Chapter 3
It was a new morning and a new day. Judachew did not sleep well the night before. He was still wondering how he could be the Christmas Eve miracle that the pastor needed. He was deep in troubled thoughts when he heard a humming voice that caused his heart to leap with joy. It was Mrs. Bailey and in the sanctuary setting out music for the choir rehearsal. If she were here then Alexa would be in the church also. He held his breath and perked his little mouse ears into the air and listened intently.
“Judachew, where are you?” he heard the voice coming from one of the Sunday School classrooms. It was Alexa and she was searching for him. Judachew raced along the corridor so fast that he missed the turn at the corner and slammed into the wooden board that framed the inner wall of the church. He didn't hit full force because he slowed himself down by digging his claws into the old pine flooring. The thump and thud hurt him for a moment but he could still hear Alexa calling and his thought of pain went away quickly. He would find her.
Judachew got to the first Sunday School room and raced through the hole. He had forgotten that this is the room that mice were to never enter. It was the room where Katie the Cat had her bed and bowl of food. Judachew had nothing against Katie the Cat. He saw her as just another being that lived in the church much like the mice and Pastor Goodbook. There was enough room for everybody. However, Katie the Cat did not see it that way. When she looked at Judachew she thought of him as a hot meal served right to her in bed.
Judachew had taken several strides into Katie’s lair while yelling “Alexa, I’m here.” Katie’s one eye popped open. Her whiskers twitched in the air. She smelled something delicious. She smelled something yummy. She smelled a mouse. She heard big people words but smelled a mouse. She yawned and waited with her eyes partially open, pretending to be asleep. Part of a good meal was the hunt beforehand.
It took a few seconds for Judachew to realize the mistake he had made by entering the wrong room. He knew Katie’s bed was right behind him. He prayed that she wouldn’t be there. He swiveled his head on his long neck in a search for the cat. Judachew gulped and felt his stomach tighten into knots because the cat was there. The frightened mouse breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like Katie was asleep. He may have escaped her clutches this time and promised himself that he would be more careful the next time. He moved his body slowly to the side towards the mouse hole. He was sure he would get away when he noticed Katie lick her lips. That was not a good sign. In fact, it was the worst sign ever. It meant that Katie was hungry.
Judachew was ready to run as Katie lifted herself onto her haunches. She was poised to leap and Judachew knew he could not escape her clutches. This was the end of him, his dream to sing tenor, his new friendship with a little big people, Alexa, and the Christmas Eve miracle.
Suddenly, the door to the classroom swung open and he could hear Alexa’s voice yell at Katie, “Don’t you dare. That is my friend.” Katie was startled. A human and a mouse were friends. That was confusing. She struggled between obeying Alexa’s command and the hunger pangs in her stomach. She could already taste this long necked morsel of delicious mouse.
Judachew wasn’t waiting around for the cat’s decision. He raced to Alexa and leaped on her pant leg then climbed quickly up her body, onto her back and then to her shoulder. He was out of breath and panting when he said to her, “Thanks friend. I was on the menu for somebody’s late morning dining.”
“Glad I could help. Do you feel like taking a walk, Judachew?” she asked.
“As long as it is out of this room then I am ready to walk,” the mouse answered.
Alexa strode out the door and shut it tight so Katie would stay in her room. She would open the door again before she left with her mother. Alexa smiled at Judachew and started speaking, “I have so many questions for you that I don’t know where to begin. I guess what I want to know first is why and how you can talk?”
The mouse sat down on the little girl’s shoulder and started into his explanation. “I am not sure how it works but when I was born, I was the last of the litter and my head was caught. By the time I was born my neck had stretched and it has stayed stretched all my life. It allows me to make sounds that you can understand.”
“I would think that mice talk a mouse language. How do you speak my language?” Alexa asked.
