A Mouse In My House
While sorting the clothes according to colors before loading
them in the washer, I heard the sound of a heavy fall! I was still holding this
heavy denim jacket with my hands and look around to see if something fell on
the floor and found nothing. My husband loves to carry a bunch of keys and my
first suspect would be keys falling off from his pants pocket. Then I heard this
tiny sound scurrying in the tub. It does sound different from a key. Keys do
cling and clang because it’s metal. This time the noise was smoother than a
metal. Suddenly, a mouse jumps, trying to escape but failed. Oh no! A mouse in
my house! My first thoughts were the words – scared, angry, and mad. I hate
mouse! angry with mouse and mad with a
cat. How can a mouse survive and exist in my house when we have two cats. I
feel frustrated thinking it is the cats’ responsibility to keep mouse out of
the house. Life is so full of surprises; I had an encounter with a raccoon too.
Finding a way out
At that moment, watching the mouse trying to escape was a
learning lesson to me. The mouse see me eye to eye, must be wondering what a
giant I was in size, but did not lose faith to escape. He sees the enemy in me
and went around the tub to check if there is a way out. He stays still a few
times, trying to think, to escape or to fight? He jumps as many times as he can
and a few times landed on one arm rest of the tub, halfway the tub, jumps again
for escape but ended up back on the bottom of the tub. Had the mouse jump from
the higher end of the arm rest, he would have escaped!
My heart feels for him
The mouse got my attention and felt sympathy. Maybe the
mouse would be a good surprise to my daughter. The mouse changed my thoughts
from anger to hmmm… might be a good idea to do something with the mouse,
instead of spoiling my day because of a mouse. So, I went to look for a container to trap the
mouse in. It took me a few minutes to capture the mouse. The last thing I would
do is to let the mouse crawl on me and escape through me. Besides, I do not like
the feel of a mouse crawling on me.
Capturing the mouse
I got this plastic container, 12 inch deep and 6 inch wide
container and uncover it. Holding the container upside down, aimed for the
mouse with the opening pointing down and trap the mouse, holding the container
with one hand next to the bottom of the tub. I had a hard thick paper twice the
size of the opening to slide it under the opening for temporary cover. What a perfect plan! I missed the first time
and got out of the tub immediately for fear of the mouse. A giant fears a
mouse? But is true! The mouse was smart
too! So desperate to escape, he ended up hiding, squeezed into the jets! I
needed a stick to poke him out but instead cling tightly. I have to change my
plan and the second time, I aimed it with focus onto the jets, poke him with a
stick and got him in, slide the thick paper under subsequently pick up the lid
to cover the container tightly. I recorded a video to see what a mouse would do
when caught. It was a desperate cry for escape.
A surprise
Anyway, when my daughter came home, she was eager to see
what the surprise of the day is, closes her eyes and waited patiently. The
moment she opened her eyes, she was jumping with joy for she had been wishing
to have a pet mouse. I ask her why, “They are so cute.” she answered. She named
the mouse Brownie because of its color. We spotted a daddy long leg spider,
walking so calmly, it became a meal. We trap the spider and feed it to the
mouse that was happy to finish it all. The next day we noticed the smoggy look
of the once clear plastic container. The mouse seemed to be quiet and
inactively staying in one corner of the container. “Maybe it’s time to let it
go,” I told my daughter, “before it dies in there.” Fearing the worst, my
daughter agrees with me and we decided to let the mouse go. The mouse was cute
but needs to be in the right place. She had a full day of fun with Brownie and
it was another day in the life of a mouse in my house.
Family Travel
