Mouse Tales

 They call me Jesse.

I don’t know how this started. All I was doing was trying to find a warm house and maybe some food, but there were cats. I had to avoid them, but I was hungry… I had no idea that the door would shut as soon as I reached the peanut butter.

I spent a long scary night in the dark and then they released me into some kind of plastic box, but there was food!

I’m a captive now, but it’s warm. They said they will let me go in the spring.

My belly is full, but this little case is too much like a prison... So, do I make a run for it, or do I stay and fulfill my need to eat? Too many questions for a mouse like me.

Yes... Yes... YES! I am going to make a break for it. Those air vents, I can nibble my way to freedom. Do I really want to though? Yes, I'm a mouse, dammit!

Free, yes, I am free. Wait, someone is coming... Oh no, he's got dinner for me. There is no way I can get back into my cell, he's already seen that I escaped.

Hide...

Hide...

Hide.

Sigh, he went back upstairs and he took my dinner.

Wait, he's coming back, and he's bringing reinforcements. Oh goody. I am going to play Hide n' Seek. Here I am, now you see me — and now you don't.

Oh this is so much fun. They think they have me, hah-hah-hah-hah.

Oh POOP! She caught me!

They are taking me outside. No, no, no, I was just playing.

They put me down in the woodshed, at least there's the cover of leaves and logs that hide the winds. Wow, she just emptied a bottle of food for me, wow...

They were really nice to me, sniff. But I am a wild mouse and I don't really belong in a house. It's still a little chilly but it's not as frigid as it was before. And I do have this nice bed of leaves to hide in. I do have friends that I want to see again.

I really liked them. Every mouse should find a house with people like them.

Thank you, I had a nice vacation.

The Survivor, The Monsters & The Giants

…a humorous (semi) fictional tale

THE SURVIVOR

Dear Diary,

It’s been a few weeks since I found shelter.

I was beginning to give up hope, there were too many times that I had to burrow through that white icy stuff. Finally I found a haven, it took a while but I eventually thawed out. But it was time to go out and explore this new world that I found refuge in. And I had to forage for some food, there were only so many bugs my palate could tolerate.

So I cautiously ventured out and it was TERRIFYING. I encountered two huge hairy monsters. Unaware of the danger they posed, I fell victim to one of them — he grabbed me with his mouth using his sharp teeth, I could smell his fetid breath as I dangled in fear of my life. Suddenly we were facing a second monster, his eyes fastened on my swinging body. The first monster wasn’t going to give me up and he took off in a fast gallop and I jerked violently side to side. He got far away from the other monster and dropped me penned into a corner and as he batted at me I was sure I was going to be ripped to pieces.

I was desperate and I darted to the side and managed to allude him, I ran for my life only to come face-to-face with the other monster. I thought quickly, there were places to hide and I quickly lunged under something big and shiny nearby. Both monsters ran after me trying to reach me with their sharp talons. I pinned myself to the back wall as far out of their reach as possible. The monsters began keening, a sick and high pitched wail, it hurt my ears. Their cries for support, for help, were soon answered.

She was a giant with fuzzy feet and some kind of radio transmitters on her head. That big object was obviously too big for her to move and she left for a moment. While the monsters stood watching me to make sure I couldn’t escape, the giant came back with a light that she shined into my eyes nearly blinding me and a metal claw in her hand. She tried and nearly succeeded in grabbing my body with her claw, but although I felt the cold metal brush me, she didn’t manage to grab me to pull me towards her. She finally gave up and left me to the watchful glowing eyes of the two monsters.

It was finally daylight when one of the monsters left and the remaining one seemed to close his eyes. I ran, but the monster guarding me woke and leapt after me. I darted under something else, but not before I saw the second monster returning followed by a bigger giant who walked with three legs, one of them was a long narrow stick that he seemed able to detach from his body. Unlike the woman giant his head was shiny, maybe a solar panel that fueled his energy now that the sun had come up? He bent before the object and stuck that long stick leg under it and chased me from side to side. I managed to jump over the stick leg and found an opening away from where the giant and the two monsters were crouching.

I escaped and ran back to my camp, far from their sharp talons, metal claws and long stick legs. I’ll have to settle for eating a few more bugs for now, but I am safe. It will be a while before I venture out again.

~~~~~~~~

ONE OF THE MONSTERS

Dear Diary,

Yay, Mommy bought us a new toy and I found it first. My brother wanted to play with it but I ran all the way into my room with it.

Man, it moves so fast. I couldn’t even see where it got wound up. I couldn’t catch it and neither could my brother. It got stuck under the big chug-chug machine where Mommy throws dirty laundry and I guess the wind up ran out because we couldn’t get it out. Even Mommy tried.

Someone must have found a way to wind it up again. I dozed for just a few moments and it whizzed right past me. I ran after my new toy, and my brother and my Daddy came into the room from the other side. Dang it, the toy changed direction and went right under Daddy’s chair. We were trying to reach it when it whizzed out the other side and right into the kitchen.

Now it’s stuck behind that big thing in the kitchen where Mommy keeps the food. Maybe it will come out again.

~~~~~~~~

THE WOMAN GIANT

Mark, there’s a mouse in the house!

The Survivor

The Monsters

Nostalgia

Funny... the things that can trigger a memory.

I had a mouse in the house yesterday. It was a little field mouse. I think he might have come in through the garage, we see them outside all of the time.

He ran across the living room and then doubled back to sit in front of the TV set. Foolish little fellow considering that I have three cats in the house.

My cats did NOTHING – the three of them, they just watched! I really don't think that they know they are cats.

I went and got a big-mouthed glass and a hard piece of thin cardboard and caught the little critter. He was actually cute. Then I walked him outside and let him go near a storm drain where he could find shelter. I certainly hope he had a safe night.

When I came back into the house I suddenly thought about my childhood friend Donna. When we were kids in grade school our science teacher encouraged us to raise and observe pet mice as a science project. Donna, another mutual friend and I bought three white mice at a pet store. Donna’s mom was cool about it and let us keep the cage with our mice at their house. (The other two moms were not so thrilled about having mice in the house.)

The mice were fun to watch and play with and the three of us took serious notes on the behavior for class. They became more pets than just a school project. Several weeks into the project the mice got out of the cage (I think one of D’s brothers left the cage door open). We never saw the mice again… I hope they made a break for the outside and got away, we never could get a straight answer from the little brothers.

I thought of Donna, she died a few years ago in a car accident. I miss her. Funny that a little field mouse would make me think of her. I miss her, but I didn’t feel like crying. I thought of the fun times we had and I chuckled at some of the mischief we got into. This little mouse actually made me happy.

The unexpected trip down memory lane made me think of how I have used memory flashbacks in my writing.

I thought of Tom Hughes, the hero of Within the Law. Tom has many poignant moments when he remembers the past - like the time he found his cousin after she ran away from home, the last time he saw his high school sweetheart before she died, or his memories of a brief love affair with the woman who taught him to love again. What triggered his memories? How did those memories affect the man he had become?

I’ve used flashbacks in other stories too, such as with Samantha Chaunce in A Chaunce of Riches. She had memories of Ben, a man she thought she would never have to see again after she left him in his hour of need. Sam had tried to suppress those memories along with the love she still had for him. Seeing him again and hearing his voice haunted her with those agonizing memories and all that she had given up.

Many things can trigger a memory and our minds wander. Sometimes the nostalgia brings us laughter and sometimes it brings us tears. A favorite cooking aroma, a perfume, a photo, a song we once danced to - they all seem to have the power to reach back into our subconscience and bring the memory to the forefront.

But a mouse on my living room carpet, that’s a first.