Once upon a time, there was a mouse who loved adventure. His name was Milton. Milton had three brothers: Joel, Winston, and Gregory. All four mice lived in a large burrow underground. It was winter and everywhere above ground was covered in snow. But the four mice stayed nice and warm in their burrow.

One day, Milton decided to explore the tunnels leading away from the burrow. So, he packed some cheese and crackers and headed out for an adventure. Winston and Gregory, being older than Milton, had explored all the tunnels already.

“How boring those tunnels are!” exclaimed Winston.

“Milton won’t get a real adventure that way,” said Gregory.

“Well,” said Joel, the youngest of the mice. “It could be more exciting if those tunnels were haunted.”

“But we’ve been all over those tunnels and haven’t seen anything,” said Winston.

“What if we did the haunting?” asked Joel.

“I’m sure Milton would have a real adventure then!” exclaimed Gregory.

And so, the three brothers made a plan.

Joel searched through the toybox and pulled out: a Kazoo, an old blanket, and a flashlight. He decided to scare Milton by making noise with his Kazoo and jumping out from a hiding spot. He would wear the blanket and wave the flashlight to make scary shadows.

Gregory pawed through the toybox and pulled out: a stick, string, some cotton, and a big rubber spider. Gregory tied one end of the string to the spider and the other end of the string to the stick. He decided to scare Milton by making a cotton spider web stretch from one tunnel wall to the other. Then, when Milton paused to brush them away, Gregory would lower the rubber spider onto Milton’s head.

Winston looked through the toybox and pulled out: a scary mask and a green, glow-in-the-dark ball. He decided to scare Milton by rolling the ball to Milton’s feet and, when Milton’s back was turned, sneak up behind him and say “Boo!” while wearing the mask.

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By this time, Milton had decided to stop for a rest and eat his cheese and crackers. The three brothers snuck quietly through the tunnels until they found him. Then, they went a little further ahead to lay their traps.

Winston’s trap was first. He put on his scary mask and got ready to roll the ball toward Milton. But the mask was too big. Winston couldn’t see very well. Instead of sneaking up on Milton, Winston tripped and fell right in front of him! Then the ball rolled out of Winston’s paws and bounced down the tunnel. Milton helped Winston up. Then both Milton and Winston went running down the tunnel after the run-away ball.

Joel’s trap was next. He put the blanket around his shoulders, put the Kazoo in his mouth, and held his flashlight ready. But then he saw a green ball bouncing down the tunnel. It was being chased by two dark shadows. Joel was scared! His Kazoo went “Wheeze-buzz”, “Wheeze-Buzzzz!!” as the green ball passed him and went bouncing down the tunnel. The flashlight clicked on and blinded Milton and Winston.

“Aaah!” yelled Milton and Winston.

“Wheeze-ZZuuuu” yelled Joel.

Then Milton and Winston panted, “The ball...let’s get the ball.”

And all three figures ran down the tunnel.

Gregory’s trap was all set. The cotton spider web stretched from one side of the tunnel to the other. Suddenly, he heard a lot of scary sounds. Two mouse yells and a monster’s yell echoed and echoed in the tunnel. Then a strange green ball rolled by and got stuck in the spider web.

Gregory didn’t know what to do. He didn’t the yells weren’t real ghosts, but the glowing ball would show Milton where the cotton web was. He bent over to get the ball. When Gregory stood back up, he saw a waving yellow light and three huge figures running at him.

Gregory yelped and turned to run away. He ran right into the spider web! Gregory dropped the ball to fight the cotton cobweb. The ball rolled away and hit the stick with the spider string. The spider landed on Joel who went “Wheeeeze!!” with the Kazoo. Joel dropped the flashlight. The light pointed at Gregory; who looked like a mummy in the cotton spider web. Everybody yelled and ran for home.

When all four mice were at home again, they talked and figured out what had happened. The three brothers couldn’t believe how badly their plans turned out. Winston fell in front of Milton and had to chase the ball. Joel ran scared of Winston’s and Milton’s shadows. And Gregory got stuck in his own trap!

“But,” said Milton, “We had an adventure!”

This made the four mice happy. Next time, they all decided, they would explore the tunnels together. Then they laughed at each other and took pictures of Gregory still wrapped in a cotton spider web.

The End.