17-CHEESE SLICES

CHEESE SLICES That night, Thea stayed up very late. I wondered what my sister had up her sleeve this time. You just never know with that mouse. Early the next morning, while we were having breakfast, Thea arrived, out of breath. "Hooray! i did it!" she cried, waving the map. Trap jumped. "Do you have to scream so early in the morning?" he shouted. "You know I'm not awake until I've had my cup of steamed cheese (two sugars, hold the milk). Now, what is it?" Thea jumped onto the table and cleared her throat. "I have discovered..." she

began. "Drumroll, please." "What??" shouted Trap, grabbing her by the tail. Thea shot Trap a smug smile. "First I determined our position, using the astrolabe. Then I checked it with a triangulation... and worked out the logarithm...." "ASTROLAMP? STRANGULATION? CONGARHYTHM?" snorted Trap. "Do you mind speaking English? I hate it when you use such big words!" My sister pointed to the map. "First we have to head north toward More Water Bay. Then we go around What's the Point Peak and head toward molehill Mountain. There we'll find the Fleariddenfur River. We follow the river to Hard as Nails Hill. And from there, it should be as easy as pie to find the Emerald Eye!"

At the mention of the word emerald, Trap put his arm around Thea. "Oh, my little cousin, let me be the first to congratulate you." He beamed. "Did anyone ever tell you that you are a real genius? So where did you say the treasure is exactly?" Thea snorted. "What is the matter with you? Are your eyes covered with cheese slices? Look here at the map," she squeaked, flapping it under Trap's snout. "There is an X on it as big as the moon over Mouse Island!" Trap just smiled and stroked Thea's paw. "My dear, sweet, kind, beautiful, charming

little cousin," he said. "I suggest we leave tomorrow morning, no, maybe tonight. As a matter of fact, I could be ready to leave Right now!" "Wait a minute, wait a minute," I jumped in. "We have to map out our route, calculate the times and the stages of our trip." Trap was getting more and more frantic. "What times... what stages? This sly mouse here has already organized everything. We are leaving and that's that!" he squeaked. Then he and Thea put their heads together and began discussing the details of the journey. Of all the nerve! It seemed as if I was already left out! Meanwhile, my nephew sat munching the last Cheesy Chew with a dreamy expression on his face. "Treasure, real honest-to-goodmouse treasure..." he murmured.