Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse, unable to use the keyboard shift keys and unschooled in the art of punctuation.
de-churched for a night
boss i remember it happening
just like it was yesterday
in fact it was yesterday
when it happened
i got locked out of church
locked out of fellowship with
the church pew underworld
it happened innocently enough
who would have thought a little
gray churchmouse like me
would be standing outside
the church s stained-glass
windows looking in and
wanting to be there inside
question mark here boss
sammy salamander freddy flea
and i were playing hide-and
-seek although freddy has
some major advantages over
sammy and me with him
being so little and able
to jump so much
things weren t going so
well in my little hide-and-
seek world i kept scampering
across the trail of marcellus the
mean ol mangy cat
one time marcellus wheeled
around and saw my little
fuzzy face and i dived out
of the church door and into
a nearby evergreen bush just
as the church custodian locked
the door for the night
there i was boss safe from
marcellus to be sure but who
knows what dangers lurk out
there in the real world in the
dead – or dread – of night
it was an awesome feeling
for a little timid churchmouse
boss so i tried to find a nice
secluded mousy mission with
a day-old cheese line but
nothing could be found
hey there little gray
furrball how ya doing
says a big ugly sewer
rat that smelled like –
well you know boss
n-nothing says me a bit
intimidated
wanna buy a nice watch
or a diamond ring says he
are you kidding says me
wondering where he would
get those kind of things but
not really wanting to know
you doubtin me kid says he
with a snarl instead of his
usual toothy grin
no sir not at all says i as i
turned to run as fast as i
could – straight into the
paw of an old scroungy-
looking dog
ya got any dog bones for a
hairy friend says he to me
no sorry says me i usually
don t carry many of those
ok says he as he started to
shuffle along his way
by then it was nearly dawn
and i hurried back to the
church door
soon the custodian would
open the church and i would
be safe inside
boss one s faith makes a
nice refuge but even now late
at night some of those faces i
met on the street still haunt
me and it causes me to reflect
that somehow we need to
break out and try to
redeem our world
amos
p s – but next time boss i want
to be a little better prepared
like with a bible some dog
bones for my hairy friend and
maybe a bag of cheetos for me
