A Mouse in the House

Madeline left this note next to one of our failed traps. 

We've had a mouse in our house for the past eight months. I know. It's disturbing on many levels. For one thing, please don't tell me that there's no such thing as just having a single mouse. It's the first thing out of everyone's mouth, and possibly true, but it does nothing for my psyche.

We have been trying to catch this blasted mouse for a long time. (Eight months, in fact.) At first we were full of youthful optimism. The first night Dave set out the traps, we went downstairs to watch an episode of "The West Wing," fully expecting to catch a mouse by morning. Only a few minutes past the opening credits, we heard a thrilling ping! and rushed upstairs to find a sprung trap and what looked like a dead mouse several feet away, complete with spattered blood. So awful. (Forgive me for describing it.) But great at the same time. We were adults! Solving our mouse problem together!

Just as we were patting ourselves on the back, the mouse jumped up and ran behind our piano, cowering there and not willing to make a move in either direction. There was nothing else to be done besides set more traps and hope that either we would catch him again or he had sustained a lethal injury in the trap.

Months went by and no matter how many traps we set out or what kind of bait we used, we didn't catch the mouse again. I was trying really hard to pretend he was gone. And then a month ago, when I was quietly minding my own business in the living room, we came eyeball to eyeball. I screamed, he literally stopped in his tracks, I screamed again. It quickly became clear that I am a wimp when it comes to mice in my house. Outside, no problem. But not in my house.

Lots more traps later, an exterminator came. He has taken this mouse on as his personal challenge. He found absolutely no evidence of mice in the house when he looked all around, but he had us do a little cheerio test to see if our mouse is still around or if, you know, I'm crazy. We put three cheerios on the ground and sure enough, in the morning two of them were gone! Chilling and thrilling. This has happened several times, but no matter what we or the exterminator try, we can't catch the mouse.

Madeline recently decided on a new approach. She left this note next to one of the traps:

She doesn't want the mouse to think we are trying to outsmart him and thus suspect a trap, so she purposely spelled her name wrong. No luck so far, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this is what finally does the trick.