- Vol. 03
- Chapter 06
The path of the Mice and nice.
The station was coming into sight. Just around the corner. She could see the glass and steel building coming closer. No turning back now. Well she could turn back but that meant going back to him. To say sorry, he was right. She should respect her family and stay where she felt safe. Where she just had to choose what dress to wear, where to accompany her parents, work in the family business and where the only dispute with them was what books she could read. Everyone in her family were mice. Mice and nice. That’s what she called them. They followed along their safe path, repeating the same course, following the same patterns for generations.
It had the choice of schoolbooks that had changed her. Suddenly her every day thoughts had been pushed out by words and phrases from the great; Shakespeare, Wilde, Tolstoy, Hawkins, Browning, Dickinson, the list went on. They challenged everything in her prescribed life. The phrases turned into a voice that tempted her, teased her to continue reading anything and everything. The voice that told her that although she may not be safe out in the big wide world, at least she would feel something different. The timbre in voice in her head began to crack the path of her prearranged life. Tentatively she began to question the direction he had for her but his voice had been louder. The voice had been quiet for a day or so but every time it heard his voice and his word it had began to whisper, to talk and eventually to shout until it was all she could hear. In the end, her mind made up, she had stood up to him and declared her decision.
The path of the Mice and nice.
She put on her rucksack and lifted her large suitcase onto the platform. A deep breath and moment to reflect. A shiver of trepidation ran through her and she had a flash of doubt but no, this was where she wanted to be. A text alert sounded and she fished her mobile out of her jeans pocket.
‘I knew you would never make up your mind to go to university by yourself. I knew what was inside you. You needed the challenge to push yourself forward and you met each one I set and matched it. So proud of you, my little mouse. Love Dad x’