“We use the same words as you do but our sounds are different. You hear it as eek, eek but I am telling my brothers and sisters that it is time to get up. Because of my long neck I can make noises that sound like your words. Although I like to talk I really like to sing even more,” the mouse said as Alexa strolled down the hallway of the Sunday School wing of the church with the mouse on her shoulder.
“Me, too. I like to sing, too,” Alexa said excitedly. “I asked my mother if I could sing Mrs. Goodbook’s song on Christmas Eve.”
“What did she say?” Judachew asked.
“The classic mother answer, ‘We will see.’ It means the same as no but it sounds nicer,” Alexa told her friend. “I am practicing anyway. I think I’m getting better every time. My voice is getting stronger.”
“Maybe that is what I need to do. Maybe if I practice my singing everyday then my voice will get stronger. If it does then maybe I can sing the song with you,” Judachew told her with hope and excitement in his little mouse heart.
“There’s a piano in the choir’s rehearsal room. Let’s walk over there and we can practice together. While we walk maybe you can tell me how you got such a strange name. I never heard of Judachew before,” Alexa remarked.
“It is a long story but since I plan on being friends for a long time then I think I can tell it. Shortly before my mother was going to give birth to her first litter, my parents moved into the church. My dad was a little slow on getting our home ready and our nest was not prepared yet as mom started to have her birth pains. Dad ran around the church to find something to tear into strips of paper to make our nest. A church member was cleaning out the Sunday School rooms that day and had thrown out an old book about the New Testament.
“My grandmother was there helping my mom as she gave birth. Dad was busily tearing pages. When the first baby mouse came my grandmother yelled to my dad, ‘You better name them as they are born.’ So dad looked down at the page he was ripping and saw the first name. My oldest brother is Matthew then Mark then Luke then John. Mom rejected the name Acts. She liked Paul and Roman. My oldest sister is named Corinthia then Ephie was born. The two brothers before me were James and Peter,” the mouse said.
“But how did you get the name Judachew?” she asked while still giggling over the story.
“Dad was ripping, tearing and building the nest as fast as he could. This was going to be the largest litter in my family’s history. My grandmother yelled out to my dad that the last baby was on his way. As I was delivered my head got caught and my grandmother had to pull on me. My mother and grandmother looked over at my dad and waited for a name. Dad got nervous and when he gets nervous he sneezes. As he saw the next name in the New Testament he called back to them ‘Jude’ but at the same time he sneezed a big ah-choo! My name came out Judachew. So here I am, your friend Judachew,” he finished.
“That is such a cute story. We don’t build nests so I guess my name was just one my mom liked,” Alexa said as she pushed the door open to the choir rehearsal room. She walked over to the piano and sat down on the bench. “I don’t play very well but I can pick out the melody and show us what key we need to be in.”
Alexa opened the hymnbook to “Oh, Holy Night” and the two began to sing. By the third verse their soft voices grew stronger and more in tune. Both of them were thrilled with the results. They were so thrilled that they started to plan how they would introduce Judachew to the church on Christmas Eve. As they went through the song the third time Mrs. Bailey pushed open the door and called to Alexa.
“Come on, honey, it is time to go and by the way you are doing so good on that song. You almost sounded like there
were two voices singing. Maybe the idea of you singing that song to Mrs. Goodbook on Christmas Eve is exactly what the service needs. Yes, my little sweetheart, you are going to sing the solo this Christmas Eve,” her mom said with a new found joy in her voice.
Judachew had raced down the side of the piano and was hiding underneath it. Alexa looked down at him and gleefully said, “Did you hear that? We are singing ‘Oh, Holy Night’ on Christmas Eve.”
“Are you talking to your imaginary friend again?” Mrs. Bailey’s voice turned to exasperation.
“Yes, it is my new friend, Judachew,” she answered her mother truthfully.
“That is the one that is the talking mouse, right?” her mother inquired.
“Yep and he is the bestest friend ever,” Alexa said with a big smile that stretched across her face and lit up her eyes.