Chapter 16: Correspondence, Part 3

Serendipity sat the letter down on the table and gave Gypsim her full attention.?"What is it, little friend?" she asked.

Gypsim scampered over to the letter and began to point at it, as if her information had something to do with the letter. Serendipity didn't understand. "The letter?" she asked.

Gypsim's head waggled up and down furiously. Serendipity continued. "You want me to know something about the letter?"

Again, the mouse agreed.

"Can you read the letter?" Serendipity asked, wondering if too many late nights had caused her to become delusional.

However, Gypsim signaled that this was not the case. No, a mouse could not read human handwriting. Serendipity was puzzled again. "All right. But it does have something to do with the letter?"

This was confirmed, so Serendipity made another guess. "Does it have to do with Mr. Cane?"

Gypsim jumped up and down and was soon joined on the table by Muffincrumb, Bitsy, and several other members of their mouse community.

Serendipity hooked her finger through the corner of her mouth as she did while in deep thought. "Where is Pozzletot?" she wondered aloud, sure that her friend would be able to help her understand.

At the mention of his name, the mice began to squeak furiously, and Serendipity stared down at them, her head cocked to the side in confusion. "Pozzletot?" she asked, hearing them chirp loudly once again. "Does the letter have something to do with Pozzletot's disappearance?"

The mice were all jumping up and down now, gesturing at the letter, squeaking, and a few of them began to run about as if they simply could no longer contain themselves.

Serendipity looked at the letter again. "I certainly don't see his name anywhere," she muttered. "But then, Mr. Cane wouldn't know his name, now would he? Even if I mentioned it, he probably wouldn't remember. So, what must it say?" She glanced through the words again, and then, finally, on the fourth or fifth try, she realized that word--the one that started with an "m" a few lines in--that word wasn't "mose" or "moose" or "mo-use" as she had tried on the other occasions--it was "mouse!" Her eyes wide, Serendipity exclaimed, "Did Pozzletot go with that man?"

The mice were in a fury now, running about, clapping their wee mouse hands, nodding their tiny mouse heads. Gypsim even appeared to be smiling at her own success at being able to communicate her message to the lady of the cottage at last.

Serendipity couldn't believe it. "My Pozzletot? Why would he but it doesn't make any sense. Was he so angry at me that he decided to leave with that that strange man?"

The mice were of little use now as none of them truly knew the reason for Pozzletot's disappearance, and they were so overjoyed with their ability to get their message across, they had moved on to celebration.?

On the other hand, Serendipity was not ready to celebrate at all. "Well, I guess he'll just have to stay at the North Pole!" she exclaimed leaning back sharply in her chair. With that, the mice stopped in their tracks, staring at her, their little mouths hanging open. "What?" she asked. "If he chose to go to the North Pole, then that shall be his new home."

The mice were clearly protesting now, and Serendipity became a bit suspicious. "Do you think he did not wish to go along with this Mr. Cane then?"

Tiny mouse shoulders seemed to shrug as they glanced at each other, not sure what to think with their tiny mouse brains.

"Was he kidnapped? Taken against his will?" Serendipity's voice grew higher with disgust and trepidation.

Once again, the mice could not answer, only skitter about, looking at each other and back at Serendipity.

"Well, then, that's another story. I must get him back! I shall write a letter to Mr. Cane demanding that he return him at once!"

The mice cheered again, jumping up and down and raising their fists in agreement.

Serendipity looked around her small living space but soon realized there was little chance that she would have a piece of paper. Wasting no time, she simply tore the end off of the sheet she had in her hand, Mr. Cane's second letter, and plucking a paintbrush from the jar, using sharp black letters and hoping he would be able to read her message, she wrote simply:

Breeng him bak.

Sincerely,

Serendipity Fizzlestitch

She recalled Mr. Cane's advice to simply drop the letter in the fireplace, but she thought this might require a magic envelope. So, she used the black paint to cross out her own name and then wrote, "Mr. Can" on the outside of the envelope, stuffing the scrap back inside once she was sure it was dry. The seal had been broken so she had to do her best to re-heat it and make it stay fastened as best she could. Then, with her fingers crossed for luck, she dropped the envelope into the fireplace and waited for a response.

It did not take long. Only moments later, a third envelope showed up, her name visible even in the dancing flames. She retrieved it with her bare hands, not thinking about the fire or the slight scorch her fingertips suffered as she did so. Ripping it open, she read:

Iam afra ib that is not pose idle. He is hib in g in the wal. You shayl half to comb re trive him.

While Serendipity couldn't decipher the whole message herself, she did understand one word--"not." As in Pozzletot would "not" be coming back. Panic stricken, she did the only thing she could think of to do. Snatching up the other letter, she ran out the door, not even bothering to put on any shoes, and ran as fast as she could up the hill toward the place that haunted her dreams, the one place she had sworn she would never return to--Marwolaeth Hall.