Ravioli

I glanced behind me. I felt eyes scrutinizing my back. Nothing was there. The bushes rustled mysteriously. Just the wind I said in my mind, nothing to worry about. I had been this way ever since my father had jumped out of a bush and yelled, "Boo!" I started to walk a little faster. Even though it wasn't at all dark it was late. The clouds billowed in the sky casting large shadows.

When I had first started walking home from the school it had been fine and I had wanted to walk, now I didn't. I wished my mom had come to pick me up.

I glanced at the head high bushes that lined the inner part of the sidewalk. The rustling resumed. I kept my eyes on the bushes as I walked. I could see the branches quivering. Whatever hid behind the bushes was following me. I could feel goose bumps creeping up my arm. I broke out into a run. It kept my pace. I could see where the row of bushes ended, not too far away. I slowed down. Even though I was frightened I stood there waiting to see if the thing would come out.

 I saw a bit of see through gray. It must be a tail I thought. My mouth dropped open as the whole thing came into view. Before me was a giant hamster ball, and I do mean giant. It was as tall as my chest and as wide as my arm span; with breathing holes the size of golf balls. Inside it was a mouse, not a hamster, a mouse. Not a regular mouse mind you. A regular mouse would get lost in this giant ball. This was an enormous mouse. It was as tall as my waist, and... albino! It's beady little red eyes looked at me hungrily. This mouse wasn't going to eat me was it?  It rolled itself closer to me. I took a step backwards. It rolled the distance of a step. Startled, I began to run back the way I had come. It started to roll after me. Not in the speed that a hamster would roll its ball but like a marathon runner in a race. It soon stopped abruptly like it had put on brakes. It started again only slower, more the speed of, say, my friends. I ran as fast as I could, it rolled as fast as it could (which now wasn't as fast as a marathon runner but like me).

I came to a wall. Cornered, I stood there panting as it rolled so it was just a half-inch away from me. The mouse jumped up and popped the lid of the hamster ball. At first I was confused as to what it was doing. When it changed onto its haunches I knew what it planned to do.

With a big leap the mouse vaulted over the edge of the ball and toward me. The impact of him landing toppled me over, landing on the hard ground. I groaned. The mouse weighed a ton. I looked up. I expected to see the mouse getting ready to tear me to shreds. Instead the mouse was staring at me like I was the only thing that mattered to him. Like he was a dog and I was his owner. It bent down and started licking me. I was scared at first but not for long. How I could I be scared of a mouse nuzzling me? It was giant, but still. I pushed it off of me and stood up.

Walking back to my house, I watched it to see if it would follow me. It did.

My mom waited on our doorstep, peering down the sidewalk watching for me. When she saw the mouse she screamed. "Wha-What is that?" she asked. I couldn't blame her. Before you knew how nice the mouse was he seemed kind of scary. I told my mom what had happened. She finally agreed to let me keep it for a little while as long as I didn't bring it inside. She told me to keep a close eye on it while she went to get groceries.

Once she left I sat down on the step next to it and started stroking its back. It whined. I realized for the first time it was probably hungry. I went inside and looked in the fridge for leftovers it could eat. All I could find were raviolis. Oh well. I thought. I brought the raviolis back outside. I put the raviolis in front of him he sniffed them. I turned away for a second. When I looked back the raviolis had disappeared. The little tupperware was there but they weren't. The mouse burped. I realized he had actually eaten them, in a split second.

I went in again to see if there was anything else. By that time my mom was home. She had stacked up on groceries.

I brought a bunch of assorted foods out to see what he liked best to eat. I put some cheese under his snout. To my surprise he wouldn't eat it. I tried everything else I had brought up, but to everything he just turned around or whapped it with his tail. "I made you some raviolis!" my mom called out to me. All of a sudden I had an idea. I ran indoors grabbed the bowl of raviolis my mom had made me and rushed back outside.

 I laid the bowl by the mouse. No sooner than I had taken my hand away, they were gone. The mouse loved raviolis. I now knew what I could name that mouse.

" C'mon Ravioli. Let's go get dinner."