er silently, feeling harried and unsure of himself.
After living here so long, they'd observed and learned human customs
and speech--they'd even adopted human names.

"George," she pleaded, "just ask him. Reason with him. Point out to
him that he's just wasting his time." She paused, added, "You're
intelligent--you can think of the right things to say."

"Oh, all right," he said wearily. But once he had said it, he felt
better. At least, he would get it over with, one way or another.

* * * * *

As soon as he heard the swish-swish of the broom outside his home, he
got up and walked out of the front door. He saw that the trap was
still off to one side, where he had pushed it the night before.

"Hello," he shouted.

Swish-swish-swish went the broom, busily moving dust from one part of
the room to another, swish-swish-swish. The man looked tremendous from
so close a view, yet George knew that he was just a little, bent, old
man, a small specimen of the species.

George took a deep breath. "_Hello!_" he bellowed with all his
strength.

The janitor stopped swish-swishing and looked around the room
suspiciously.

"_Hello!_" George shrieked. His throat felt raw.

The janitor looked down and saw the mouse. "Hello yourself," he said.
He was an ignorant old man and, when he saw the mouse shouting hello
at him, he assumed right away that it was a mouse shouting hello to
him.

"_The trap!_" the mouse bellowed.

"Stop _shouting_!" the janitor cried, annoyed. He liked to think as he
worked, and he hated loud noises. "What about the trap?"

"My wife doesn't want you to put it by the front door any more,"
George said, still speaking loudly, so that the janitor could hear,
but at least not bellowing so that it tore his throat. "She's afraid
it might hurt the children."

"_Will_ it hurt the children?" the janitor demanded.

"No," George replied. "They know all about traps--but my wife still
wants it removed."

"Sorry," the janitor said, "but my orders are to put a trap by every
mousehole. This is an atomic plant, and they don't want mice."

"They do, too!" George said defiantly. "They brought my
great-great-grandfather Michael here themselves and exposed him to
hard radiations. Otherwise _I_ wouldn't be here."

"I can't help it," the janitor snapped. "I have to obey orders."

"What will I tell my wife?" George shouted.

That stopped the janitor. He had a wife of his own.

"I gues