A Happy Ending
| WORDS | PICTURES |
| Leonard lived inside the piano at the Miller's house. | (ornate upright piano in a Victorian-style home) |
|
Mrs. Miller made beautiful music every morning. |
(sleek figure, long fingers, sunny room) |
Leonard looked forward to each day when he would hear Mrs. Miller pull out the bench and begin to play. |
(Leonard's point of view, bench legs, Mrs. Miller's feet) |
Some nights she would play lively tunes for company. |
(cocktails and grown-ups |
| One day, Mrs. Miller stopped playing. Leonard didn't hear her footsteps or her voice. She had gone away. It seemed like the silence would last forever. |
(mouse peeking around from behind piano; nobody around) |
| When she came back, Leonard longed to hear her music but Mrs. Miller never even pulled out the bench to sit down. |
(Leonard looking glum and dejected, Mrs. Miller scurrying by) |
She bumped it once in the middle of the night, and Leonard dreamed of music for just a moment. |
(mouse dreaming music) |
What he did hear was the crying of a baby at all hours of the day and night. He heard the Millers scampering about taking care of their little one. |
(bottles, diapers, exhausted Millers holding baby; Leonard trying to sleep) |
Late at night the baby cried and cried. Leonard curled up in a ball to hide his ears from the noise. The Millers were at their wits' end. |
(miserable Leonard) |
Leonard awoke with a start when he heard the sound of the piano bench scraping on the floor. He held his breath and listened as Mrs. Miller settled herself down to play. |
wide-eyed Leonard) |
| Oh, how comforting was the sound of her special lullaby. |
(Mrs. M at piano in bathrobe and slippers) |
The baby stopped crying and went to sleep. Leonard slept like a baby, too. |
(cozy, sleeping Leonard) |
Night after night Mrs. Miller played her sweet songs. Leonard thought he was the luckiest mouse in the world... |
(notes wafting over contented mouse) |
...until the boy started banging on the keys and making terrible cacophony. |
(little maniac, nasty notes) |
Once he jumped up on the keyboard and sent the bench over with a crash. |
(mouse's p.o.v.) |
Two, three, even four times a day the boy would bang on those piano keys making such a racket. |
(miserable mouse) |
Leonard couldn't take much more. He was thinking about moving to the pantry where he might be lulled by the humming refrigerator. |
(big, looming fridge in pantry) |
It was just then that the boy started going away during the day, and things got quiet. |
(Mrs M. waving to kid with backpack; bus out front) |
In the afternoon, the boy sat on the bench. Leonard covered his ears, ready for the worst. |
(mouse prepared for noise) |
Plunk plunk plunk... He heard a new piano sound, and not so bad after all. |
(surprised acceptance) |
Each day the plunking sounded a little less like noise and a little more like music to Leonard's ears. |
(mouse tapping foot to music) |
In fact, it was music! Leonard was the happiest mouse in the world. |
(Mrs. M and boy playing a duet; Leonard basking in music) |