5 Minute Freewrite: Grapevine

Find the prompt here!

"I heard it through the grapevine," the mouse said. The crow just looked at the mouse like she was crazy and flew away.

"But I did. I really did." The mouse knew most creatures didn't hear prophecies through the grapevine, but that's just what made her special. But being special is not so great if no one believes you.

The mouse wandered over to the mole's hole and started digging, like the prophecy said she should do. In the hole, there would be a grand treasure, but it would take the mouse ten years to get to it, so she might as well get started. It felt good to have a purpose, at least for the next ten years. Once she got to the treasure, she would share it with all the other mice. It occurred to her, though, that she couldn't really expect to live for ten whole years. Did that mean the prophecy was wrong?

How had it gone, exactly...now she couldn't quite remember. Something about treasure to be found by mole hole number 22, digging required for ten years. But it didn't specify that she had to be the one to do the digging. She would have to enlist some help, which was actually the conclusion she'd already come to when she first started to tell the crow her story! Now she remembered. That was the trouble with being a mouse.

She stopped to scratch behind her right ear and saw an ant walking in her same direction. "Hey-ho, little ant."

"Hey-ho yourself. Leave me alone."

She couldn't imagine why an ant would be so rude, so she followed the ant. It went right to mole hole number 22! Wait, hadn't she been there before? She must have wandered off while she was thinking about her life span. How would she ever reach the treasure at this rate? The ant started digging, too. "What are you digging for, little ant?"

"I'm not little, by ant terms, if you must know."

Ah. No wonder the ant had been rude to her.

P.S. I didn't hear the timer go off so I think I went a little over five minutes. I also broke it up into paragraphs after I finished.