Author: Annie Reed Narrator: Summer Brooks Host: Laura Pearlman Audio Producer: Wilson Fowlie

This story originally appeared in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine.

Queen of the Mouse Riders

by Annie Reed

Gurgling yowls echoed off the tiled floor in Sarah's bathroom. Bounced off the ceiling, gaining strength, and intruded on what was turning out to be a very, very nice dream featuring the star of a movie she'd watched just before bed.

In the dream, the star turned his incredibly expressive eyes in Sarah's direction, smiled his best enigmatic smile, and said, "Pardon me, darling, but is that your cat?"

(In the dream he'd turned British. She happened to know he'd been born and raised in the Bronx. Dreams were just plain weird sometimes.)

"Yes," she said. "She's apparently caught a mouse."

Starlight the Cat had a battle cry like a two-note yodeler gargling mouthwash. She reserved that particular cry for whenever she caught a mouse. Or something that looked like a mouse. Or a mouse-shaped stuffed toy.

Most of the time she'd only caught one of her toys. Thank goodness. But on at least on memorable occasion she'd interrupted a visit from Sarah's mother by presenting a live mouse as the third course for their lunch date.

Sarah's mother was deathly afraid of mice.

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