The mice tensed, nervous. Today was Cheese Day, the annual cheese-retrieving coming-of-age ritual undertaken by all thirteen-year-old mice. Ewel held his lucky pin, his only inheritance, at the starting line. The starter raised her bottlecap… and they were off! Down the plumbing and onto the rafters. Suddenly, nine mice felt like fifty in the echoing chamber. Miraculously, Ewel made it through, but dropped his pin in the process.Recovering the pin, he noticed his prize; the Cheese itself, wedged behind the fridge! Generations of bite marks and claw scars littered the surface, radiating an aura of weathered toughness. Ewel scanned the kitchen for anything that might help him get to the moldy wheel. Finally, he decided; skydive down to the floor, then climb up behind the freezer. Ewel landed hard, covered by his makeshift napkin parachute. The Cheese seemed farther than ever, but Ewel had an idea. He bifurcated the pin, and with his jerry-built crampons he slowly ascended the trellis of tubing. Finally, he struck dairy, exhausted and hyperthermic. Despite being in such close proximity to the searing condenser coils, the Cheese remained unmelted, and Ewel’s chunk still felt cool to the touch at the congratulatory ceremony hours later.