Wanted Dead Or Alive: Mr Mouse

Mr Mouse was a small little brown mouse, with soft fur, nimble feet and a pink nose, he lived in the shadow of a big house. He had been living outside this house for as long as he remembered, when he first lived there, getting food was a lot of hard work, but now the area was bountiful. People had moved into the house and they built rectangles full of straw (aka gardens) which made a beautiful bed. Just outside the big house there was now a smaller metal house which had some pretty feathered creatures that loved mice and used to drop seed on the ground, and so Mr Mouse now had a steady supply of food so he never went hungry.

Now as time went on Mr Mouse became lazy, he didn't want to go the extra metre back from the metal house to the rectangles full of straw. The other mice tried to explain to him it was better to keep out of sight and out of mind, but he thought he'd be safe and he wouldn't have to run as far. So he found a little plastic box with plastic bags full of funny stones and powder (Gardening things) and he ate through all the little bags to make a nice little nest of shredded plastic. He loved to watch the funny powders run from the bag after he chewed through them. Here he lived a happy cosy life.

One day he was fast asleep, when he felt the box begin to lurch around. He wondered what was going on, but he stayed really still. Unbeknownst to Mr Mouse, the people in the house were cleaning up the garage and had decided to put all the gardening things away. So they got a wheelbarrow and carried it to the garage. Mr Mouse suddenly felt the lurching stop and his box floated in the air and was put on the ground with a thud, but he stayed very quiet. Suddenly he heard voices and saw hands over head. The voices were saying "Matt look for some reason every bag in this box has holes in it". Mr Mouse thought "that's it I'm done for, they know I'm here". So he leapt out of the box in one giant leap, the people leapt back, one in surprise, one in fright. Mr Mouse dashed for the nearest cover and hid under a set of shelves.

Thus ensued a comedy skit, Mr Mouse being like a conductor and the two people responding to every movement he made. The two people stuffed newspapers under the door from the garage to the house. Mr Mouse laughed. One of them chased him with a big furry stick (broom) whilst one of them just meandered about with some kind of upside down bucket. Mr Mouse was pretty confident they meant him harm. They all danced around each other, running from one end to the other, when Mr Mouse realised he needed to get to the other side of this big room that the people had called the garage, because there was far more cover. He dashed across as the people slowly and clumsily moved after him, he had the advantage of surprise. They started banging on the shelves on that side of the garage, Mr Mouse looked at the newspaper and the door, and sneakily slipped away. He scurried about inside, unharried, as the people continued to search for him in the garage. He giggled, he was safe.

Mr Mouse explored the house, mostly under the cover of darkness, it didn't quite have the flurry of seeds the outside had had, but he had no way of getting back there now. He found a soft box and hid under it's skirt (cardboard box covered in a blanket and used as a stand for the birds playgym), he chewed up a little bit of the skirt and made a soft little place to sleep. He was content and safe again. He had been there just under one week when whilst he slept during the day, suddenly his box and skirt was lifted from him, he dashed amongst a flurry of swearing from the people, into the nearest room - which was a beautiful soft carpeted place (our bedroom) and hid behind a piece of furniture with draws.

He listened as the people chatted and stayed hidden. Suddenly he was blinded there was this terrible bright light directed right at him. He stanced up on his legs and stayed as still as possible, but knowing his pink soft nose was going to be easily visible he was scared. For a moment he had hope as he heard one of the people say "It's like a new pet, but sort of wild", his hopes were dash when a deeper voice thundered "He has to die". He quaked at that voice. He watched as these not very bright people put some black things at the end of the furniture (traps that are designed to sit adjacent to walls and the mouse is supposed to just run through it and get done). Then suddenly a big stick came down the back and started hurrying him towards that awful black thing. He ran towards it full pelt, and at the last moment he leapt over those obviously dangerous things and scooted under the bed. He felt safe here, and he quickly climbed out of sight. Even when the scary people pulled the bed down, taking the mattress of it and tipping it against a wall and opened a door to outside hoping he'd dash out, he just stayed put in his secret hiding place. He heard them scurrying around the room for 30 minutes. That night, he just stayed where he was, he heard the people saying that they thought he must have gone outside because they couldn't find him.

The next night he was hungry, he came out from his hiding place, it was his time of night - midnight. He climbed up onto the bed to see what he could find, he'd never understood them, but thought they must be something like tables. He sniffed at something, it smelt like warm meat, Mr Mouse took a big bite. The warm meat came to life, oh crap, it was a person!! Now he understood what the bed was for, it was their nest! The person turned on his light and looked at, woops it turns out - his thumb. Mr Mouse sat at the end of the bed watching curiously. Suddenly he saw it dawn on the person who may have been responsible for his sudden pain and the red dots on his thumb, the person swung his light out - directly at Mr Mouse. Mr Mouse leapt of the bed, and ran behind the piece of furniture. He heard the person wake the other person up.

They got up and turned on the lights, and opened the door to the outside again - it was obvious they just wanted him to go away, but he was terrified now. They got the bright light and shone it on him again. They put the black things at either end, out came the stick, they had a bucket to try and catch him too. He ran and ran, pushed the trap out of the way, thank goodness it didn't go off! He ran straight to the bed where he'd been so safe. He heard them swearing again and knew he was safe and sound. After a short time he heard them taking their bedding and they seemed to move somewhere else in the house.

Mr Mouse had never had so many adventures in his life, and somehow he knew it wasn't over yet. He started to write them down, so if something happened, someone might know his story. Mr Mouse was a smart mouse, with soft brown fur, nimble feet and a twitching pink nose.

**Stay tuned for Mr Mouse's next adventure, death is around the corner at every turn, as he sleeps somewhere in our bed, and we sleep in the guest room. Today there will be a lot of money spent on every kind of trap, and tonight when he awakes, no creature will be able to make a move in that room without winding up dead or trapped. Will Mr Mouse outsmart us yet again? Who knows!**