Here's an idea I had. I figured it would be better if I wrote a story instead of trying to explain it. This any good? Les Souris "Animals as a whole did not develop any new talent for magic that can be seen..." -- Annals of the World pt. I --- In the darkness in the corners of the cellar, between the rusty pipe and the old box full of moth eaten tableclothes, two black beady eyes winked underneath a nose twitching in concentration. "C'mon..." A tiny voice whispered in the dark crack in the wall. But the barest flash of a whisker was illuminated by the swinging light fixture above. The dim boxes cast shadows everywhere, as the lightbulb continued to swing back and forth. "C'mon..." whispered the voice again. "Brudder you done?" squeaked something behind him. The light suddenly flashed bright and popped, dropping the attic into complete darkness. "Don't /do/ that!" a little mouse hissed to an even littler mouse behind him. "You done?" the little mouse repeated insistently. "I'm done, Grace. The light is out," 'Brudder' said with resignation. "Yay! I go play now?" "Wait here while I get the others." The larger mouse vanished with a flick of his tufted tail. The smaller one sat there, nose twitching impatiently, poking around the edge of the hole. "Brudder said no," she concluded, settling down to wait. 'Brudder' ran up a pipe where a few other mice were rustling around in the dim sunlight that shone through cracks in the wall. "Dims! Jumper! I got it out. Let's go before they fix it again." The three brown mice darted down while two others headed along a space beneath the floorboards. "You da mouse," the second mouse said upon reaching the dark room. "I knew they were using the light as a ward!" the third said fervently, scampering out of the hole. "Brudder, I go now?" "Sure, Grace," the first mouse said, "But stay close to me." He shouted over his shoulder before helping his sister off to the last mouse, "Dims! You keep watch here, a'aight?" "I'm way ahead of you, Ceec." Ceec snuck off into the darkness, easily manouvering around the smelly crates and boxes. He almost passed Jumper who was trying single-handedly to move a bag about 6 times his size. "Jumper, what are you -doing-?" Ceec asked, still whispering out of habit. "Just," she grunted, "Getting this back," she grunted, "To the hole." "How will you get it in the hole?" Ceec prompted. "Ceec, this is flour," Jumper gushed. "I can make bread with this! We gotta *umph* get it on down there..." Ceec sighed. "Why don't you take a piece of it then? We're never going to be able to use all of this." "Oh," Jumper said dumbly, "That would work." Ceec continued his search while Jumper pushed a piece of waxed paper covered in piles of flour past him. "Hope he remembered to put the flour back," Ceec grumbled. He smelled his sister up ahead, but way too far for her own good. "Grace, hold on up okay?" "I stuck, Brudder!" her soft sqeak carried across the dimness. He ran forward and his eyes slowly took in the situation. There was a round thing, some kind of tin he realized upon reaching it, and Grace could be seen sniffing around at the bottom. "Grace, it's okay!" he said relievedly. Her nose turned up at the sound of his voice. "All you have to do," he continued, "is make a little jump." "Jump?!" she squeaked incredulously. "But I..." "Don't 'but' me, Grace. Just jump, there's a lip right above your reach." She jumped and flailed about, but missed the lip and fell down again. At his insistence, she tried again and barely caught onto it before falling again. "I found it brudder!" she said excitedly. "Yes, just try it one more time," Ceec said looking down at the small fuzzy blob that was his sister. She jumped, and caught the lip, using it to pull herself over. "Thank you brudder," she said carefully. He just groomed her side silently. Slowly but surely, food began to disappear down the main hole. Dims was getting tangled up in a piece of tape trying to wrap up Jumper's precious flour. A few dried fruits, some fish paste, and two pickles. "We'll be eating like kings," Dims said. "Yeah..." Ceec trailed off. "Like kings." A rhythmic tapping on the floorboards above send the three mice scampering down the hole. Soon later the light from the house above was briefly blocked followed by the sound of footsteps on wooden stairs descending.   _________________ All things must come to this.