vintage Atari Please let it be a vintage Atari Or any other kind of gaming console would be fine Sorry Yolanda Ms Abaza said pleasantly Yolanda sighed and dropped her chin to her hand How was she ever going to become the best girl coder in the United States if she had to do all her gaming research outside of school But you’re close Ms Abaza went on I’m a really terrible artist it’s true but what’s in the box is very close to a rat She opened the box and lifted a small cage with a handle The lid was made of blue plastic The cage had see-through sides that she kept hidden behind the cardboard box Ms Abaza waited for a moment while the kids sat up higher in their chairs craning to see inside Be very quiet Ms Abaza said holding a finger to her lips They don’t like loud noises For a moment a little bud of hope blossomed in Jedda’s chest When she was little she’d had a tiny blue-tongued skink that she had kept as a pet His name was Irwin and he had a carrier just like that one when he was small Maybe there was a blue-tongued skink in the cage like Irwin Jedda thought she might feel less homesick if there was But then she remembered There were no blue-tongued skinks in the United States just like there were no episodes of Saddle Club or Vegemite Lab Mice Heist
Ms Abaza slowly lifted the cage for everyone to see Five tiny little mice sat in a huddle in one corner nestled in paper Two of them were plain white One was white and brown and spotty Another was half white and half brown and the fifth was completely brown They all had teeny tiny pink paws and long thin wormlike tails They looked up at the students with wide curious eyes They seemed to be watching the students waiting to see what the students would do Mouse-napped
The students stared at the mice They remembered what Ms Abaza had said about being silent but it was so hard to hold in their excitement Finally Tom couldn’t hold it in any longer Awesome he said quietly looking around the room and grinning at his friends We get mice Yolanda whispered pumping the air with her fist This was even better than an Atari She’d always wanted a pet mouse but her mom said their cat Hulk would eat it for breakfast That was probably true He once chewed up Yolanda’s shoelaces shoelaces for breakfast The mice responded to the noises by making noises of their own little squeaks and scuffling sounds in the ripped-up paper in the corner of their cage On the other side of the cage there was a bowl filled with pellets and small dried peas There was a water bottle hanging from one wall a fluffy hammock for the mice to sleep in and a small plastic wheel The bottom of the cage was covered in paper Are they ours to keep Tom asked Mice are awesome Jeremiah was the first one to approach the desk He loved animals and he’d handled mice before his therapist had some in her office She said that her patients found them calming Jeremiah often felt the exact opposite of calm but never around animals Lab Mice Heist
On his way to the desk he tied back his black braids with a scrunchie so the beads wouldn’t clatter and frighten the mice I love them he whispered Can we all come up asked Yolanda If you’re quiet said Ms Abaza She removed the lid of the cage so the kids could look down inside Remember this is new for them They might be feeling a bit scared I’m not coming up Mara said crossing her arms They’re gross And I don’t want to end up smelling like pee Fine said Yolanda breezily More room for the rest of us to see Mara just hmphed and looked away Jeremiah peered into the cage where the mice were still hud dled in a corner Are you sure they’re okay in there he asked They don’t look very happy And the cage is very small I feel like they want to be free They’re very happy Ms Abaza assured him And we will be letting them out of the cage sometimes when they’re more used to us I totally want to code some sort of obstacle course for them to run through Yolanda said bouncing on her heels She pushed up the sleeves on her vintage Super Mario hoodie and gestured excitedly demonstrating her plan We could have robot spheres Mouse-napped
