Story Preview
The market was loud and bright and busy. Chichi's ears bounced as she ran between the stalls. Benny walked beside her, big and happy and slow. “I love market morning!” Chichi cheered.
Benny reached up to tip his hat — but his paw touched only fur. “My hat!” he gasped. “It's gone!” His honey muzzle drooped. Chichi looked up at him. “Don't worry, Benny. I'll find it!”
Chichi ran. She looked. She sniffed. At the ribbon stall, a tiny green thread clung to an old nail. “Clue number one!” she cried. The thread was the same green as Benny's hat.
Chichi followed the thread to the cloth stall. She found a small golden smudge on a fold of white fabric. Honey! She sniffed it closely. “Clue number two!” she whispered.
Chichi sniffed and bounced toward the honey jar stall. There in a puddle of spilled honey sat one tiny paw-print — smaller than Chichi's button nose. “Clue number THREE!” she gasped.
Chichi crouched low on the cobblestones. She peered under the honey stall. A gap in the boards led somewhere dark and cosy and very, very small. Her ears perked up. Something lived in there.
Chichi peeked inside. There was Benny's hat — stuffed with soft scraps and old ribbon ends. And curled inside, fast asleep, was a round grey mouse with enormous ears. She had made it into a nest!
Chichi raced back. “Benny! Come quick! Come quick!” She grabbed his big paw. She pulled. She tugged. Benny lumbered after her, all the way to the gap beneath the honey stall.
The mouse opened one eye. Then two. She froze. Benny smiled his biggest, gentlest smile. “Hello,” he rumbled softly. “You can keep the hat. It suits your nest perfectly.” The mouse let out a tiny happy squeak.
The mouse — whose name was Marta — untied her striped neckerchief and looped it around Benny's wide wrist. Benny beamed so brightly his honey muzzle glowed. A new friend! Right there in the market!
Chichi bounced and bounced. “I found the thread! I found the honey! I found the paw-print!” Benny laughed his big rumbling laugh. “Chichi,” he said, “you are the best finder in the whole market.”
