The Cheese Caper

In the wake of a grand cheese caper, a great number of rats were rounded up as part of a drag net operation by the Animal Kingdom Investigation Agency. Agent Cheetah, who was in charge of the case, processed them one at a time. She made each one get their paw prints on file. She carefully documented everything they said. And she never, never let them talk to each other alone.

Many of the rats called in their lawyers. It wasn’t long before the entire AKIA office was lousy with vermin and their clients. Chief Rhino, who didn’t care much for subtlety, demanded that Agent Cheetah get fast results. He was very annoyed with all the little creatures running around the place. But, Agent Cheetah urged patience.

Agent Cheetah methodically interviewed every rat in the building, then interviewed them again, then again. She turned up the heat and made the rats wait where they could see who was being interrogated, but not hear what was being said… This made the other rats and their lawyers very, very nervous. Their whiskers twitched and their tails curled up and every hour the tension in the building became a little heavier.

Finally, Chief Rhino became fed up. He ordered Agent Cheetah to show him the results of her investigation. Agent Cheetah smiled, because she was ready.

Agent Cheetah had all the rats line up in a row. She paced around them in silence for a while, then took out a big stick she found in the forest. One by one, she gave the rats a good poke. It wasn’t long before the pressure became too much. Despite the protests of the other rats and all the lawyers, one of the rodents yelled out.

“It’s true! It’s true! We stole the cheese!”

If you poke enough rats, one of them will squeak.