I am not necessarily my best friend today...Tell you why.
Last evening around midnight I was groggily watching The Vision Channel (I'm a documentary freak) on tv when a tiny figure dashed across the floor about six feet in front of me.
What the h... was that? I thought to myself.
In the semi darkness, I turned on the light beside me to get a better look at what I thought I saw.
Shockingly, sitting motionless next to a planter and three feet from our sleeping dog Miffy, was a baby mouse, just starring at me. Still half unbelieving of what I was seeing, I cautiously eased myself out of my chair and made my way over to the young intruder.
He/she did not move...Most unusual indeed. The little guy has never encountered a human being before, I rationalized.
I bent down for a closer look, going so far as to extend my hand to within an inch of its nose.
What am I going to do now?
The thought of just scooping up the creature with my hand and quickly flushing it down the nearest toilet, crossed my mind. But I couldn't bring myself to be that ruthless.
Instead I retrieved a pail from the laundry room, thinking that I could use it to execute a more humane capture and give myself time to consider the best means of disposal. Needless to say that strategy was in vain as mousey easily evaded the pail and scampered to safety under the nearby chesterfield.
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| Small but menacing trap in waiting. |
When the little guy did not resurface and for lack of a better plan, I decided to load a trap with cheese and place it on the path that the mouse had previously taken along the living room floor. By then it was long past my time to hit the hay.
Again and unbelievingly as I sat in the bedroom contemplating events of the past hour, my new little friend paid me another surprise visit, having found its way past a still sleeping Miffy and up the hallway. After quickly exploring every square inch of the bedroom he (I'll use the term he for the balanced of the story) stopped momentarily in the middle of the floor to scratch his ear and do a little grooming before coming over to where I was sitting for some more up front and personal exploration.
He ran over my feet a couple of times before boldly jumping up on the arm of the plush chair I was sitting in. He finally settled for a resting spot on the back of the chair just above my right shoulder. I gave him a chance to settle before turning my body slightly in order to face him. As I do with all animals, I began talking baby jibberish to him, introducing myself as "Poppa" and someone to be trusted.
The formation of a rare bond between man and wildlife was growingly culpable.
I was amazed at the length of his antenna-like whiskers, his tiny beady eyes, the size of his ears and the perfectly formed little dextrous feet that were already serving him so well. I noticed too what looked to be a sticker of some kind attach to his rear quarters, which I tried to gently remove with no success. He did, however, allow me to stroke his head several times. I wondered if there was any possibility that I could tame him further and keep him as a pet, remembering that years ago my youngest daughter had a pet rat that adopted extremely well to life in our household. I even thought of a name, weighing the suitability of either Mickey or Minnie.
With the clock now registering wee small hours of the morning and my little friend showing signs of contented drowsiness, I left him resting on the back of the chair, turned out the lights and went to bed.
As per routine, I got up to go to the bathroom several hours later and he had moved down to the foot of the chair and seemed to be well absorbed in mouse dreamland. He was nowhere to be seen however when I made a second trip to the washroom around 7:00 a.m. And again I went back to bed for another couple hours of make up shuteye.
When I arose for good, the first thing I did this morning was to check around the bedroom for any sign of the mouse. There was none...and I could not help but feel a weird sense of abandonment.
At the end of the hallway my eyes immediately fell on the mouse trap that I had strategically placed in the living room nine hours before.
"Oh no, oh no!" I gasped out loud at the sight of the grim evidence laying before me.
The forgotten trap had done its job at the expense of my little friend's unsuspecting and inquisitive nature.
I hated myself!
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| Tell tale sticker. |
I removed the previously mentioned sticker still clinging to the fur on the lifeless body, obviously picked up at some point from a discarded avocado skin during a romp through our garbage under the kitchen sink, subsequently releasing the little rodent back into the same garbage container where it could appropriately rest in peace for the duration.
In the end, I was sort of glad that I was at least able to be kind to the little fellow during the last few hours of his brief life. Through that unique encounter, he brought me a degree of joy too, perhaps never again to be equalled.
But a fine friend I turned out to be!
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