know, like Mouzeart and those other guys," Jerry improvised to his Dad.

"And those other guys?"

Jerry realized he'd made his dad suspicious and left out the back mouse flap, claiming to be running late.

Before going to the dump, Jerry went round to his Uncle Eddie's place. The Battle of the Bands sounded enticing, but he remembered his Uncle's warning. The very fact that David Meowie had asked him not to read the small print of the contract, made him want to read it more. However, after half an hour of searching for it, he'd discovered writing so tiny he couldn't read it. He'd decided there and then, to go ask his Uncle about what he should do.

He met the same long cool woman mouse in a long black dress, as he reached his uncle's house.

"Hi sugar, your daddy not with you today?" she asked.

"No, I'm just visiting my uncle Eddie" he answered.

He knocked at the door and again heard the muffled sounds of things being moved around and the feedback screech of his uncle's hearing aid. He could smell the strange incense that his uncle always seemed to be burning. He couldn't explain it, but somehow it smelt "green".

His uncle opened the door.

"Hey! My little rocker nephew! Eh..."

Uncle Eddie seemed to go to that place again where memory was elusive.

"Jerry," Jerry said in a rush, he needed his uncle to be a little more focused.

"Could you take a look at something for me?" Jerry asked.

"Sure, come on in."

Once inside, Jerry showed his uncle the contract. Uncle Eddie found the biggest magnifying glass Jerry had ever seen. His uncle read the fine print, with a lot of "Ahems" and "mm" sounds. Finally, he looked up at Jerry.

"Well, I can tell you that you probably shouldn't sign this, it hands any money that you'd makeover to the manager. Except..."

"Except what?" asked Jerry.

"The contract has a loophole," his uncle said

"Is that a type of cereal?"

"No, it means there's a mistake in the contract. It doesn't specify who the manager has to be. That could be you, little mouse. You could enter, get some publicity, make some dough," he said

"Do you think I should?" Jerry asked.

"It's up to you little mouse, it's hard to make a name for yourself in this game. A promotion like this, well it ain't easy to find. If you got a killer band, mouse, it could be the first step."

"The first step to what?"

"To being a rock star, little mouse, to being a rock star" answered his uncle.

Jerry's ears perked up at the mention of the word, and that was enough for Jerry. He said his goodbyes and thanked his Uncle Eddie and cycled furiously to the dump.

When he got there, Tina and Hammy were already setting up for rehearsals. Jimmy was there too, sitting on the porch of his shack, with his feet up and his and guitar in his lap. He had his hat pulled down over his eyes and seemed to be taking a nap. Tina had rummaged through the scrap in the dump and put together an impressive-looking drum kit.

"Hi, guys! I think I got us some gigs to play," he said quietly to the others, trying not to wake up Jimmy.

"A gig! But we haven't got any songs!" said Hammy "We haven't even got a name!"

"We're called The Rocking Rodents!" said Jerry without pausing.

"Yeah, except I'm not a rodent, I'm a reptile," complained Tina.

"Well, we can work on the name and we can write songs."

"It isn't as easy as that and what about a singer? We're not ready," said Tina.

"We've got four weeks to get ready before the battle of the bands starts," Jerry replied. "Come on guys, we can do this."

"A battle of the bands?" said Ronny and Jerry explained about his meeting with David Meowie and his Uncle Eddie.

"Pretty smart Kid! Readin' the fine print, but one thing you gotta understand is Meowie will offer you a deal you can't refuse. Once you're in his world, you won't be able to get out." Jimmy who had been listening to them the whole time said as he sat upright pulling his hat from over his eyes.

Hammy and Tina looked at each other hesitantly.

"That's why we need you, Jimmy, to keep our creative control monkey," said Jerry.

"There's a monkey in the band?"

Jerry ignored Ronny and looked at Jimmy pleadingly. Jimmy looked back and could see the determination in Jerry's eyes.

"All right, all right. If I can't convince you otherwise, I'll help you out. You guys start practicing and I'll go and see if I can't find us a singer." And with that, he left them to get rocking.

Tina sat and started banging out a beat on her shell. Hammy took up his bass and followed with a slick set of chords. Jerry followed where he could, and got down a simple rhythm. They played for hours, messing around, jamming. It was kind of like they were meeting again, but for the first time, discovering what they could and couldn't do; Hammy came up with some words for them to sing.

They laughed, they jigged and wiggled, they argued, they made up. They did more with an afternoon than some did in a lifetime.

Chords and keys began to suggest stories, the stories of their lives and those around them began to form ghosts haunting in their feelings. A b-sharp became Jerry's fight to rock despite his parent's an A-minor was Tina's desire to escape from her glass prison. Anything in a major key Ronny suffused with punk energy and attitude. To an outsider, it might have sounded like an almighty ruckus, but to the Rockin Rodents, it was a revelation.

When the band ended their practicing, the sudden silence afterward was broken by slow mocking applause. They turned to see David Meowie watching over them. Behind him was the biggest snake they had ever seen.