27-LAUGHTER IS CONTAGIOUS

LAUGHTER IS CONTAGIOUS I trudged to my office. I had to tell someone about my disastrous vacation. I poured out the whole story to my sister, Thea. "Did you really swim with sharks? Did you really go bungee jumping? Did you really bike twenty miles to the hotel?" she snickered. Then she burst out laughing. I was a bit hurt by her reaction. I had been looking for a shoulder to cry on. But Thea's shoulders were shaking With laughter. Tears streamed down her fur. "I haven't laughed this hard in years!" she shrieked. "Tell me again about the flashy bathing suit you bought. And were you really pestered by a mouselet named BRATFUR?"

Now, as every rodent knows, laughter is contagious. Before I knew it, I was chuckling, too. I mean, when I really thought about it, my adventures were pretty funny. The rest of my staff came in to see what all the noise was about. Soon my secretary, Mousella MacMouser; my editor in chief, Kreamy O'Cheddar; my art director, Merenguita Cingermouse; and my designers, Blasco Tabasco, Larry Keys, and Matt Wolf, were howling away with us. Even the cleaning mouse and the Xpress Delivery mouse joined in. Our laughter could be heard outside on the STREET. It infected many

curious passersby. Everyone wanted to hear the details of my incredibly AWFUL, UNBELIEVABLE, ROTTEN, STINKING NIGHTMARE vacation. Right then, my sales manager, Shif T. Paws, entered the room. Do you know him? He's a rodent with a nose for business. One look at the hysterical crowd and I could see Shif's eyes light up. He immediately pulled me aside. "Stilton, start writing a book about your adventure RIGHT AWAY!" he ordered. "We're going to sell thousands, no millions, no billions of copies.

Cheesecake! We'll be laughing all the way to the bank, I tell you!" I scratched my whiskers. Writing a book is a lot of work. I wanted to think about it first. But as usual, Shif wouldn't take no for an answer. He began spouting dates and schedules. "Let's see, we'll bring it out for the Christmas season. That means I'll need your manuscript by next week, or maybe tomorrow, or maybe today." He jumped up, clapping his paws. "Well, what are you waiting for, Stilton? Get moving, moving, moving!!!" he squeaked. The others all agreed. I tried to argue, but Shif locked me in my office. I was stuck

typing away at my computer all day and all night! Are you curious about how it all ended? I finished the book in a jiffy. Two months later, it was turned into a movie script. When the movie was released, it broke all box office records. Yes, I am happy to squeak, it was A FABUMOUSE SUCCESS!