by Perry Gretton
^{(creative writers at www.morewriting.co.uk)}
A mouse was scurrying through the jungle when - "Atishoo!" - he found himself lying on his back. As he scrambled to his feet, he saw a snake staring at him with sad, watery eyes.

"Sorry," sniffed the snake. "I can't help it. I just can't stop - Atishoo! - sneezing."

The mouse picked himself up off the ground again. "You should do something about it, then. You could injure a mouse doing that."

"I wish I knew why I keep sneezing. I've been like this all spring. When my nose isn't running it's all blocked up, and my eyes and throat itch, and ..."

"I bet you've got hay fever."

"Hay fever? There's no hay in the jungle."

"No, but there's plenty of pollen and that can make you sneeze."

"Then why aren't you sneezing?"

"Because, unlike you, I don't have an allergy."

"Allergy?"

"It means your body is very sensitive to things like pollen or mould that you breathe in. Sometimes you break out in sweats and get headaches and face aches."

"So what am I supposed to do, then? Stop breathing?" He arched his head back and let out another violent sneeze. "Atishoo!"

From behind the tree where he'd taken shelter, the mouse said, "You should take something for it, like anti-hiss something - "

"Anti-hiss? You trying to shut me up altogether or what?"

A voice from above said, "Oi, you lot! Can you keep it down a bit? I've had a long night and I'm trying to get some sleep."

They looked up to see an owl sitting on a branch overhead.

"Sorry," they said.

"And the word you want is 'anti-histamine'," said the owl.

"How do you know that?" asked the snake.

"Of course I know it. I'm wise, aren't I?"

The mouse said quietly to the snake. "There you are, you need anti-histamine tablets. You get them from the chemist."

"I can't go like this," said the snake, wiping his runny nose on a nearby plant.

"Don't worry. I'll go for you." And the mouse was off like a shot to get the pills.

Half an hour later, he reappeared with a packet of tablets and gave it to the snake. "The chemist said if it gets any worse, you should use a steroid nasal spray as well."

The snake swallowed a tablet and after a while his nose stopped running, his eyes ceased to water, and he no longer sneezed.

"That's brilliant!" he said to the mouse. "I feel so much better now. Just like my old self, in fact." He beamed at the mouse. "Thank you so much for your help. Now, let me see, what was I doing before I felt so miserable. Oh, I know. I was hunting for food. And my favourite food is - "

"Uh-ho," said the mouse, "I'm out of here."

And he scampered away as fast as his little legs could take him.