The Great Mouse Reporter ~ Chapter 9

The train roared along the tracks, as Fievel and Olivia continued to stare on at Vartan in silence, the adolescent mouse still on his hands and knees, catching his breath.

"What are you doing here?" Olivia finally asked.

"I vas about to ask you the same," Vartan replied, "Does your father know you're on this train?"

Olivia looked down, feeling guilty, "Not yet, I don't think…I left him a note though."

Vartan stood up, "You vill get off at the next stop, and go home."

"No, we can't," said Fievel firmly.

Vartan frowned, "And vhy not? You children should not run away from your parents."

"We're not running away," Fievel protested, "Cholena's tribe is in trouble, and if I'm right, so is Tanya."

"Tanya? Vhat do you mean?"

"That Ratbone guy is bad, I just know it. He's got some kinda trick up his sleeve and we're gonna find out what it is."

Vartan smirked, "Heh, overprotective brother."

"Am not! I know a skunk when I see one. And why don't you tell us why you're here? You're as much a stowaway as we are."

"I…" Vartan fell silent, looking down, not sure what to say to the little brother of the girl he had a crush on.

"Well?" Fievel asked, "Spit it out."

"It is, how you say…secret." he said quietly.

"Secret? Come on, we told you why we're here."

"We're still yer friends," Olivia said, "You don't hafta be all mysterious around us. Even though ya live with me an' me father and work at his shop, I still barely know a thing about ye. But I do know ye helped us against Ratigan, an' yer a very brave mouse. You can tell us."

"If I tell you, swear to tell no one else," Vartan insisted.

"Pinkie swear," Olivia said, holding out his pinkie.

"Me too,' said Fievel, doing the same.

Vartan looked very puzzled, until Olivia giggled and showed him what to do. Both she and Fievel then pinkie swore to Vartan.

"That means we most definitely won't tell," said Fievel.

Olivia nodded in agreement.

"Okay…I trust you. I first thought Tanya did not have feelings for me, that I vas but a friend to her. But she said something to me before saying goodbye, that she vished I could come with her to go to New York, and she looked sad. I could see in her eyes then, that she vould miss me, that she felt something more than friendship for me, but vas letting me go. But I took to long to know vhat it meant; it vas too late, she got on the train. I could not let her escape vithout telling her of my feelings."

"Awwww!" Olivia smiled, clasping her hands to her chest, "Yer so romantic, Mr. Vartan, ah had no idea!"

Vartan clasped his fists and blushed, looking away.

"You think Tanya likes you? As in, like-likes you?" Fievel gave a skeptical look, "I dunno…she does have a couple of your drawings of her pinned to the wall of her room but I'm not sure it means she wants to be your girlfriend."

"She has my drawings on her vall?" Vartan asked, taking this as another sign that she had feelings for him.

"Yeah, but just because you put someone's art on your wall doesn't mean you have a crush on them," Fievel said.

"Oh come on Fievel, don't get in the way of Vartan's dreams, let Tanya be the one to say how she feels about 'im when he asks her."

Fievel crossed his arms, "Hmph. Well, at least I'm pretty sure you're not secretly evil, like most people my sister gets a crush on."

"Ain't no one good enough for yer sister, Fievel?" Olivia gave him a playful shove, "Ye really are an overprotective brother."

"Am not," Fievel retorted, "I'm just the right level of protective."

"Ve vill discuss this more later," said Vartan, feeling slightly down because Fievel didn't quite trust him with Tanya yet, and wanting to change the subject, "I still think it is a bad idea for you to be on this train, vithout your parent's knowledge."

"I didn't like the idea at first," said Olivia, "But we got our reasons for goin'. It's important."

"We thought this all through," Fievel said, defending their plan, "We brought food and money, and well, Tony will help us out…when he's done being mad."

Vartan fell silent, and scratched his head, looking downward sheepishly.

"Didn't ya bring food an' money with ya, Mr. Vartan?" Olivia asked.

"I did not. I am guessing the two of you were better prepared than I."

"Aw man, I dunno if we have enough food and money for three of us," said Fievel.

"Ach, I vas aboosh…" Vartan sighed, sitting against the pile of hay in the train car.

"What?" Fievel asked.

"It means fool."

"Aw you're not a fool Mr. Vartan," said Olivia, "Ye followed yer heart. We're gonna be hungry when we get ta New York but we'll share our food, won't we Fievel?"

"We'll share it on the condition that you don't make us get off the train until we're in New York."

