Amos: A view from under the pew

link Amos the Church Mouse

Illustrated by Gary Mitchell

Editor’s note: Amos is a churchmouse, who types by hurling himself at the keys, but he can’t operate the capital shift keys and he shuns punctuation marks – except hyphens and dashes.

a loony encounter

boss i know i shouldn t

have been out so late

last night – sometimes you

see strange creatures in the

middle of the night

on a lark i went with a

couple of church pew

underworld friends – sammy

salamander freddy the flea

and louie the songdog – to

bugtussle s only real pond

called greene acres lake

while louie freddy and i

pitched our tents and

prepared our campsite

sammy headed straight for

the lake and dived in

he was already having

the time of his life

louie the incurable optimist

was singing and whistling

while he worked of course

he was just finishing the

fifth verse of michael row

the boat ashore when

sammy came hurtling toward

us like a torpedo

there s a strange-looking

bird out there in the water

and it s making weird noises

come on and take a look

at it says he

just then all four of us heard

this eerie warbly yet piercing

wail – it rattled our nerves

a bit boss – and i wasn t

nearly as excited as sammy about

meeting this new monstrosity

hurry up guys sammy says

he might fly away

one can only hope says me

a bit sarcastically

now amos we might make

a new friend says louie

way too cheerfully

yeah one that screams in

the night says me

yeah and maybe carries

axes or chain saws under

his wings says freddy

somewhat fearfully

oh you guys are silly

says sammy and off he

went like the little water

torpedo he was

freddy and i reluctantly

jumped on the back of louie

and we started dogpaddling

slowly to our death we thought

after another long piercing

otherworldy wail during which

freddy and i buried ourselves

deeper in louie s fur

we arrived in front of large

duck-like bird swimming in

circles in the middle of the lake

hello mister bird sang out louie

how are you tonight

oh i m fine says he but i m

missing my mind

have you seen anything

of the kind

no says me what does it

look like

oh nobody knows says he

then how do you know

when you find it says freddy

oh you just know cause that s

what a mind does says he

in fact i may have already

found it

whaddya mean says me

i really think you ve lost your brain

that s just it says he when you

know you ve lost it then you ve

really found it for it s in giving

away that you really receive

you re talking in circles you loon

that s just it says he

i am a loon just as you say

and i have a brain now that i use

it and give it away

so it s mine to keep

it s just like love life or salvation –

the only way you can keep it or

receive it is to give it away

boss methinks our loony friend offers

more truth than i can grasp in my

little mousy brain

amos