A Separate View

Little Animals

Feb 3 Prompt: "Little Animals" Feb. 3 Prompt: “Little Animals”

Right now, I have no pets. My precious dog of eleven years, Willow, died in 2007, and I can’t seem to keep a fish alive to save my life.

But, I live in a country setting, so I do deal with animals- big and little. Traveling down my road, there’s always a wild animal crossing or an exotic-looking bird diving in front of the car. My sister-in-law/best friend says she thinks Snow White lives on my road! We have white tail deer and wild turkey that frequent our backyard; there’s fox, coyote, raccoons, porcupines, chipmunks, and skunks just to name a few. There’s even a cute hedgehog who made a home under my porch. He scurries around a tree in the front yard, looking for food, then scoots back under the porch again. My kids love to watch him. But they all stay outside my house. On occasion, there are little animals who get too cold outside and venture in to find food, warmth, and to creep me out! Yes, little, cute, filthy field mice like my house.

About a month ago, it warmed up, the snow melted, and then it got cold and snowed again. That was when he came in- he was a bold little animal.

Usually, I know when I have “intruders” because they leave tiny clues that they’ve been here. But, I rarely see one until … well, until I win the game of ‘catch the mouse’. Yeah, not on that particular day.

I came home from the gym and caught him in the act. He was tearing up my kitchen, hanging out uder the oven, then scurring faster than the speed of sound to the pantry and like lightning, bolted across the floor, under the sink, up onto the bar counter, and then was airborne, like a freakin’ bird, back onto the floor. He didn’t care one iota that I was there - that little animal had no fear of me. I, on the other hand, was terrified! But, it only lasted a moment because I realized this little animal wasn’t going to hurt me, he was just hanging out doing his own thing … in my house. Of course, I didn’t have any traps and I don’t drive, so I had to hang out with Mr. Bold until my husband got home from work. I warned my 3 year old, “Guess what, Honey? We have a little mouse in our house! You’ll probably see him, but don’t be scared … just leave your boots on.” She, of course, was thrilled; it was like having a new pet. She asked if we could name it. I raised a brow and like a good mother said, “Sure sweetheart, what do you want to call him?” In her long drawn out 3-year-old little girl voice answered, “Ar-i-el.” (She’s a huge Little Mermaid fan ) I had a hard time thinking of Mr. Bold as “Ariel” but that became his name until the next morning when, sadly, Ariel Mouse ... eh … went ‘home’ … under the sea… He got home the same way Nemo did!