//------------------------------// // Millie meets the Muffin Man // Story: Attack of the Killer Muffins! // by Dafaddah //------------------------------// Attack of the Killer Muffins Chapter four: Millie Meets the Muffin Man by Dafaddah Edited by two great dudes: Microshazm and SecondLaw “Millie! I've got a surprise for you, sweetheart!" Mommy called from the kitchen. Millie slid down from the ragged couch and ran into the kitchen, feeling all trembly inside. Mommy had a surprise! For her! She grabbed the edge of the table, trying to see over its edge. Mummy took her in her arms and lifted her up into her lap. Finally she could see! On the table was a round object that looked like food. And it had one candle burning brightly on top. "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Millie, happy birthday to you!" Mommy sang. "Now make a wish and blow out the candle!" Millie looked at the bright flame and felt all warm inside. "It's a birthday cake, just like in the vids!" She scrunched her eyes shut a moment, and made a silent wish. A moment later she opened her eyes and looked at Mommy. "I'm ready now!" She looked at the birthday cake one more time, just because it was so pretty. Millie wanted to remember it forever. She took a deep breath and blew with all her might. The flame went out and a wisp of smoke rose from the candle. She felt so happy! She looked at Mommy again and was surprised to see some tears on her cheeks, even though Mommy was smiling. She knew that sometimes Mommy had happy tears, although usually she only cried when she was really sad. When that happened Mommy needed a hug, so she put her little arms around Mommy's neck. "A real birthday cake! A real birthday cake! My very first! Yay!" She threw her arms in the air and giggled. Mommy laughed too, and Millie felt even happier! Mommy was very thin, not fat like the people in the vids. She should eat more, but she always said she wasn't hungry. Millie couldn't imagine not being hungry. Mommy wrapped her arms around her and whispered in her ear: "Go ahead sweetie, eat your birthday cake." "Not yet," said Millie. "I want to look at it. It's too pretty to eat with my mouth, I want to eat it with my eyes first!" Mommy laughed again. "Alright, sweetie. Since it's your first one, even though you're four years old now." Millie picked it up and looked at from all angles. "How old were you when you got your first birthday cake, Mommy?" asked Millie. She liked to hear stories about when Mommy was a little girl. People were so rich then, before the single-tea. Before the plants all died and everybody lost their jobs, and Granny and Granpop died in the riots, and all Mommy had was their home: this apartment. "Oh, I was one year old and I can't remember it at all because I was just a baby. But the first one I remember was when I was four years old. It was a chocolate cake, my favorite.” Mommy had that happy look she got when she membered. "Back then we had big cakes, with a candle for each year. But ordinary people like us can’t afford to buy big cakes anymore. I was lucky I could find this one muffin for my baby." Millie smiled. "A new word: muffin!  Muffin, muffin muffin! I like that word! Oh Mommy, it's the most beautiful muffin I've ever seen!" She put it back very carefully on the table. "Let's wait 'till tomorrow to eat it. I think I want to see it again when I wake up." "Sure thing, Millie. I'll put it in the bread box so the rats don't eat it while we sleep." Mommy put the muffin in the big metal box where they kept the food when they had some, and she locked it tight. Then Mommy said it was time to get ready for bed. Maybe Mommy would show her a vid from when she was a little girl! She ran to the bathroom as fast as she could. Millie woke up. She could hear Mommy snoring next to her in the bed. Mommy was so tired sometimes, so she needed to sleep. There was a noise in the kitchen, but Mommy just kept on sleeping. Millie got up real carefully, and slipped out from underneath the sleep mesh. She carefully shut it to make sure no pests could get inside while Mommy was sleeping, and padded slowly to the kitchen to see what the noise was. There was another loud bang in the kitchen just as Millie entered and the glow bulb turned on. The bread box was on the floor next to the table, and the lid had broken off. That was bad! But there were also two large rats next to it, trying to pull out her muffin with their little paws. Rats had stolen food from them them before, and Mommy had been really sad cause Millie had been hungry for two whole days afterwards. Now they wanted to take her birthday cake! She was so mad! She ran towards the rats and kicked one so hard it hit the kitchen wall. She saw it get up and run away. The other one had a hold of the muffin, and Millie wasn't going to let that rat keep it. She moved to kick it even harder, but before she was able to there was a zap. The rat squealed and ran away on its own. There was a burning smell in the kitchen. She knelt down next to the broken bread box. The muffin was almost broken in half. She carefully took it out of the bread box, holding its pieces together, and clutched it to her chest. Millie sat on the floor and felt like crying, but she didn't want to wake Mommy up. Her tears started to flow and fell silently onto her muffin and her hands. "Poor muffin" she whispered as quietly as she could through her sobs. "The rats are bad! But I saved you." After a few minutes her tears stopped and she started to feel better. She put the muffin back into the breadbox, and put the breadbox on the chair. "I'll protect you, muffin," she said. "Just in case those bad rats come back!" She sat back on the floor next to the chair. A moment later she fell asleep. Millie woke up when she heard noises. She