09-REVOLTING, THAT'S WHAT SHE IS!

REVOLTING, THAT'S WHAT SHE Is! We dropped into the castle's courtyard. All of a sudden, we heard a doorbell ring. "IAMONMYWAYMASTER!" shouted a voice with a funny accent. It was the rodent we had seen driving that strange car, "PHEWIAMCOMINCIAMCOMINGWHAT'S THEHURRY?" he whined. He hopped down the stairs, four steps at a time. He was round and stocky. His head was sunk between his shoulders, as if he had no neck. His eyes BULGED out of his face. One of his ears was torn and looked as if a cat had left teeth marks in it. With one single leap, the hunchback grabbed the key to the front door and turned it in the lock.

"WELCOME BACKTOTHECASTLE MASTER!" he mumbled, bowing low, The front door opened wide, and in came an even weirder rodent. It must have been Count von Ratoff. He was tall and lean, with a pointy snout, and he was wearing a floor-length red silk

cape. His eyes had a sad look and his whiskers drooped, as if he hadn't laughed in centuries. This mouse needs a night out at a good comedy club, I said to myself. Stand Up and Squeak! always cheered me up.

Behind him came a little blonde mouse who was also wearing a red Silk cape. "I hope you remembered to run my hot bath!" she squeaked, staring down her snout at the hunchback. "HOTBATH? WHAT "HOTBATH? he answered. He seemed to be trying not to giggle. "It figures!" she cried. "No one listens to a word I say around here! It's revolting! I don't even have a personal maid! Whoever heard of a countess without a personal maid?!" She swept up the main staircase in a huff. Her silk cape fluttered behind her. Thea stuck her snout in the air just like the little blonde mouse. "Revolting," she whispered. "That's what she is!"