02-WITHIN PAW'S REACH

WITHIN PAW'S REACH Seconds later, I had my sister, Thea, on the line. "I just had a call from Trap. He may be in trouble," I told her. "And you woke me up just to tell me that?!" my sister squeaked. "I was in the middle of the most fabumouse dream. I was getting married on an enormouse yacht. Only I couldn't make out who I was marrying." I wasn't surprised about the last part. My sister has more sweethearts than I have kinds of cheeses in my oversized fridge! "Listen, Thea," I continued. "Trap said he was calling from Transratania."

"Did you say Trap was calling from TRANSRATANIA?!" Thea cried. "We have to go find him right away! Let me check out the train schedule. We'd better get going!" "Wait a minute," I protested. "We can't just go scampering off. What about my job?" My sister snorted. "Your cousin's in trouble and you're worried about that silly newspaper?" Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, I run a newspaper called The Rodent's Gazette. "Really, Gerry, your heart must be frozen solid!" Thea shrieked. "you SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!" I chewed my whiskers. "Well, m-m-maybe we could go I stuttered. "We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning!" Thea declared. "The train leaves at half-past six! See you at the station!"