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It's a universal truth that all children know that animals are more than people credit them for. They have lives, families, and troubles of their own. Not to mention, they are intelligent and witty, and can make great conversationalists. But adults don't notice these remarkable traits. They brush it off as "childish imagination" or "make-believe," and, depending on the adult, it can either be seen as a good, endearing habit or as bad, lazy manners. Regardless, adults don't understand.
But the children always do.
And the second universal truth is that mice are not pests, but guardians, specifically of human children.
Across the ages, children have passed down secrets to each other of their experiences of being rescued by these brave, little creatures. Children who had escaped kidnappers or had been held hostage would come back with wild tales of mice coming to their rescue and helping them leave the villains. Adults never listened, too grateful that their darling children came back in one piece. It eventually became an unspoken rule that if you were going to share your story on being rescued, it was best to share it among other children.
Or with animals, for they are the best listeners of all.
When the twentieth century was reaching its end, two particular mice rose in fame for their particularly impossible, spectacular rescue missions. It all began with an orphan girl who was kidnapped and forced down into a small, dank hole in a bayou, to try and find a giant diamond for a crazed woman. The two little mice made such a great team, that even their society (Rescue Aid Society, or R.A.S.) raised them to a status that only a few legendary mice have ever achieved. Bernard and Miss Bianca -- for that were their names -- soon became famous among the animal kingdom, ranked alongside names such as Amos Mouse, who was the mastermind behind Benjamin Franklin; Brer Rabbit, known for his cunning against Brers Fox and Bear; and even the fabulous, charming manic J. Thaddeus Toad!
In spite of the fame, Bernard and Miss Bianca remained humble and diligent in their work. For over a decade, they were sent far and wide to protect and rescue human children in danger from terrible adults, or sometimes natural disasters. Then, after their most famous rescue ever, which occurred "Down Under," the two of them married and continued their legacy, raising a family of rescuing mice for many generations to come.
Of course, only some children grow up and remember their rescuer friends. Adults as a whole never remember. But the children at heart, the adults that never fully grew up, always remember.