Of Mice and Men

I remember liking the book of Mice and Men. Although I did not fully understand Lenny's love of the mice, I respected his decision to care for them and felt his loss when he accidentally killed them. It is clear to me that I have changed since having read that book.

Two days ago we discovered a mouse living in our house. I felt no love or respect for it, and in no way wanted anyone to try and protect it. And I can say with no remorse, I felt no sense of loss at the idea of it's vacating the premises.

After Laura discovered the mouse hiding between the shelf and the wall, I took refuge upstairs in the living room and she went for a run. Upon returning we decided that it was not financially prudent to live in a hotel and eat every meal out in order to avoid having to go near the kitchen where the mouse has taken up residence. This left us with two options. First, to move. Simply forfeit the house to the mouse and admit defeat. Second, go next door and see if our neighbors could kill it for us.

I gave my best motivational speech. Think Braveheart status here. "Laura! We can do this! Let's just go downstairs and take care of this! Come on! We are adults!"

Evidently I fell short of Mel Gibson's performance because I was met with "Really Brittnay? Are we really adults?" It was a good question and it needed to be asked. Evidently the answer is no because neither of us wanted to deal with finding a new house so we literally ran down the stairs and away from the kitchen as fast as we could headed for the neighbors.

Expecting to find three grown men next door who could come over and rescue us from the perilous mouse situation, we instead found three tiny Khmer women and three little girls. We explained the situation (or rather Laura did because let's be honest, I don't speak enough Khmer to explain the urgency we felt) and being the wonderful and generous women that they are, they offered to come and help us.

Armed with a single broom,  our fearless neighbor Chanom headed over with a woman in her early 50s, a nineteen year old, a nine year old, a seven year old and a three year old. Laura and I took position in the rear. After telling them where the mouse was, Laura and I graciously made room for them in the kitchen by excusing ourselves into the other room.

Chanom 4'9'' weighing in at 100lbs in one corner and the two inch mouse weighing in at 2lbs in the the other. The bell dinged and they were off. Chanom swatted at the shelf knocking the mouse loose on its hold in the shelf. The mouse took evasive measures and darted across the kitchen sending the woman in her 50s onto the counter, the 19 year old onto the table, the 7 year old on a chair, the 3 and 9 year old into the other room with me and Laura outside into the street. Chanom ran around the kitchen swing the broom until the mouse hid under the refrigerator. Chanom swatted at it with such gusto it had no choice but to climb up into the cooling mechanism of the fridge. Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like the first round went to the mouse. At the start of the second round, Chanom came back to the fridge, armed with bug spray. She sprayed into the cooling mechanism. This intrigued all the bystanders causing everyone to inch closer to the action. The women climbed off our kitchen surfaces, Laura came back in the house and we walked near the kitchen entrance.

Seeing it had drawn us all out of hiding, the mouse took off headed right toward me. Laura, the three girls, the nineteen year old and I all headed for the stairs. It changed course and instead of leaving the kitchen it lapped it. When it came back round a second time we all jumped up higher on the stairs. Screams permeated the air as the sound of running and slamming the broom coming from the kitchen echoed through the house. The atmosphere was tense. Against my better judgment, I stepped off the stairs to get a better look. Chanom was swinging the broom as the mouse ran in circles and then almost as if sensing a change in the audience, it ran out of the kitchen and straight toward me. All the girls ran higher up onto the stairs, Laura was safe on the second floor, but I was exposed. I did the only thing I could do and jumped up on the outside of the banister. Screams filled the air as I clung to the banister hovering a mere one and half feet above the danger. Chanom-the champion that she is- went full speed in pursuit. Knees bent, broom over her head, Chanom did a waddle run while yelling a fierce battle cry and swing the broom. The mouse, seeing it had been bested ran out the door and down the street. We cheered and hugged Chanom, thanking her for her bravery. She had truly saved us, else we would have had to move.

After everyone had gone home, while we were cleaning up after the epic battle of the mouse, I had a revelation. In Tom and Jerry,when Tom is chasing Jerry, you feel for the poor little mouse. It's a lie. It's Tom who's the victim. I'm sure of it.