was lying on the floor in the kitchen in her jammies. She didn't member why she was here. There was the noise again: scritch, scratch. She opened her eyes just a teeny bit to see what was going on. She saw her muffin on the edge of the chair. It had little legs and arms. It was a muffin man! She saw it jump from the chair onto the table. Then it jumped onto the counter and went to the stove. The muffin man played with the buttons, something Mommy had told her to never do. Then the muffin man went to the drawers, and looked inside each of them one at a time. "Hello, muffin man," whispered Millie. "I'm really glad I didn't eat you." Millie smiled at him. "What's your name?" She asked. The muffin man stopped moving like it was a game of one-two-three-red-light! She put a finger to her lips. "But don't talk too loud, Mommy is sleeping." The muffin man came closer. She could see he had little eyes. He had a little mouth too. He lifted a little arm and pointed at the door. "Go, me" he said. The muffin man wanted to go away. Maybe he wanted to go home! Maybe he had a little muffin wife, and maybe even some little baby muffins. "Muffin man, you want to go home?" Millie asked in a low voice. "Yes. Go, now," said the muffin man. "Okay," said Millie. She put her hand out next to the muffin man, and he stepped on. Millie thought his legs were a bit prickly. She giggled at the touch. When he was standing in the palm of her hand she carefully brought him to the front door and put him on the floor. "Now you be careful, muffin man. Don't let those bad rats catch you." Millie touched her palm to the lock plate. Mommy had told her never to open the door to strangers, but the image on the door vid showed nobody in the corridor outside, and she was letting someone out, not in. The door opened, and the muffin man looked up at her for a moment. He said "Thank you." And ran out on his little legs. "Bye-bye," whispered Millie, and she shut the door. She was really glad she let the muffin man go home. Quietly, she went back to the bedroom and climbed back under the sleep mesh into bed. She smiled and snuggled in next to Mommy. Millie padded into the kitchen in the morning. She usually got up with Mommy, but this time she had woken up all alone. Mommy was in the kitchen, looking sad, so she ran up to her, and gave her a big smile and a hug. "Good morning, Mommy!" "Good morning, sweetheart." Mommy held on to Millie instead go letting her go. She had a serious face. "Honey, I have some bad news. I think the rats took your muffin while we slept. The bread box is broken, and the muffin was gone when I got up. I'm sorry sweetie, but I don't know if I can find another one." Millie gave mommy her biggest smile. "Nope, he wasn't eaten by the rats. I saved him." Mommy smiled just a bit, like when she thought Millie might be fibbing. "Really, Mommy. I kicked the rats and they ran away. And then I let him out." Mommy's smile was gone again. "You let who out, Millie?" "The muffin man. The rats hurt him, but he got better. And he even had little arms and legs, and he said he wanted to go home, so I opened the door and let him out." Mommy started looking at her a bit funny. "Oh, but I checked the door vid first, to make sure there wasn't anybody outside. I promised I wouldn't open the door to let in strangers, and I didn't." She smiled to make Mommy feel better, and was happy when Mommy smiled too. "Oh, honey, are you sure you didn't just dream all that?" Millie felt a bit confused. "I don't think so," she said. Sometimes Millie did wake up thinking a dream was real, but she didn't think that was what had happened this time it. "It was real, Mommy. He even said 'thank you', so I think he was a good muffin man. I'm glad we didn't eat him." Mommy smiled as Millie talked about the muffin man. "Okay, then I'm sure too, sweetie. But next time always come to ask me if you want to open the door. Okay?" Millie sighed. "Okay, I promise, but I'm a big girl now, so I can help. And I'm a lot bigger than the muffin man!" Mommy thought this was very funny. She laughed and laughed and hugged Millie tight. "Yes you are! Here's your ration for breakfast sweetie." She put a bowl of mushmeal in front of Millie. "Where's your mushmeal, Mommy?" she asked. "Oh, I already ate," said Mommy.   Millie dug in with her spoon. It was supper time and Mommy gave Millie her protobar. They slowly ate the crunchy food together. Using the big vid in the wall of the front room, Mommy had taught her all sorts of things about animals that used to live on earth, and about the ponies. She really loved looking at vids of ponies and Equestria. Mommy smiled a lot when she taught Millie stuff. It was her favorite part of the day, even better than playing with the other kids in the building. Some of the other kids and grown-ups were not very nice. And some of them just played their own vid games and hardly played or talked with Millie at all. There was the call sound, and a vid appeared on the wall next to the table where Millie and Mommy sat. Mommy made the 'yes' gesture and she saw Mommy's friend, Mrs. Lambert appear. "Hi, Louise! What's up?" asked Mommy. "Hey, Jen. Have you heard those strange stories about muffin shaped critters on the loose?" Mommy frowned. "No. When was this?" "It's all over the news vids today. Apparently there's been some kind of nanotech accident and these muffin shaped critters are loose and apparently killing all the rats. There's also been rumors of more people disappearing than usual. People are already blaming the muffins and the WorldGov has been putting out warnings for folks to report any sightings and to not to touch anything that looks like a stray muffin." Mrs. Lambert laughed. "Can you imagine? Seeing a muffin after years of nothing but favela rations