It was 12:14 AM, later than usual when the Mitchells finally turned off all the downstairs lights and went up to bed. After a few moments…”Everyone….all clear…we may commence the evenings festivities!” The shrill, but very feminine voice of the porcelain “Majesty” pattern teapot announced from the dining room breakfront.
“Hey any of youse in dere seen Homer?” An earthenware pitcher called out from the kitchen.

“Naw but I did hear a huge clatter in the kitchen around noon!” responded a pepper grinder which had a marvelous view from the shelf above the stove.
“I didn’t shee noshing from where I wash all day.” said the cream pitcher with the chipped lip.

“Well he ain’t in the sink and he ain’t in the dishwasher….and…OH OH….what’s dem pieces I see in da trash….could dat be….” the earthenware pitcher moaned a soft moan and then went silent.
“Hey youse guys we’re ready to party!” the plastic knife yelled from the picnic basket!

“Well, I imagine we have to allow all utensils to participate in each evenings festivities.” The porcelain chocolate  pot sniffed.

And indeed most evenings all the Mitchell household’s plates, cups, serving pieces and flatware shook off their frozen daytime personalities and had a grand get together in the kitchen. The sterling silver still tended to hang around with the porcelain dinnerware and the earthenware were more often seen with the plastic picnicware but all gathered for a bit of exercise and fun after a full day of remaining totally still. The plates spun on their edges and the cups twirled and all danced in their own style and the dish did NOT run away with the spoon as was reported earlier!
But it was a hard and fast rule that two minutes before sunrise all participants had to return to their rightful places.

Well one fine morning in June a porcelain porridge bowl and a plastic spoon did not get back in time and had to freeze in their positions in the very center of the kitchen table!

Mr. And Mrs. Mitchell descended the stairs…”What’s this! This bowl and spoon weren’t here last night Martha…we’ve had burglars in the house!!!”
“Don’t be silly Reginald…burglars don’t eat porridge! It’s just the utensils having fun!”

“Pssst….ah….excuse me….yeah you…the reader….listen he just left but he’ll be back soon so I have to make this quick!”
“What….who am I?” “Oh yes excuse my manners….I’m one of his recurring characters…he puts me in some of his short stories…and I was even in a poem or two of his. But anyway, lately he’s been a bit disappointed with the response to his web sites. He CAN be a pain occasionally but all in all he’s been pretty good to me as my author. I mean he doesn’t make me look TOO stupid and I do get a few chuckles now and then. I must admit though OCCASIONALLY I DO wish that he were a better writer. I think I’d have more of a following, maybe even a fan club, although with him I gave up on that a LONG time ago.”
“W…A…I…T….!!!….whew…he almost caught me talking to you. Luckily he forgot something and left again. He wouldn’t like me going over his head directly to you the reader….he is definately the only AUTHOR….in this household.”
“What I’m really asking is that if you could try to act as though he were a bit better at his writing craft then he is….believe me it would make life much easier for me and the rest of those characters of his.”
“Oh….here he comes again….thanks in advance for anything you can…….”
“Ah what Russ…..no I was just ah….thinking out loud!”

“C’mon…wake up Ezra…it’s nearly nine o’clock…too late to be early!”

“Huh…wha…Oh…OK Mom…I just wanna finish this dream…”

“You can’t finish dreams Ezra…and I don’t want you starting a new one…now get up!”

“Yes…M’aam.” The little chipmunk rubbed the sleep and the small specks of dirt out of his eyes and went into the main part of the burrow where his Mother was.

“The north end opening seems to be plugged Ezra…your Father didn’t have time to dig it out this morning before making his rounds. You’ll have to do it.”

“Aw Mom do I always have to dig out the openings?”

“We must all do our parts Ezra, you know that, so get goin’. It’s supposed to rain later this afternoon.”

“Yes M’aam.” Ezra made his way up the tunnel to the north end and indeed there was a stone blocking the entrance, or if you were inside like Ezra was, the exit! Ezra pushed and pushed but that rock was too big and too wedged into the entrance/exit for him to budge it even a “chirp”…which is chipmunk for “small amount”. Ezra tried three more times then huffed and puffed and tried once more.

To Ezra’s surprise the stone moved a chirp and then after resting some more, Ezra pushed with all his might and the rock moved a “squeek”, which is more than a chirp, and then it rolled away and down the hill landing next to the Blue Hosta. “Ah…WOW…I did it…I’m really gettin’ strong” said Ezra.

“I’m hungry, I think I’ll find a few seeds before I go back and tell Mom how huge that boulder was and how strong I am!” Just then a vol passed by and said to Ezra…”Ah, see you got that stone outta there!”

“BOULDER” Ezra corrected.

“Whatever…anyway the human has been out here pluggin’ up our entrances and exits and chasing us all over. And he’s been sprinkling powder and sprayin’ stuff too…be careful!”

“Yeah…I will…ah thanks Mr….what’s your name?” But the vol had already scampered under the Lilyturf and was gone. “I wonder if Mom and Dad know about the human.” thought Ezra. When he got back to the burrow Ezra told his Mom what the vol had said.

“Um…we’ll have to talk to your Father when he gets home…this happened once before and we had to move…I HATE moving!” Later that afternoon it DID rain and so Ezra’s Father came home early, his pouches full of seeds and after dinner the chipmunk family talked about their HUMAN situation.

“Hmmmm…it sounds serious all right!” said Ezra’s Father.”Some of the greenery did smell a bit odd today, but hopefully the rain will wash away whatever the human put on them.”

The next day the whole family was out of the burrow in the warming sunshine when all of a sudden a huge shadow fell over all of them! The chipmunk family looked up and there he was…the giant human standing right over them…one foot on the north entrance and the other foot on the main entrance. The family scurried around in circles not wanting to leave one another but knowing that they were all in mortal danger. But then a strange thing happened. The human was laughing and saying…”Aren’t you the cutest little critters I ever did see! Ha…yeah ya sure are…maybe as cute even as mice!”

His Mom and Dad and Ezra froze and just looked at each other.

“Oh wait, I’m sorry, am I blocking your door? Pardon me….sooooo cute!” The giant stepped away. “Yeah, I’ve got the perfect names for you two bigger ones, and I’ll think of a name for the little feller later. So cute!”

The giant human left chuckling to himself and the relieved chipmunks slowly got their lives back to normal, not having to move after all. And the entrance/exits were never blocked again and the chipmunk family lived a long and very happy life. For after all…that giant human, Mr. Disney, had made them famous!