NOTE: Gracie Mayer won the Building Small Essay Contest held in conjunction with the N.C. Arboretum's Building Small exhibit and sponsored by Smoky Mountain Living. Here is her winning entry:

If you’re wondering what it’s like to live in a church, then you’ve come to the right place. Unless you want a human to tell you, of course. I am a mouse named Jack. Now let’s begin the discussion ...

Every Wednesday and Sunday, this place is busy. Music, singing, I mean everything! Good news though! One word ... communion! Bread and grape juice are my all time favorite snacks. On the flip side, it’s hard getting around on Sunday and Wednesday. Though no one sees me, in the tunnels, it’s dark. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you – Well, if you see a hole in the wall, it’s not the first. You see, there is a hole in every room where the tunnel ends. But the main one is in the narthex. You know, the room in front of the sanctuary? And only the acolytes know about me. My house has lost things like watches, handkerchiefs, cotton, broken glass, gloves, etc. And my diet is ...

1. cheese

2. bread

3. grape juice

4. crackers

5. things acolytes feed me

At Christmas, I take a branch off the Chrismas tree and take popcorn and glass and string it on my tree.

If you think it’s lonely, you’re wrong! I have mouse friends like Sam, Lola, and Ben. They all live with me and play with me. Which brings me to the most exciting part! Are ya’ ready? O.K. Well once, it was only Ben, Lola, and me. (Sam was sick). We were making him a card. So we went around looking for things. When all of a sudden ... a door creaked open and then a giant hissss! We investigated, and we saw the minister’s cat slinking in the office. We screamed and ran, but Lola noticed a special thing; it was a box with tiny jewels we could glue on the card. Lola had saved the day and Sam loved the card. He said it was the best one ever!

Well, that is all I have to tell ya’ ... thanks for coming!!! And I almost forgot to tell you ... if you ever want to drop by, just check the narthex and I’ll be there. And that was Jack the Church Mouse talkin’!