Just a wee bit freaked now...

The night before my visit trip to see Kevin, I was sitting at the computer (as usual) and I heard my cat thumping around on the floor. Now, that might not seem unusual to most people, but my cat is lazy...

I look over my shoulder to the right and didn't see anything unusual so I went back to what I was doing. Then. I heard her do it again so I turned around and, as I did, I heard several soft squeaks. Uh-oh. There it was...a baby mouse. Now, I am not a squealing-run-around-jump-on-the-furniture type. I felt sorry for it. Kitty was tormenting it and I was about to make it my mission in life to save it. In the meantime, I didn't want to let Roni or Katie know that there was a mouse in the house because they are the squealing-run-around-jump-on-the-furniture types. So. Thankfully, Roni was in the tub and Katie was in her room. I got up and batted the ever-full-of-energy-now cat away from the mouse. She kept stalking while I kept trying to shoo her away. The little mouse didn't know what the hell to do. It finally made its way under the treadmill and stayed there while Kitty crouched and stared. I went back to the computer until Kitty got bored and left the scene. When she left, I went and looked under the treadmill...I can only imagine this poor mouse's perspective. I moved the treadmill because I have to catch this mouse because my mother's coming in the morning to baby dog-kid-house sit while Roni and I go to see Kevin. When I moved it, he made a run for it and I did this runningandslideacrosstheflooronmyknees move like a crazed disco dancer. I got my hands around it while Kitty ran to see my treasure. That's when Katie came down the steps. Damn.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothin'"

"No, really, what are you doing"

"Nothin', now shut UP!" (I did NOT want Roni to hear this).

"I don't want to know."

"You're right. Now, get the frig upstairs" Aaaaand, the mouse got away. Sigh.

Back to the computer I go. Roni's out of the tub and I'm praying the little guy goes off into the sunset wherever it is where mice go. Find a crevice for Cripe's sake.

But no.

About an hour later, Roni's at the computer and I'm standing in the doorway talking to her about the trip. Out of the corner of my eye I see Kitty in her commando/stealth position. Roni is oblivious. I spot the mouse. The dumb fuck was sitting in the middle of the floor again right behind Roni's chair. I dove for him and caught him on my first try. Mostly I think he gave just himself up. I bolted to the back door and, I don't know what I was thinking, but I threw him out the door. Dumb ass. He landed on his side. Hard. I watched as he got up and kinda limped a few steps and then fell over. Then again. And again. I was consumed with guilt. Did I save him only to kill him? I walked back through the house, head hanging but trying to act like nothing happened, when Roni said, "What did you just throw outside?"

"Nothin'" (I'm so damn clever)

"Tam, seriously, what was it?"

"OK, it was a little baby mouse that I was trying to save from Kitty."

"Awwww."

Wow....you could've knocked me over with a feather. I mean, where was the screeching-jump-on-the-couch-and-call-the-damn-exterminator reaction I expected?! So. I ran outside and picked the poor little guy up and showed him to her. She was all, "we have to save him and it's cold outside...he'll die" The problem was we leave the country tomorrow! I cannot leave the mouse with nowhere to keep him in the house while we're gone. His eyes were bulging out of his head...I think he was in shock and I really expected that he'd die. We decided on a shoebox for the night with a blankie towel and see what's what in the morning.

The next morning I opened the shoebox and his eyes were normal mouse eyes and he was acting like, well, a mouse. We saved him! OK...it was after I almost killed him, but still.

The reason I'm getting a little freaked...as the title suggests...is that I caught another yesterday afternoon-sans the drama. A smaller one even. I took him outside. That's not what the problem is...there was a 3rd that my border collie-turned-wolf caught last night. Even smaller. This started the song "Ben" in my head that I haven't been able to shake, and visions of the movie Willard. Are you old enough to know what I'm talking about? 1971 movie, but it was remade in 2003....this is the song (originally sung by Michael Jackson)...http://www.willardmovie.com/winmedia_ben_300.html and this is a the vision in my head:

I was in a quandary because I simply cannot kill an animal knowingly. No poison where they get eaten up from the inside out. No trap that snaps their neck. Today we bought some "ultrasonic pest control" devices. I hope they work....