Broadcast: November 30, 2003
Duke's Story

Duke the Mouse in:
BITINOW IS MISSING

     First of all, Duke would be so embarrassed if he knew I was telling you this story. If you know anything about my pet mouse, then you already know he doesn't like stories like this. He only wants people to hear the good things about him. I guess I'm the same way so I can kinda understand how he might be feeling, but here's the story anyway.
     One day Bitinow came up missing. Bitinow is Duke's baby blanket. Yeah, really! And believe me, Duke is no baby. No, he's a mouse and he's my pet mouse but somewhere along the line he became rather attached to one special blanket. To be honest with you, I don't exactly remember how the blanket got the name "Bitinow" but that's what he called it when he was very little.
     Most baby blankets are big enough to go over a human baby, no problem. Now, a mouse baby is about the size of your thumb so a blanket like Bitinow is pretty darn small. And just the other day, Bitinow came up missing.
     There was a good possibility that I used Bitinow to patch a pair of my blue jeans or something. I might have used Duke's baby blanket to wipe off the oil on my dipstick in my car. I tired to remember if I used Bitinow as a hot pad while cooking. No, I don't think so. Anyway, I shouldn't have mentioned those possibilities to Duke until I was a little more sure about them. He sure didn't take them very well.
     To make up for my bad manners, I helped Duke look for his Bitinow for awhile. After a few minutes, Duke seemed to be looking in the same places. If you want to find something, I told my pet mouse, look in new places. There's no use in looking in the same old places over and over.
     Duke liked that piece of advice. He looked in the cookie jar. No Bitinow there but there were a few cookies we could eat. Next he tired looking in the bathtub. Nope, not there but Duke did wash behind his ears while he was around the soap and water. I suggested looking behind the book case for his blanket and Duke thought that sounded like a good idea. We didn't find Bitinow but Duke found two books that had slipped back behind the case and next to the wall so we sat down and read both of them.
     Well, by this time Duke was getting tired and plenty discouraged about ever finding his baby blanket. I told him we would try again tomorrow because nothing is ever really lost, it's only misplaced.
     As my pet mouse got ready for bed, I promised Duke I would tell him an extra long bedtime story to help him fall asleep. I didn't tell him but I hoped a long bedtime story would help take his mind off his blanket and maybe he wouldn't be so upset if I really did use it to patch the blown-out knee of my blue jeans.
     The name of the bedtime story, I told Duke, was "You'll Always Find It In The Last Place You Look." He was excited to hear that story so Duke jumped on his bed and pulled back his covers. And guess what? There was Bitinow, his baby blanket, right in the bed. I didn't need to tell him the story called "You'll Always Find It In The Last Place You Look" because that's exactly what he did.
     Now promise me you won't mention this to Duke and everything will be find. Until I hide Bitinow again!
     And that's the way it is with Duke.