Squeaky Mouse Trumpeter Swan

Author: White Translator: Ren Rongrong United States/America
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-05-01
Features: The Trouble with Washing Face Stewart woke up early every morning; it was almost always him who was up first. He liked the feeling of waking up alone. He enjoyed the quiet room, the books, the pale light streaming through the window, bringing a fresh scent of the day. In winter, when he climbed out of his bed made of cigarette boxes, it was still dark outside, and he wore his robe to do morning exercises, sometimes shivering with cold. (Stewart did ten squats every morning, touching his toes with his hands to keep his figure slim. He had seen his older brother George do this and George told him that it could keep his abs firm and was a great abdominal exercise.) After his morning exercises, Stewart put on his handsome wool sweater, tied a belt tightly around his waist, and slipped quietly through the still-dark hallway, past his parents' rooms, past the closet where the carpet rolls were stored, past George's room, past the staircase, and into the bathroom. The bathroom was naturally also very dark, but Stewart's father was thoughtful and attached a long chain to the light switch. The chain was long enough to reach the floor. Stewart could hold the chain as high as he wanted and pull it with his whole body to turn on the light. He swung back and forth on the chain, his robe's long hem swishing around his ankles, looking like a little monk in a monastery pulling the bell rope. To get to the washbasin, Stewart had to climb a very thin rope ladder, which, of course, was also specially installed by his father. His older brother George had promised to make Stewart a special small washbasin, only one inch high, with a small rubber tube attached to it so that water could flow out. But George was always like that—he would talk about doing something but never follow through. Stewart still climbed his rope ladder every morning to reach the family's shared washbasin to wash his face, hands, and brush his teeth. Mrs. Little had prepared a doll-sized toothbrush, a doll-sized bar of soap, a doll-sized towel, and a doll-sized comb—all for him to use to brush his mustache. He put all these things in his robe's pockets and took them out at the top of the ladder, arranging them neatly in a row, and then got to work on the arduous task of turning on the faucet. For someone as small as he was, turning on the faucet was a big problem. One day, after twisting the faucet several times without success, he discussed the issue with his father. "I could stand on top of the faucet without a problem," he explained, "but I can't turn it on because I don't have anything to stand on." "Yes, I understand," his father replied, "the whole trouble is right here." George, who always loved to listen to others talk whenever he got the chance, said he thought a footrest should be made for Stewart. Saying so, he brought over wood, a saw, a hammer, a screwdriver, a drill, and nails. Then he made a lot of noise in the bathroom, making what he called a footrest for Stewart. But in the blink of an eye, he was distracted by something else and vanished, leaving the tools scattered all over the bathroom floor.