Tom the mouse
When we moved into a country cottage last August, one of the first things we did was to set up a few mouse traps. Reclaiming the abandoned house from the wild was a success. After only a few days we caught several mice of different sizes. The job was done and the house was ours, or so we thought.
It was much later that we noticed a sole survivor. Afraid of baby mice popping up all over the place, we reset the traps and were sure we would get that one fast. But that last mouse was different. Several times we heard the familiar clack when the mouse trap goes off. But there was no mouse caught in it. Once we even heard a clack followed by a few squeaks, but once again there was no mouse in the trap.
Winter came and we spent most of the day in the kitchen. That’s where we have the wood stove which made it the warmest room in the house. After dark the mouse would come out and run around in the kitchen. He was so bold and came very close. However, he was always cautious and hurried for cover at the slightest sound.
That was a smart mouse! No matter where I put the traps or what bait I used, that little rascal stayed clear of it. He would investigate the smell of a new bait, but always walk around or jump over the trap, never touching it and never trying to take the bait. And he looked so adorable and cute! So we named him Tom. Since no baby mice had appeared in several months, we were sure he was a boy.
Besides the occasional noise at night, we did not really have any food eaten by Tom. By late winter the cheap mouse traps were dirty. The wire had become rusty and they didn’t even work anymore. So we just threw them away and accepted Tom as our run-around-freely pet mouse.
Spring came and it was time to clean out the pantry. We never had much food stored in there. But after cleaning it out I stocked it up with supplies. This would save me a trip or two to town. And I do like to stock up on food, or anything else.
A few days later my son noticed several boxes of cookies, chocolates, dates and raisins chewed open, sampled, and spread across the shelf. That was our snack stash! And on top of that, literally, there was mouse poop all over the place. We never had much of that before either. Tom had definitely gone too far!
So we moved the opened packages into the fridge and bought new mouse traps. We had to make an extra trip to town to get new mouse traps. So much for stocking up to save a trip. Sorry, but Tom has to go! Two traps are set and ready to go. This time we’ll get you, Tom.
… to be continued …
Photo credit: photo by me, Daniel
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