It was bound to happen.

Arriving at the entrance to the museum, Mather stares the great pyramid of stairs then at Mouse. Mouse stares back, whiskers twitching. Mather looks up, sighs, and begins to climb.

The museum is alive, breathing, inhaling and exhaling people at a rapid pace that makes Mather’s head and vision dizzy. It does not help that the stairs are so high. Despite this, Mather continues, fighting to not breathe in rhythm with the structure and watching his feet perform their busy work.

So it is inevitable that Mather runs into someone as they are leaving. A woman, perhaps also watching her feet, collides with Mather. Fortunately for Mather, he has a firm grip on the rail. Unfortunately for Mather, Mouse does not. Fortunately for Mouse, the stranger catches him. Unfortunately for Mouse, this happens to be with her partially exposed bosom. It swallows mouse whole except for his tail, a grey flag waving in panicked surrender.

Mather’s breath matches and then surpasses the museum’s. He lets go.