Again, this week has just flown by...leaving me with just a week and a half before I go(!!!) Before I begin to write about what that means.... I feel like I should start right where I left off from my last entry.
It's only fair, because I've been thinking how funny it is that I was so casual when mentioning the fact that there was a mouse in my closet. The night/morning after typing that very sentence was hysterically epic and by no means a causal affair. :) Even if I hadn't been already viewed as slightly(really) strange by my new friends on campus, then this scenerio certainly secured it.
I think a lot of you know my feelings on rodents, but if you don't, it's not that I just don't like them. I am very, very frightened of these little furry squirmy squishy creatures. Maybe it started when I was younger and we had gerbils who all either tried escaping their cages, got as far as out the top and then were eaten by our cat, or did escape and fell through a hole and landed on the basement floor(where I happened to have to walk to get my laundry). Alas, it never was pretty and those images have stayed quite fresh in my mind.
Which is why I didn't like seeing the mouse scurry into my closet here. I was unprotected. My sister and brother weren't here to commiserate with me. And my mom wasn't here to get the mouse out. I had to go it alone. So, here's what I did. I shut the closet/wardrobe door really hard and pretended it would just go away. The problem was that the door doesn't shut all the way, so I really had to ensure that even without that trusty clicking noise that typically signals a securely closed door, I would still be safe. I jammed the door closed as hard as I could. Then, I read for awhile and then turned out the light. "I can do this", I thought. All was quiet until I heard a scratching noise coming from inside the closet. It was pretty loud actually. I turned the light back on and adjusted the door to make sure that even with crazy hidden strength it wasn't going to escape and climb into my mosquito net with me. (I was already starting to create a scene in my head). All was quiet again. I started to fall asleep when it started scratching again. Really loudly. I saw the scarf hanging from the outside of my door actually being pulled in through the hole underneath the handle. Oh lordy. The mouse could escape through the hole! And it did have crazy hidden strength! I stuffed my scarf in, fully blocking his possible escape route. Heart pounding, I got back into bed. Until the scratching began again. This pattern kept repeating, and each time I heard the noise I imagined that the mouse was actually a giant rat- monster -rodent and would absolutely gnaw through my net. There was no way I could open the door.
Obviously, neither the mouse nor I got any sleep that night. My only solace was that Gilbert, the security guard and friend, would start work at 6am. All I had to do was make it through till 6 and I could ask him to get the mouse out. At 5:30 I decided I had to get up and get out. The sun hadn't quite risen yet, but I walked to the little shops down the street from my school registering the grey/pink of the sky and even in my sleep deprived state, enjoyed seeing the morning scene taking place. There was already a line at the water pump.....at least 20 small children waiting with their big yellow plastic water jugs. Some looked sleepy, some looked cheerful and they all waved at me as I walked by, getting used to seeing me now, which I liked. I turned into my favorite little store....it's just 2 shelves really, filled with Mountain Dew, long life milk and biscuits. Usually there are about 10-12 men crammed in the corner sipping sweet tea or syrupy hot chocolate(that's why this spot is so crowded...the woman who runs it is the only one around who makes hot chocolate. mmmm.) She also makes tasty mini-loaves of sweet bread, which I had to buy(actually I bought 2 because I had a sneaking suspicion I would need to pass them out as thank yous after the pending situation was dealt with).
Feeling better, I walked back to school as the sun started its slow rise up the sky. It was 6 on the nose when I got back. Luckily, Gilbert is prompt and he had just arrived. He seemed startled to see me, but of course he smiled in his amazingly unabashed way and shook my hand. Then, I had to get to business. "Umm, Gilbert.... There's a mouse in my room. I'm umm" shoot how can I say this..."I'm, umm, I'm scared of it."
"Sorry?" he said. I tried again. "Mouse?" I added a pantemime here, gesturing with what I thought was a mouse face.
"Hahahaha"
Dear diary, what to do next....I again tried gesturing with mouse ears, buck teeth. "Mouse? Mouse?" I kept saying, as if my faces and repetition would do the trick.
At this point, Everett the younger security guard had arrived on scene. He was watching me too, and suddenly when I said "Mouse" again, his eyes lit up! "Mouse!" he cried! The way he said it(Mow-oos) Gilbert caught on too. "OH, MOUSE!!" he yelled! "Yes! Yes! Lots of Mouse!"
Oh my.
"Yes! Mouse in my room! Can you get it out??" I asked giving a gesture for "shoo"( I really rely on miming...it comes easier than it should).
This time, it worked and they both nodded, Gilbert saying, "I get it out. No problem."
By the time we got to my room, my neighbor, Gabbo was up and wondered what everyone was doing, so he joined in.
With all three of them behind me I opened my door and pointed to the closet. "It's in there!" I basically shouted because I was getting nervous at the thought of the mouse running loose. What if they couldn't trap it? What if it died and no-one could find it and it would smell terrible like when our gerbil went missing and we tracked it down only because of the awful stench? These thoughts and more were circulating around my head as Gilbert opened the closet. I think I expected a giant rat to jump out and hiss at all of us. Instead....nothing happened.
They asked for a flashlight, and peered into the dark closet looking for evidence and still...nothing.
Gilbert looked at me and said, "Nothing! No mouse! Gone!"
"No", I said. "It couldn't have gone. There's no where for it to go!"
"Gone!" he said again, miming the gesture of fleeing, which I appreciated.
"No." I said again. "It's in there. Hiding."
Everett piped in...." In head!" Pointing to me.
"Yes!" In head!" said Gilbert, laughing.
I had to laugh too, because, yes, I seemed insane. I knew this. But, my longstanding fears and deep understanding that I would never be able to wear any clothes other than the ones I was wearing if we couldn't find the mouse, got the better of me and one more time I said, "No. It's there." I took the flashlight and peered into the closet, and at first saw nothing. But, then as I tilted the light up, there it was. It's little eyes peering at me from the top of my sweatshirt. "AHHH!!!! It's there!! There!!!" I screamed and ran out.
Gilbert and Everett stayed and directed the fleeing mouse out of my room, while Gabbo stood hunched over, hand against the wall, laughing so hard tears were running down his face."Oh Kathleen, I am going to miss you!" he cried. And then continued to shake with laughter.
Gilbert and Everett joined us outside, and managed to say,"Gone" before also catching on to the ridiculousness of the situation and laughing/shouting things like, "Mouse afraid! You lock it!"
"It so afraid!"
"So small!"
At this point I was laughing hard too, doing my miming of the mouse scratching trying to get out.
They found that hysterical too, and mimed back at me, miming me with a scared face... miming the mouse. Seriously.
Finally, we all stopped laughing and I thanked them over and over...Gilbert said. "No problem. No problem. We watch over you." I said that was very true. Then offered them the sweet bread, which they almost wouldn't accept, but finally after a lot of insisting, took one loaf and split it between them.
We all went to get ready for the day.... Me in fresh clothes, feeling indebted to my friends and slightly shaky from my 'visual contact' with the mouse. When I came back for lunch, Gabbo was there with a special gift...."Mouse cloths." He gestured towards the gaping space between the floor and my door. "No mouse." I put them to use, immediately, under his supervision. "Sleep tonight." he said with a nod. And that night I did sleep.
It has been a little over a week since the 'mouse incident' and every day that Gilbert or Everett or Gabbo walk by my house, see me, see the mouse cloths under the door... they can't help but chuckle.
But, they sure do have my back.
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| The hole on the left is sealed...The hole under my scarf is wide open. Leaving me vulnerable. |
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| My mouse cloth. Sigh. |
More to come this weekend!! I wanted to get this part out...this 'little nibble' ;) before adding all the other news...
