Trouble at Hedgerow Village

Mr Squirrel was worried and decided to call
a meeting today at Hedgerow Village Hall.
He stood at the front of the crowd gathered there,
his eyes filled with sadness; so glum was his stare.
'Everyone knows why we've come here today,
we've got a big problem to sort right away.'

Mr Rat raised his hand up into the air,
and said, 'Absolutely! It's really not fair.'
Then Mr Mouse put his hand up to say,
'After working so hard on harvesting day!'
'That's right!' said a voice from the back of the hall,
'This terrible crime is affecting us all!'

Timmy and Tommy were outside the door,
trying to hear what this meeting was for.
Vicky and Millie stood behind on the wall,
each holding hands, trying hard not to fall
as they peeped through the windows to see who was there,
while Cyril and Reggie, stood on an old chair.

'So what's going on?' whispered Vicky the Vole,
'I'm really not sure,' answered Millie the Mole.
Then Timmy and Tommy came over to say,
'Gather round everyone, this is such a bad day!
Someone has taken our corn and our nuts,
a door was left open on one of the huts.'

The friends wandered down to the farmyard, and then
went to the haystack and inside their den.
They sat there and wondered, just who it could be.
Then Tommy said, 'OK, now listen to me.
We know what has happened, we must find out who
is taking our nuts and the corn we picked too.'

'They said it had happened late into the night,'
said Timmy, crossly, 'it just isn't right!'
'So what can we do?' asked Millie the Mole
'We need a good plan,' added Vicky the Vole.
Cyril the Squirrel just walked up and down,
his eyes almost closed underneath a deep frown.

'We must think of something, before we go home,
how we will catch him. We know he's alone.'
'How do you know that?' asked Reggie the Rat.
'He'd have taken much more; it's as simple as that!'
Then Cyril stood still, 'I've just had an idea!'
They all gathered closer, all wanting to hear.

'We'll wait till our parents have all gone to bed,
then we'll creep from our homes, and meet down at the shed.
We'll hide in the bushes in twos or in threes
where we can see him come out through the trees.'
'Then we can grab him and send him to jail!'
Grinned Reggie, excited, 'Let's hope we don't fail.'

Everyone giggled. The plan sounded good.
They promised to meet back here in the wood.
Off they all went for their tea, and then bed,
waiting till they could creep out to the shed.
The night was so dark, just the stars lit their way,
with the hoot from the owl, who'd been sleeping all day.

When they arrived, Cyril told them his plan,
'I've brought some rope; we can tie up his hands.'
'If we catch him, 'both Vicky and Millie then said,
'We've brought a sack to go over his head!'
Once they were sure that they knew what to do,
they chose three good bushes and hid there in twos.

They waited and waited, then Tommy Mouse thought,
that he wasn't coming or perhaps he'd been caught.
Timmy Mouse muttered, 'Perhaps he has been!'
'Not while we were here, or we would have seen,'
said Tommy, still watching, with eyes opened wide,
then from the shadows, a movement he spied!

'Stay still!' whispered Tommy, 'and don't even breathe!
Look over there,' he mouthed, tugging his sleeve,
as out of the trees, something dark hovered there
with darting red eyes that could see everywhere.
It moved to the hut, then opened the door,
that's when they all charged, and it fell to the floor!

'We've got him!' cried Reggie, 'and, oooh can't you tell,
it's Whiffy the Weasel, what a pong! What a smell!'
Whiffy then shouted, 'Get off, let me go!'
as he struggled to stand, but Cyril said 'NO!'
Then Reggie stood up and said, 'Stop all that noise,
you're going to prison with all the bad boys!

Then all of a sudden their mums and their dads,
were standing behind them, and looking quite mad!
'Why are you children not tucked up in bed?
You've had us all worried,' Mr Mouse said.
Tommy looked down at his feet and then sighed,
'We wanted to help catch the thief,' he replied.

'We've caught him,' he whispered, 'that's him over there.'
'It's Whiffy the Weasel,' Cyril said in despair.
Then Reggie looked up with a tear in his eye,
'We weren't being naughty,' he said, wondering why
they were in so much trouble. Then Millie joined in,
'We just wanted to help, and we did capture him!'

The parents looked down at each unhappy child,
then looked at each other, and all of them smiled.
Mr Rat went over to stand by his son,
then opened his arms to include everyone.
'You were all very brave, and we're so proud of you,
but if something had happened, just what would we do?'

Just then Whiffy Weasel made such a loud noise,
'I'm not going to prison with all the bad boys!'
The mums and the dads then knew just what to do,
and Mr Mouse said, 'Now, I'm telling you,
if you do this again, then in prison you'll be.'
And Whiffy said, 'I'll be good, just wait and see!'