There was a little red flash of light that kept shining steadily every few seconds. It was coming from the shadows in the back of the room, and Xavier knew that the second he moved, it would run. He had it cornered now, the little bugger, and all he had to do was get his hands on it and all of the information stored on it would be his to sell and use. All of the valuable information, the results of thirty years’ work…
He slowly and quietly took a step forward, but suddenly a little beep came from the shadow where the light was, followed by a skittering sound as the red light flashed one more time and the machine itself disappeared.
”Dammit!” Xavier said angrily. He almost had it. Where had it gone this time? Every time he cornered the little thing it was always hiding right by a hole, just waiting for him to get his hopes up before it disappeared. The machine was so very annoying, but he must give it credit for being so clever. Or really, he must give its creator credit for making it so clever.
Xavier walked over to the spot where he had seen it last and examined the wall. Yes, there was another mouse hole here. Like the others, it probably connected to other rooms in the building, and it would take him a while to hunt down the little creature. For now, Xavier decided to give this little hunt a rest and kick back for a while.
He sat down and leaned against the wall. A small noise came from the bag he had been carrying, so he opened it up and let the little creature inside out.
“I don’t like it in there. Why do you keep putting me in?” the little creature said grumpily.
“Durra, my dear, I cannot have you making noise while I’m looking for the mouse. I just don’t want you interfering.” He explained sweetly.
“I won’t interfere, I can be quiet. It smells bad in the bag. Why don’t you try staying in there?” she said, still upset.
Xavier laughed. “I wouldn’t be able to fit. And I’ve already explained before that although it may smell bad to you, it smells good to me. Speaking of which, hand me the plastic bag at the bottom…”
She did as instructed, but she looked concerned at the contents inside.
Xavier pulled out a cigarette and lit it, then put the box of others and the lighter back in the bag. That must have been the smell that poor little Durra was talking about…
“Don’t those make you die?” she said, trying to sound upset with him but just a hint of concern slipping out.
Xavier laughed again. “No, my dear, only if you do it too much.”
“Well, you do.” She said quietly.
“What do you mean?” he asked, since he thought his smoking was quite controlled.
“You do it a lot. You have one in the morning, and one after lunch, and a couple whenever you’re stressed out. And you’ve been stressed a lot lately. You haven’t done it a lot in the past, but now it’s a habit and I think it’s bad…” Durra said nervously. “And… I think it’s bad for me… if I stay in the bag. It smells really bad.”
Xavier thought for a minute, absentmindedly taking a few breaths from the cigarette in his hand. “I suppose you’re right. If you can be quiet, I’ll let you stay out of the bag.” He said.
Durra smiled but didn’t say anything.