and not trying to take a bite. Are they crazy?" Millie laughed along with Mrs. Lambert. She was one of Mommy's nicest friends, and she even helped Mommy and Millie sometimes when the rations were late, or got stolen by bad people. Millie looked a Mommy and noticed that she wasn't laughing. She had a real serious face now. "Thanks for the heads-up, Louise. Look, something's come up, so I'll call you later. Sorry." Mrs. Lambert also got serious. "No problem deary. Let me know if I can help." "Will do, Louise. Thanks a bunch, as always. Bye." "Bye!" The vid disappeared. Mommy got up from the chair. "Just continue eating your supper, sweetie. I'll be back in a minute." Millie watched from her chair as Mommy went to the door and touched the door vid, doing something that Millie hadn't learned yet. The vid showed the corridor outside, and then a little dot went down the corridor real fast. It was the muffin man! "You see Mommy, I told you it wasn't a dream. I did let the muffin man go home." Mommy rushed back to the kitchen table and knelt in front of her. "Did it touch you, Millie?" she asked, looking scared again. "I picked him up after the rats tried to eat him. Oh, and I carried him to the door in my hand, just like this." Millie held out her hand making it flat just like when she held the muffin man. Mommy took her hand and looked at both sides very carefully. "He just stepped on my hand with his little feet. It tickled!" Millie laughed. Mommy still had on a serious face, but she didn't look scared anymore. "Okay, sweetie. I believe you now. It wasn't a dream. But let's keep this our little secret, just for the two of us. Can you do that?" Millie gave an exaggerated sigh. "Of course I can! I'm a big girl now." Then she smiled to show Mommy that she wasn't really angry with her. "But you forgot about the muffin man. He knows the secret too." Mommy's eyes got big for a second, then she burst out laughing. "You're absolutely right, sweetheart. The muffin man knows too. Let's hope he can keep a secret." Millie and Mommy shared a laugh together, and finished eating their protobars. This was such a good dinner! A noise woke Millie up. This time it also woke up Mommy. "Stay here Millie, and don't make a sound." Millie nodded and rubbed her eyes while Mommy unzipped the sleep mesh and got out of the bed. Mommy opened the bedroom door and gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. Millie watched in silence as Mommy just stood there in the doorway. Then, the muffin man walked up to Mommy and said in his funny little voice. "Please stay in this room. We will use the kitchen tonight and will go before the morning." Mommy just stared at the muffin man. Her mouth was moving but there was no sound coming out. Millie knew that it was rude not to answer. Maybe Mommy had a problem with her voice. "Okay, muffin man. We'll stay in here," said Millie. Mommy turned and stared at her, eyes big again. "I'm so glad the rats didn't get you when you went home, Mr. muffin man." "Me too," said the muffin man. Millie got up and took Mommy by the hand. She peered into the kitchen and saw dozens of muffin men working together to move big sacks of stuff. They got out bowls and spoons and trays. Millie laughed. It was really funny how the muffin men climbed onto each other to do things that one muffin was too small to do all alone. She and Mommy sat down in the doorway of the bedroom and watched. As Millie watched the muffin men her eyes began to droop slowly, and soon she fell asleep. Millie woke up in bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Then she remembered: the muffin men. She got out of bed and went to the kitchen as fast as she could. Mommy was sitting at the kitchen table alone. All the muffin men were gone. Millie felt disappointed because they left without saying goodbye. "Good morning sweetheart," said Mommy. She smiled as she sipped her tea. Mrs. Lambert gave her this little bag of it, and Mommy only drank it when she was feeling very happy. Seeing her so happy made Millie glad. "Good morning, Mommy. Are all the muffin men gone?" she asked, even if she already suspected it was so. "Yes Millie, but they left some gifts for us." "Gifts!" Millie clapped her hands. She loved gifts. "Yay! What did they give us?" "Well for starters, they fixed the bread box and made it stronger, so the rats can't ever steal our food again." Millie saw that the breadbox on the counter was bigger than it was before. Mommy got up and went to open it. When she lifted up the lid, Mommy said "Ta-da!" At first Millie wasn't sure what was inside.  Mommy reached in and pulled out a large round object. It was a real big birthday cake, just like the ones in the vids! And on top it even had her name written there, and some other words. "What does it say?" asked Millie. "It says 'Happy Fourth Birthday Millie'." Mommy quickly took out the candle she had put on the muffin man before. She placed it on the cake, and lit it with a match. "The muffin men made this cake for you Millie. And they left us a lot of supplies and ration bars, so we won't go hungry again anytime soon." Millie blew out the candle without making another wish. She already had what she would have wished for. She looked at all the food in the bread box in wonder. "He really was a very good muffin man, wasn't he Mommy?" "Yes dear. But you, my darling, are an even better girl, and Mommy's very proud of you!" She hugged Mommy, feeling very happy inside. "But Mommy, this time, I want to eat the cake!" said Millie seriously. "And let's bring a piece to Mrs. Lambert. Just because she's so nice." "That's a good idea, sweetheart. We can bring it to her after lunch." Together they ate birthday cake, and this time, Millie made sure Mommy had a big piece. And that she ate every crumb!