A new adventure for little mouse Alex in the most majestic and solemn place: the Maturing Warehouse, the "cathedral" of Parmigiano Reggiano.
🏗️ Alex and the Ascent to the Sky Granary
After the adventures in the boiler and the salt pan, Alex knew that the real treasure was in the resting place, where time transformed the cheese into the magnificent Parmigiano Reggiano Pratichiera.
The Maturing Warehouse was an imposing, cool, and airy place. The wooden walls and endless rows of shelves filled with golden cheeses reached the ceiling. It seemed like an infinite library, where each cheese was a precious volume.
Papa Artur and Mamma Marta, after enjoying another piece of their elixir, had warned each other: "Watch out for heights, Alex! And if you see the Battitore (the expert in charge of "beating" the cheese), run away! He has a very sharp ear!"
The Vertical Challenge
Alex snuck into the warehouse. His goal: to reach the pinnacle, the most matured wheels at the top, where the aroma was most concentrated, dry, and pungent.
The little mouse began climbing the wooden pillars of the ladder. He used the grooves in the wood and clung to the joints. It was a very tiring climb, a veritable Cheese Everest.
Kicca the Squinting, tired of being soaked and humiliated, had changed her strategy. She no longer ran; she was stationed high up among the ceiling beams, waiting. She knew Alex would come.
The Dust Bombing
Alex was halfway there. Kicca, with a devious air, used her tail to swing a bundle of dry dust and sawdust that had settled on the beams. The goal was to blind Alex or make him lose his grip.
Atchù! A little sneeze, but the dust raised by Kicca's movement spread into the air and, magically, settled on the shapes below, making the stairs slightly more slippery... but not for Alex the mouse!
Alex, feeling the dust, clung with all his might to the 24-month-old cheese just above his head. The wood dust had only made it... stickier. Yum! "You're a little less flavorful than the aged ones, but thanks for the extra grip, Kicca!"
The Cheese Slide
Kicca grew angry. She moved along the beam to a higher point, just above the most prized forms.
"I'm going to crush you now, you little thief!" he meowed. Kicca let go of a large, old cheese rind she'd found, hurling it with the intention of knocking it off the shelves.
The crust, very heavy, landed sideways on the shelf. Instead of falling, it tilted and created a perfect, steep slide that extended across three shelves!
Alex was almost at the top! He saw the slide approaching. Without panic, he jumped on it!
"Yuhuuu!" Alex shouted (in a very, very low, mouselike tone). He slid at breakneck speed, past three shelves of 40-month-old cheeses.
Kicca couldn't believe it. "He turned my weapon into a... playground!"
The Hammer Ending
Alex landed softly on the top shelf, right next to Pratichiera over 55 months. He immediately got to work on detaching his well-deserved piece.
At that moment, he heard a noise: Tock! Tock! Tock!
It was the Beater, who was entering the corridor!
Kicca, seeing her last chance, jumped off the beam, landing gracefully on a ledge, and lunged at Alex.
Alex had his precious piece of cheese in his hand. He didn't have time to run down the steps. The man was too close.
Just then, the Beater approached the shape beside them. He took up his little hammer and began to strike: Tock! Tock! Tock!
The sound waves from the hammer, which tested the firmness of the cheese, were so loud and sharp that they made the entire shelf section vibrate!
Kicca, who was just a step away from picking up Alex, was startled by the sudden vibration. She lost her balance and—bang!—fell behind the wheel, trapped in the space between the cheese and the wall.
Alex, however, used the vibration to his advantage! Holding his piece tightly, he dropped onto the back of the form and rolled down the shelf, thus avoiding being seen by the Beater.
The mouse fell into a hay basket, filled with delicious remnants of seasoned crust, and scurried away, with the 55 Month scale like a miniature trophy.
One-eyed Kicca was freed only half an hour later by the Beater, who found her there, furious and covered in cheese dust.
Alex returned home to his parents, who welcomed him joyfully, ready to rejuvenate once again. Alex knew Kicca would never give up, but one thing was certain: when it came to Parmigiano Reggiano Pratichiera, no mouse in all of Fontevivo was more cunning, adventurous, or lucky than him.
