THIS WEEK'S STORY

Duke the Mouse In:
TRICKY TREAT

    Halloween is coming up in just a few days. Everybody knows that. What they don't know is to be careful with your trick-or-treaters knocking at you door. You never know when one of them may turn out to be a mouse. Here's the story:
    A neighbor of mine told me about something that happened to her last Halloween. It was late in the evening and most of the children had already made the rounds, going from house to house to show off their costumes and trick-or-treat. Suddenly there was a tiny knock at her door. I mean, it was barely enough to be heard inside the house. It almost sounded like someone was tapping the door with a pencil, maybe.
    My neighbor opened the door anyway, just to check, and low-and-behold, what did she find standing before her but the smallest ghost she had ever seen. Or maybe it was just some tiny animal wearing a sock over its head, she wasn't sure.
    Anyway, the little ghost said held out an even smaller bag and my neighbor dropped a piece of candy into it. That was about all that happened, she said. They both said good-bye and my neighbor closed the door.
    A few minutes later, there was another quiet knock at the door. This time the creature was wearing a different sock, but still begging for candy. When my neighbor asked if he had been there before, the tiny ghost now wearing a red sock just shook his head, no.
    Well, all right. My neighbor wasn't so excited about this but she gave the little fellow another piece of candy and then closed the door.
    Wouldn't you know it, just a few minutes later there was ANOTHER knock at the door. This time some very tiny creature was wearing a blue stripped sock and also claiming to be a ghost.
    Oh come on! When she asked to see his candy bag, the little fellow displayed an empty bag. Well, my neighbor gave this one a piece of candy too, but she was just wondering if I knew where Duke the Mouse had been on that night. I told her I had a pretty good idea. But that sure didn't sound like my pet mouse, I told her. I mean, would Duke the Mouse take more candy than he should? Would he resort to such trickery? I guess I forgot to mention that I was missing three socks but it didn't seem important to me.
    And that's the way it is with Duke.