A clan of 'souris' !

Mariana nodded. She looked at Colette then back at the others. "Where's is the stolen food then?" she asked.

the mouse did not answer again but simply kept on trying to catch the other mouse.
Colette stepped forward and with Mariana's help she pulled the little mouse away from the shopowner.

Mariana smiled slightly. "Now what." she whispered so only Colette could hear,
"What do you want to do with him?"

She bent low so that she wasn't looking down on the mouse and, with her eyes closed, asked "did you really steal from this man's shop?"
The little mouse answered with a defiant "yes" and Colette's eyes flew open
"Tammy!" she whispered (but still sternly.)
The little mouse was indeed Colette's neighbor, the honey-colored, wide-eyed mouse who was a sweet little boy... at least he was yesterday.
"Yes" he answered brightly.
"I never thought that you would be stealing!" she said
"Well, this man was selling things that I didn't think were suitable to sell." his eyes were innocent, a little too innocent.
Colette gave a little "mhmm."
"The cheese was moldy!" he insisted
The shop owner heard this and exclaimed "that's because you stole it from the back! That’s where the old, unsold items are kept until they can be thrown away!"
Colette was about to explain to Tammy that the produce was fine when she realized something, why was the shop owner so worried about moldy cheese? "Well then there is no problem!" she said, which startled the large shop owner "if it was to be thrown away then there is no foul, everyone may go."
The owner looked like he was about to argue, but then he must have realized who Colette was and he left with a huff.
“it was wrong to do Tammy, but thank you for stealing this cheese.”
Tammy looked completely confused until Colette explained to him, and Marietta “why would he care if it was old, this must be the food he is selling. I’ll have someone sent to check out his store. Tammy was elated to have helped Colette and he ran off to play when the other two mice continued on their way.