"No, come on Fievel," Olivia poked his upper arm, and he rubbed it in slight pain, "That's blackmail. We gotta help him because we're good, caring mice."

"Okay okay," Fievel said.

"I von't make you get off the train anyvay," Vartan said, "You vill be good company on our journey."

It would be a three day journey to New York, over the Rocky Mountains and through the prairies of the Midwest, over the Appalachians and finally through New Jersey to New York City. It was a journey all too familiar to Tanya and Tony, who'd been this way once before. They journey had given them a lot to talk about and reminisce over; like Tanya's memories of Russia, and Tony's tales from the streets of New York. When they finally arrived, it was late at night.

"New York! Stop is New York!" called the ticket taker, "End of the line!"

"Oh my gosh, we're at Grand Central Station…this is it Tony!" Tanya exclaimed, shaking Tony awake, "Come on, get your bags!"

Tony groaned and then stretched.

"Alright alright, cool it will ya Tanya? I'm gettin' up."

"You sound thrilled to be here," Tanya said with sarcasm.

"Like I said before, this ain't exactly a vacation to me."

Tanya grabbed her carry-on luggage from the overhead bin, and she and Tony shuffled down the aisle and exited on a tiny ramp. There was quite a crowd, but immediately Tanya noticed an adult male mouse in a tuxedo holding a sign reading 'Tanya'.

"Here I am!" she said, running toward the mouse as fast as she could carrying heavy luggage.

"A Miss Tanya Mousekewitz?" the mouse asked.

"Uh huh!" she nodded excitedly.

"Ah, yes. I'm your chauffeur, I'll be taking you to your new apartment on Hester Street."

Tanya's eyes lit up, "My very own apartment! Did Mr. Ratbone say when he was going to meet me?"

"He's waiting at the carriage, miss."

The chauffeur took Tanya's bags, but didn't have room to take Tony's.

"Eh, I need ta work out anyway…" Tony muttered begrudgingly.

"Come on Tony, let's go," Tanya said happily, skipping as she followed the chauffeur.

Outside of the train station there waited a grand carriage with two white horses, waiting for a wealthy human passenger coming off of the train. It would either be going to the place they wanted to get to, or making a stop there.

The three mice walked up a ramp leading to a luxurious mouse-sized carriage car underneath the larger human-sized one, and therein sat Quinn Ratbone, dressed in a black tuxedo with a red shirt and bowtie, wearing a top hat, resting his hands on top of a jeweled cane.

"Why Miss Mousekewitz, I trust your trip was pleasant?"

"Oh yes yes yes!" she gushed, "I'm going to get my own apartment! I'm going to be a singer!"

Quinn chuckled, turning his attention to Tony, "Ah, and this must be Mr. Toponi. Thanks so much for accompanying Tanya here, now when you go home you can tell her family that she's doing just splendid."

"Yeah? Let's hope. I don't wanna have to linger 'round in these parts for too long."

"But you sound like you belong here, what with the accent."

"I was a little boy when I came ta New York from Sicily, and I only moved a couple years ago. My life wasn't really da best when I lived here."

"Sorry to hear that," said Quinn, "At any rate, tonight Tanya, as in this coming night, I wanted to bring you to Les Club De Grandes Fromages to give you a test performance. It's a wealthy gentleman's club, I think you'll find it a step up from those…seedy saloons you're so accustomed to performing in."

"Gentleman's club? Wow, it sounds so…exclusive."

"Seedy?" Tony raised an eyebrow, taking offense, but he was ignored.

"It is," Quinn said, flashing a grin, "Anyone who's anyone in New York will be there."

Tanya felt her heart beat faster with excitement. This was really happening.

"When will I perform on Broadway?"

"Err…soon, I just need to show you off some. There's bound to be a Broadway producer in attendance who might request your services, and then I'll pitch my idea for the Mouse Hollow play I want to do. I'll be acting as your manager, of course."

"You don't know how happy this all makes me," Tanya said with a bright smile.

"Ah, my dear Tanya, I call this destiny. Your star was always going to shine on you sooner or later, it was only a question of when."

Tanya gave a happy sigh, as Tony stared out the window. Something about all this seemed too good to be true, he thought. The way he'd heard, Ratbone already had something lined up for Tanya on Broadway. What was this about impressing a producer first? Tony never trusted rats much, every rat he'd ever met had some scheme up their sleeve What was Ratbone's scheme? Even if he wasn't invited into the gentleman's club he knew what he'd come to New York for. He'd get in somehow, to make sure Tanya wasn't being taken advantage of.