Morning came suddenly, appearing out of the clouds, all throughout the
Fitzgibbons' farm; but with one big difference. They were no longer there, the
NIMH scientists had arrived that day with their trucks, with
the firm desire to exterminate all the rats, which they believed could cause
terrible destruction all over the world.

They needed to kill them, to erase all proof of their existence, of the
scientists' great mistake. But the rats were ahead of them. They were no longer
at the rose bush; they were very, very far away, where no one
would ever think that any animal could live.

But nevertheless, the scientists had to destroy all proof of their involvement.

But their anxiety and desire went further than they thought, not only did they
destroy all the evidence, but, bit by bit, they were also killing all other
forms of life about the farm, slowly and very painfully.

That morning, the first to find out of this approaching disaster was Mr. Ages.
He was proceeding to fill his canteens full of the water he needed for his
experiments, but not without first checking to see that it
was pure. With the scientific intuition which characterized him, he noticed
something strange about the liquid.

'Odd,' he thought, 'the water looks different this morning...' He hesitated for
a moment, slowly stroking his profuse beard with his hand, his doubt showing in
the gentle rocking back and forth motion of his body - ...the analysis would
eliminate any doubt before beginning - ...

When he was about to take a sample, he spotted Timothy, who was happily playing
with Nature, with life, with the wind blowing through his fur and delineating
his sleek silhouette, with such a feeling of freedom and
innocent happiness, that Mr. Ages was distracted for a moment. It brought a
nostalgic smile to his face, and brought back many memories, both happy and
unhappy, of what had happened that tragic night which
forever marked their lives: the miracle of the stone, Moving Day, Nicodemus'
death, the boundless evil ambitions of Jenner which led him to his death, and
the instantaneous likability, always accompanied by a bit
of immaturity of Justin, always with his tricks which would try his patience,
but yet always showing respect for his wisdom and knowledge.

'To think that what your mother did for you, Timmy, led her to learn a secret
which might otherwise, have never been revealed." - Then, he sighed and
introduced a small container in the brook that ran between the
stones producing an exquisite and refreshing sound, creating a sensation of
peace and tranquillity that can only be felt in the countryside.

"God knows why He causes things to happen as they do; you are very
fortunate... ...We all are!"

With the sample of water in the container, he took out of his pouch a bit of
powder and poured it on the surface of the liquid... He mixed the powder into
the liquid to obtain the desired answer.

His doubts immediately disappeared... the liquid began to take a very
unpleasant color, until it became a foul smelling mass which Mr. Ages found
revolting even to look at.

"Ugh! I knew it!", he said. His face reflected his increasing nausea
and repugnance. "The scientists used it. Damn! We have to leave here
before everything gets contaminated." Then he caught sight of Timmy coming
close to the bank of the stream, as if he were going to take a drink of the
water.

"Timothy!!!!!!!! Don't drink the water!!!!", Mr. Ages cried out.
Timmy froze and turned towards Mr. Ages. Mr. Ages yelled again,"That water
is contaminated!!!!!!!!"

Timmy hesitated and stepped back from the bank, a fearful and surprised
expression on his face. Mr. Ages ran towards him as fast as he could, though
hampered by his years.

"Timothy, listen to me!," he took Timmy by the arm, "We must
warn the animals not to drink from that water!" Mr. Ages seemed terribly
distraught, he said, "We must get away from this place as soon as
possible.... I don't know how many animals have drank the water or how long
this water has been contaminated, but of this I am certain: if we drink it,
we'll all die!!"

"But where would we go? Would we have to move all over again!? ...Do it
all over again?" Timmy was also beginning to get worked up, "I don't
want to leave here, Mr. Ages, I don't!"

Mr. Ages had to shake Timmy to make him understand that he was serious...
deadly serious.

"I want you to tell your mother that we are leaving to Thorn Valley,
because soon this place won't even be fit for worms!" Timmy listened
carefully, but with great fear. " I'll go get Auntie Shrew so we can meet
back here as fast as possible," said Mr. Ages quickly. "Go alert your
family and please, Timmy, don't pause for anything! This is a real emergency!!!!!!!!"

This said, Timmy ran back home as fast as his little paws would carry him and
Mr. Ages hurried back to his laboratory to begin packing his necessary
materials, fervently praying that Timothy wouldn't do something foolish... He
also prayed that no untimely deaths would occur this time.