Nikolas saw Miika scuttling along the edge of the floor. He stood up on his back legs, stared at Nikolas, and looked ready to have a conversation. Well, he looked as ready as a mouse ever looks to have a conversation. Which wasn't much. 

'Cheese,' said the mouse, in mouse language. 

'I've got a very bad feeling about all this, Miika.'

Miika looked up at the window, and Nikolas thought his tiny dark eyes seemed filled with worry, and that his nose was twitching nervously. 

'And if I can't have cheese I'll eat this stinky old vegetable creature instead.'

Miika turned to the turnip-doll lying by Nikolas's bed, and took a bite. 

'Hey, that was a Christmas present!' said Nikolas. 

'I'm a mouse. Christmas means nothing to me.'

(From A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig, published by Canongate, with illustrations by Chris Mould. Read the full extract here.)

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