Post-Schna-ulations

An American Tail

This is a true account of the events of the evening of Thursday, June 17th. While at times when telling stories, we are all prone to exaggeration, I promise that I will do no such thing here. This story is rated P-13 for violence and adult language.

For the past several months, the presence of mice in our apartment has been known to us. We are on the third floor of a house that is over 100 years old. Mice come as no surprise. So, they have been contained to one cabinet and one drawer, which we no longer use (for obvious reasons) and occasionally will come up under the stove. I had not seen any, but they leave their little dropping everywhere. They seem to go after Pancho's food (Pancho's my dog, for those who may not know).
So, being the kind-to-animals kind of girl that I am, I bought a couple of no-kill traps and put them out. The one under the mouse-infested cabinet ended up being covered in flour, as the mice got into the flour in that cabinet. After well over a month, I figured we weren't catching any in those traps, but I was hoping that meant they just didn't spend most of their time in our part of the house.
Yesterday, while my super, wonderful (after last night, I can't say enough good things about her) friend Michelle was over in the evening, we noticed a stench in the kitchen. Thinking it was the garbage disposal, I poured some baking soda down it and we were off. Michelle proceeded to leave and I went to make dinner. While going into the adjacent-to-mouse-infested-cabinet cabinet, I noticed the stench was strong. Glancing over, something moved in the trap. AH!!! right by my face (the memories still make me shudder). So I try to peer through the flour to get a better look, and I see one tiny little mouse moving around, and one tiny little mouse who doesn't look so good (and smells even worse).
So I run into the other room and call Michelle, who turns around and drives back. We proceed (by we, I mean Michelle) to put the trap in a cardboard box to drive it a couple of miles away to a park, where we plan to set the mouse free (the live one). Michelle confirms that the other one didn't survive the no-kill trap mechanism (something about a squished face, but this creeped us both out, and we tried not to think about it too much). We pull over on the edge of a park by a sidewalk. Running along the sidewalk is a three foot ledge and then a grassy hill (for those who know the area, this is right across from Phipp's Conservatory).
SO, we (and again by we I mean Michelle) set the trap on the ledge and open the top. Get out little mouse...run free. It can't get out. So, while I stand about 6 feet away, Michelle tips the trap up on end for the loan survivor to escape. We wait a few seconds, expecting it to crawl out, all cute and happy that we have spared its little life. It doesn't crawl out. It jumps. About six inches off the ground. SPROING! THEN, on reaching the edge of the ledge with its first bounce, it proceeds to LEAP again AT MICHELLE! She yips and runs, I run, we get in the car, we drive away, the trap (with not so alive mouse #2 still in it) still sitting on the ledge, the devil mouse running around somewhere...*shudder*. On the drive back to my place, we're all willies and nonsense. Wonderful, wonderful Michelle. It wasn't even her apartment, her trap, or her devil mouse.
As a good reporter of this story, I have obtained a direct quote from my fellow participant:

"I STILL have the willies. I don't care what anybody says, mice
are NOT supposed to jump like that! It must have been some fucked up frog/mouse hybrid that secretly escaped from some mad scientist's lab. BARF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Michelle C.

As these were baby mice, I can only conclude that
said mad scientist's lab must exist somewhere in the walls of the house in which I live.

*sigh* It saddens me that I cannot begin to express just how freaky and amusing this situation really was. But, if anyone in the area wishes to experience it firsthand, I will call you the next time we get mice in the (second) trap, as I'm sure Michelle will never again face the springy little demons of Beacon St.

posted by Schna @ 10:43 AM