Part two

All the next week the weather remained warm and dry so every morning the people carried the cages out in to the garden under the shade of the huge oak tree.

Because of this Lois and Max spent as much time as they could in the garden too. Max was enjoying making friends with all the different animals, but Lois only had eyes for Dink. They sat either side of the bars that separated them, gazing into each others eyes and whispering sweet nothings to each other. Oh how they wished they could be together for ever.


What a change had come over Lois she was usually always in trouble, tormenting her brothers and sisters, upsetting the older mice by rushing about yelling and screaming, never doing her share of the chores and always running around looking for adventure, now she was quiet and listless.


Tulip, Lois's mum was becoming very worried about her, she even took her to see Dr Wefton as Lois was off her food, but he could find nothing wrong with her. Tulip even wondered if Lois was going deaf as she never seemed to hear when anyone spoke to her.



When Max realised how worried Tulip was he persuaded Lois to tell her mum about Dink.

Lois and Max explained how they had met and made friends with the other animals and how they were especially friendly with Dink because he was the only animal who lived alone. All The other animals lived with a friend or in a group but Dink had no one, he'd always lived alone and didn't realise what he was missing until he met Lois.


As son as Tulip heard of Dink's plight she called a tribe meeting. All the mice were very worried about Dink and resolved to rescue him. A reconnaissance team set off to assess the cage and reported back. It was bad news, the cage was very secure, it kept Dink safe but it meant it was difficult to escape from. By the time the team had explained how difficult it was going to be to help Dink, night had fallen and it was dark out. Lois knew it was too late to talk to Dink as all the animals would have been put back in the shed. Lois just wanted to be alone.

As Lois appeared from under the shed a voice said "Your boyfriend is asleep, you'll have to wake him up"

"Hello" said Lois why are you all still outside?"

"I think they have forgotten us tonight" said Chip.

"Never mind" said Smokey "it's a nice mild night, well be ok"

"I'm not asleep" said Dink "and I'm cold, I've come upstairs as there is something wrong with my floor, it's cold and damp".

Lois went over to Dink's cage, she started to jump up and down with excitement.

"Dink your cage is on the grass, the base is missing" yelled Lois, "Start digging, I'll get the rest of the family".

Dink clambered down from his bedroom and started scrabbling at the edge of his cage. In no time at all Lois returned with all the best diggers in the tribe. It wasn't long before there was a tunnel running from the bottom of the cage to the garden and Dink squeezed through. Dink was free at last, he was covered in earth and was almost the same colour as Lois. She ran around him combing and cleaning his fur until he was black and ginger again. Lois and Dink wandered back towards the shed with their arms around each other.