tuesday night ended with me catching a mouse in a clear glass and keeping it overnight in my room so that SNL could sleep feeling somewhat safe. it began with magoo chasing a mouse into the living room and under the sofa. for some reason i assumed it was a toy and just went about typing away and surfing the net.
sw comes in and asks what magoo is so interested in under the couch. i said i guessed a toy mouse she batted under there. sw reminds me that magoo doesnt like toy mice. yes, thats right. huh. "it must be a real mouse." sw peeks under the couch and screems while jumping up and running out of the room.
the next half hour consisted of SW and LE freaking out and assisting me in catching the mouse. um, magoo kind of helped on occassion, when she wasn't distracted by her own reflection. i did my best to follow the little critter as it disappeared and reappeared under various pieces of furniture, and finally caught it in the corner using only a glass and an emory board.
as i sat in a chair with my cup'o mouse, magoo continued to hunt for her new companion. was it under the couch again? in the corner? in the foyer? no magoo, its in my hand.
SNL and i chatted for another half hour or so while watching magoo search relentlessly; giggling and sarcastically asking magoo questions like "hey magoo, you caught that mouse yet?" magoo just ignored us, looking in the corner and under the chair while i casually held my cup'o mouse.
eventually SNL said they wanted to go to bed. i said goodnight and they stayed. after a few more minutes SW said "we need to know where you are keeping the mouse tonight." i look at each of them. they weren't kidding. "alby, i need to know that im not going to wake up with a mouse in the bed."
er... um... huh? what kind of person did they think i was??? i assured SNL that i would keep the mouse in the glass and in my room. to help comfort them i even closed my door.
of course, the door closing prompted SW to think i was letting the little mouse run willy nilly around my room all night, or cuddling up with it. alas, it stayed in the glass all night long. poor thing.
after peering under the glass a few times, i decided the baby mouse was likely a girl. i used to have pet rats in college and knew how easy it was to tell if you had a male on your hands.
she was dark grey, fluffy like a baby duckling, with the cutest little peach ears. i felt so awful for her. it was plain bad luck to be wandering about the house with good ol' magoo on the prowl. and worse luck that the humans were around to see and catch her. she was so scared that when you put your face close to look at her cuteness, she froze up and closed her little black eyes.
what the hell would we do with her? we couldnt just let her go inside. if we let her go in the yard she'd just get back in the house. if we took her to the vet she'd probably be euthenized or would become a lab rat. she was too cute for death. i decided her best chance of survival was to take her to the pond in the morning and hope she'd meet some nice pond mice who would take her in. worst case scenario she'd become a bird's lunch. my thinking was that if she did become lunch, at least she wouldnt just die. she'd at least have served some higher purpose - as a meal for another creature.
i went to sleep worried about how she'd do overnight in the glass. would she be alright? was she missing her parents and siblings? did she know her fate?
previously:
weather or not - 2006-03-07
My Flight - 2006-03-02
poetree in motion - 2006-02-28
ultimate personality test - 2006-02-25
limerick e-trip - 2006-02-22