The Mouse and the Motorcycle

As an owl hoots nearby, Ralph quietly sneaks down a vine and re-enters the hotel through a ground-floor window. Inside the room are three young men in their twenties sound asleep. Ralph crawls around them and finds a single aspirin beneath the dresser. He knows it by the printing on the pill—all the mice know the symbols because of the danger they signal.

Ralph pushes the pill under the door and out to the lobby. However, he needs to figure out how to get the pill up the stairs. He climbs the stairs and tells Keith he’s found a pill for him, but he needs to borrow one of Keith’s toy cars. Ralph pushes to take the sports car, but Keith tells Ralph that he’s “too young” and can’t be trusted with it since he already lost the motorcycle. Reluctantly, Keith loans Ralph the ambulance and lets him out the door.

Ralph makes a siren sound, and the ambulance moves down the hall. He noisily drives past Room 211: “Wh-e-e! Wh-e-e!” His plan is to rile up the terrier, and it works. Ralph parks behind the stand-up ashtray next to the elevator and waits. The barking wakes the dog’s human caretaker, who grumbles and takes him to the elevator. The door opens; as the man enters, Ralph drives quickly into the elevator and parks behind the man.

The elevator descends. The dog yaps at Ralph: “If I could just get down I’d get you!” (157). When the door opens, the man and dog exit. Ralph drives into the lobby, where he pushes the aspirin into the rear of the ambulance. He drives back to the elevator, but he’s out of breath, so the noise he makes is weak. The ambulance’s wheels get stuck in the gap between the lobby and the elevator.

With all his might, Ralph makes a big siren noise, and the ambulance finally lurches out of the gap, hurtles straight across the elevator, and slams into the wall. Just then, the man and his terrier re-enter. The man comments that some kid must have lost his toy car. The elevator ascends. When the duo exits, Ralph zooms his ambulance to Room 215. The door is shut, but Ralph jumps out and opens the ambulance’s rear doors. He pulls out the pill, drags it under the door, and announces to Keith that the aspirin has arrived.

The other mice make Ralph tell them about his heroic adventure. Ralph describes the previous night’s trials and tribulations to his admiring audience: “Once more Ralph told the story of his night’s adventure, skipping the part about the drinking glass, but making it sound as if he had narrowly escaped the horny talons of the owl as he traveled down the vine” (169-70). He explains that Keith put the pill on the table and alerted his folks, who were surprised to find it there. They decided that the night clerk must have brought it up.

Ralph’s mother is proud of him. She adds that the aspirin serves as a thank you tip for Keith’s “room service.” Aunt Sissy says, “Our Ralph is growing up” (164), and Ralph’s mother agrees with a heavy heart. Even Uncle Lester chimes in to say that Ralph is “a very responsible mouse” (167). Ralph’s mother reluctantly gives Ralph permission to visit the ground floor from now on.

The next morning, Keith feels better. Mr. and Mrs. Gridley ask if he’d like something to eat. He says he’s not hungry, but his mom suggests orange juice. Keith remembers Ralph and adds that, on second thought, he’d like bacon with toast and jelly.

When they leave, Ralph greets Keith, who thanks him for the aspirin. He asks how Ralph found it, and Ralph’s story impresses Keith. Matt arrives with the food, and he brings the ambulance in from the hall. He also presents Keith with the toy motorcycle, which he retrieved when shown the damage to the laundry in the bin.

Matt admits that he knows about Ralph and the motorcycle. Ralph emerges and contends that he’s a very careful driver. Matt counters that Ralph got the bike caught in a laundry bin. Ralph quips that he was careful enough not to damage the motorcycle. Matt promises not to tell the hotel about Ralph: The old place always will have mice, one way or another.

The mice feast on the bacon and jelly. Ralph daydreams about all the food scraps downstairs. He sees Keith with his toys and asks how he is feeling. Keith is better, and he asks if Ralph would like to ride the motorcycle. He adds that Ralph proved he’s responsible by bringing the aspirin: “I guess that’s part of the secret. Just getting bigger isn’t enough. You have to learn things” (168). Ralph agrees that growing up is about more than just size, and he reassures Keith that he’s grown up a lot too. Ralph puts on his helmet, mounts the motorcycle, and rides around on the floor. He stops and announces, “She’s a mighty fine machine” (177).

Keith asks if Ralph would like to come with him back to Ohio. He could keep riding the motorcycle. Ralph is interested, but he thinks about his family and the downstairs opportunities, and he points out that Keith’s mom isn’t fond of rodents. Keith says he once had a pair of white mice, and he still has the cage, and Ralph can live there. Ralph asks if Keith would live in a cage. Keith says no, then lies back and realizes it’s not going to happen. They both feel sad.

He asks if Ralph would like to keep the motorcycle. Ralph is stunned, but Keith explains that he likes the idea of Ralph riding around on it. Besides, he can save up and buy another one back home. They decide Keith will hide the motorcycle downstairs under the TV table, where the vacuum never goes. Keith tells Ralph to get permission from his mom. She allows it, but only if Ralph promises to wear his helmet every time.

Keith says he’ll enjoy thinking of Ralph riding the motorcycle. When school starts and it’s time to write about summer vacation, Keith will tell the story of Ralph: “Of course the teacher won’t believe it, but she’ll probably say I show imagination” (183).

Ralph drives around the room. He looks up, but Keith has fallen asleep. Quietly, he parks the motorcycle and puts away his helmet: “Ralph could wait to ride the motorcycle. It was his to keep” (184).