This is StoryQuest. Today's story is

John the Time Freezing Mouse by Zach.

The scientists at the photon pivoter power plant were very clever indeed,

but they didn't actually know everything, even though some of them thought

that they did.

They didn't know, for example, that they had mice under the floorboards, mice who lived

quite peacefully enjoying the warmth generated by the plutonium particle pulverizer which ran

all day and all night over their heads.

Now, mice generally get

along with each other, but in our story, we'll find out that this isn't always the case.

And our story starts with a mouse called John. What? Sorry, you didn't know that mice had names

of their own? Well, we might call them silly things like Mr Nibbles or Beedy or Scampers, but the mice themselves have far more normal names. This one, John. So let's find out about John. John liked cheese, and was a little more clever than your average mouse because he'd come across a very crafty way to get

cheese from the kitchen. The kitchens at the photon pivoter power plant were very well stocked.

After all, it was hungry work messing about with nanoparticles and beggaring about with space

and time. John and the other mice would carefully scamper into the kitchen to steal bread

and forage for crumbs. The fridges were locked tight and the mice could only dream of the riches within.

But you see, I said John was clever and he'd got a plan. He had noticed that the cook came down to

unlock the fridge

to get food out for meals at specific times of the day.

He couldn't tell the time,

but he would look at the clock on the wall

and remember the pattern of the hands.

...