Little Peeta stood at the altar for hours…. weeping. Lenny was nowhere to be found. How could this happen? They had vowed to Mouse-Marry one another straight up at noon. Farmer Fred was supposed to bring him to the little mouse church.

She threw her bouquet of flowers toward the floor… with all her might. Peeta sobbed uncontrollably. A mouse heart broken. By Mr. Lenny Grayson.

But with everything in life… sometimes the story we don’t know is the one to be told.

You see…. earlier that day…..

Farmer Fred arrived on time to give Lenny a lift. The farmer’s wife was with him. “Just a quick stop by the pharmacy, Lenny. I have to take my wife there.” So the farmer took the wife.

“Wait for me Fred….” the wife said as they pulled up to the curb. She grabbed little Jimmy out of the back seat and took their child inside for a flu vaccination.  Yep.  The wife took the child. The line was long.. and things were getting late. So little Jimmy said… “Oh Mom. I’ll just go see if the nurse can come with us.’

So the child took the nurse. On the way to the church, the foursome chatted about the weather and such. Then, on old Bendy Rail Lane…. they saw three goats, two chickens, four dogs, and a cow in the middle of the road. They were not budging. Lenny the Mouse was getting worried. He started sweating in his little gray tuxedo, with the yellow cummerbund, and all.

“Enough waiting!” cried the nurse. “I’ll go get the cow off the road…. so then you can pull around.” And… the nurse took the cow. But the cow said…. “Mooooooo.” Then the cow said…. “I am not going anywhere without Andy.”

“Who in the heck is Andy….. ?????” they all shouted.
“He’s my dog.” And wouldn’t you know it?  The cow took the dog.

Now YOU may think you know how this plays out… but no.

You see… about two blocks away from the church, Lenny the mouse, the farmer, the wife, the child, the nurse, the cow AND the dog…. were all crammed into the station wagon with the panel siding. Just then, they spotted Fritz. The Cat.

Now Fritz dealt in all sorts of cheese. Domestic and Imported.
Lenny was so nervous. He couldn’t take it anymore… his little mousy paws were shaking. He cried out… “Farmer. Stop the car.. I HAVE to score some cheese before I can do this thing.”

Farmer Fred screeched on the brakes. Lenny scampered out of the car and over to Fritz. The little mouse then yelled back… “I don’t have enough money. But I NEED a hit of cheese.”

Finally, the dog gets out of the car and says to Len… “Consider this a wedding present kid.” Without a Trace….. the dog took the cat.

Well… little did they know that Lenny had a cheese addiction. And once he gets started…… you know how it goes with addicted rodents. They either end up dead in a mouse trap somewhere…. OR off to rehab for 90 days….

… and such was the case with Lenny.

Peeta never found out what happened to him. Ever.
And no one ever saw Fritz the Cat again either.

The moral of the story: Get your flu shots early. For Peeta’s sake.

What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone? Bertolt Brecht