A mouse lived in the walls of an old farm house. He had an extensive home which he constructed by chewing through the old newspapers that had been pushed between the walls as insulation. There was always plenty to eat. Crumbs. Dog food. Old photographs.
When the humans discovered the chewed photographs there was a reign of terror. The poisoning began.
Mice dropped like flies. His mother, five of his sisters and brothers all gone. A rat came in for a while. One night the mouse watched in fascination as the rat dragged dried apples, intended to be heads of apple head dolls, to the door to the mud room. There was a gap under the door. The rat got into the house by crouching under the door, so he was very puzzled by the apples who refused to crouch and go under. The rat left seven apples in a row by the door to the mud room and he never bothered to return.
The humans didn't leave much food out any more. It wasn't hard to find enough to eat, but the mouse ranged further in his search. Once he scuttled over a sleeping human foot. He paused to poop in the bottom of the bath tub - he thought he'd never get out of that one.
It was on top of the refrigerator that he found the treasure. A mason jar with no lid and a little blackberry jam in the bottom. The jar had been pushed to the back by a cereal box which had nudged the jar to the edge.
For a week the mouse attempted ascent of the mason jar. Its slight stickiness helped a little, but it took seven nights of effort to make the top of the jar. Then there was the descent to the jammy depths. As he was maneuvering around the edge of the jar plotting his descent, the jar teetered and fell sideways, lodging itself between the back of the refrigerator and the kitchen wall.
The mouse inside didn't care. He ate his fill of blackberry jam. Then he discovered he was trapped.
Months later a human was doing some cleaning and she found the little mummified body in the jar. ``That must be the last of them.'' she said.