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freedom
June 2009 
Mousey gets freedom
Posted on Aug 15th, 2008
by 
J~E~S~S
J~E~S~S
A small brown mouse came out from the crack between the wall and the floor. I heard it rustling. I finally saw it walking. It didn't seem scared at first. It casually walked along the wall.
I informed my husband we had a mouse and we should caulk up the hole. He asked, "Do you have caulk?" "No, I don't have caulk!" "Then we can't caulk the hole." "Some other day, then."
I went back to my computer. The mouse came back and showed itself to me. I grabbed a kitchen timer that would act as a cup, a receptacle for it.
I played "cat and mouse" with the mouse for five minutes.
My two year old hollered with enthusiasm. It was great fun.
I caught the mouse with the little kitchen timer and slid him onto a piece of paper. I heard him scratching at the paper.
"Go tell daddy" I told my small son.
"Okay." he ran upstairs and told him in mixed English and Spanish, "Mouse! Vente! Vente! Mouse!" (vente=come here) While pulling on his hand.
When he came downstairs, I asked, "What should we do with it?" "Take it outside, I guess" he answered, as he tried to take the package from me.
As he tried to gingerly get both the paper and the timer, his grasp was not tight enough. I realized this, and said, "He'll get out that way," as the mouse squeezed out between his fingers and jumped to the floor. He ran with great purpose to his hiding spot and we never saw him again.
Mousey gets freedom.
I really do believe our purpose gets greater, feels stronger, when we suffer adversity first. Else, how can we appreciate it?
I informed my husband we had a mouse and we should caulk up the hole. He asked, "Do you have caulk?" "No, I don't have caulk!" "Then we can't caulk the hole." "Some other day, then."
I went back to my computer. The mouse came back and showed itself to me. I grabbed a kitchen timer that would act as a cup, a receptacle for it.
I played "cat and mouse" with the mouse for five minutes.
My two year old hollered with enthusiasm. It was great fun.
I caught the mouse with the little kitchen timer and slid him onto a piece of paper. I heard him scratching at the paper.
"Go tell daddy" I told my small son.
"Okay." he ran upstairs and told him in mixed English and Spanish, "Mouse! Vente! Vente! Mouse!" (vente=come here) While pulling on his hand.
When he came downstairs, I asked, "What should we do with it?" "Take it outside, I guess" he answered, as he tried to take the package from me.
As he tried to gingerly get both the paper and the timer, his grasp was not tight enough. I realized this, and said, "He'll get out that way," as the mouse squeezed out between his fingers and jumped to the floor. He ran with great purpose to his hiding spot and we never saw him again.
Mousey gets freedom.
I really do believe our purpose gets greater, feels stronger, when we suffer adversity first. Else, how can we appreciate it?
Access: Public
Jessica, you are a great writer! I was on the edge of my chair wondering what would happen to the mouse. Can't believe you caught him! And now he's free…. And what shall happen next? :)
run free, mouse! yay… free as all mice should be :)
Nicole! What have you SAID? Free the Mice? What about…..when your house gets overrun by the little meece and they're running all over and taking over and creating scurvy and destruction and little turds? What if you have guests sleeping on the floor and mice run across their sleeping bags? (a true story, mind you!) What about Pa Ingalls in the Little House on the Prairie books who had his beard chewed off by mice? What about? :)
Thanks for the compliment, Centria! This was only a first draft, pounded out quickly before I went to bed.
I don't think my elementary-school reading of the Little House books made any impression, as I don't remember that part. His beard really gets chewed off? But truly, I've heard reports of people who clean out abandoned sheds and then fall very ill because they were breathing in the mouse urine, or came into contact with it.
Nicole, thanks for stopping by!
I like to free the mice, because I don't like to kill them. But they'll be back! Unfortunately , for the health of the family, I'll have to set traps.
I really couldn't believe I caught it either! It scurried along the wall and I just trapped it. You know those old fashioned kitchen timers with the bell in the back and the dial on the front? This one doesn't really keep time, so at least I found a use for it!
When Nicole and I were talking on the phone last night, we actually talked about the little mice here on your blog. In fact, it was your blog which inspired me to call Nicole….which inspired….. funny how life moves.
You know, I think I remember Pa Ingall's beard getting chewed off. But is that really a dream or did it actually happen in the book? Good question. and, yes, I hate to kill the little meece, but, like you, traps seem to be necessary to avoid all the other stuff. thank for Jessica for all of this! You rock!
yes, Kathy and I talked about the free association that were going on in my mind, having nothing to do with the necessities of making sure your home is clean and disease-free for your family (important) and everything to do with a friend I have here on Gaia whose icon is a Mouse, who is hoping soon to be free to leave an oppressive regime for life in the West.
We all inhabit our own little worlds! All the best to you in your world, may you find a way to remain mouse-free :)
There was a children's book in the 1970s called “A mouse to be free.” I think I still have it somewhere, and I loved that book. A mouse with dreams of freedom falls into a matchbook and gets swept into the sewer system, surviving many adversities before he gets his freedom.
Sounds like a parallel between your friend with the mouse icon, Nicole, and the storyline of leaving the oppressive regime.
it does! thanks so much. children's books are the best. i used to get so choked up at times reading them aloud when my children were little, some of them are so mythic…
by the way, I love your nickname, ThePixellator… thanks for your patience with my comments here! hugs
This may be off the discussion of the mouseys, but what does ThePixellator mean, Ms. Jessica?
I named myself ThePixellator in 2000 when I was on the graphic design team at a web development firm. We were having fooseball tournaments to keep up the morale of the staff and we all needed middle names for our fancy announcer. I became Jessica ThePixellator Alvarez, (said in the boxing announcer guy's voice) and I liked it, so I started using it as a username everywhere I went. Back then I was pushing pixels across the screen all day anyway.
coolness! thanks for satisfying our curiosity :)
Yes, ma'am, muchas gracias! Our curiousities are temporarily sated…..