Emily, Brave Catcher of Mice

Ok, mouse, singular. So a few weeks ago I found mouse poop in one of my kitchen drawers. I wasn't happy but I cleaned the whole thing out with disinfectant, could find no mouse so assumed it went away.

Last week or so Mandrew (male roommate actually named Andrew but is called Mandrew or Mandy for short because he's the only man in our house a la Jack Tripper) found a hole in the bottom of the trash can liner that had clearly been made by a mouse. So, said mouse has been on our radar.

So tonight, I'm sitting here alone, watching Once which so far is REALLY good. However, I start hearing this soft rustling. I pause the film and slowly follow the noise into the kitchen. I'm hovering in front of the cabinet under the kitchen sink and it stops, probably because the ninja mouse can sense my presence. I think that maybe he's run off so I turn into the restroom, since I'm already taking a break from the movie.

I come back out of the restroom and hear the rustling again. At this point I know I'm going to need moral support. First I call Mandrew because he's a member of my household that I know is awake because he's down at some club in Denver. Mandy doesn’t answer so I call my boyfriend. Of course my boyfriend’s answer is to kill it.

Well I'm going to admit here, if you hadn't already guessed, that I'm kind of a wimp. So killing it was out of the question. "Can't I just catch it in some Tupperware and release it into the wild?" I ask. So now I have a plan. I get an appropriate sized Tupperware bowl and hang up the phone.

I whip open the cabinet door thinking that maybe I'll surprise the mouse. I don't know why. In any case, I see no mouse but hear the rustling. I pull the garbage can out from under the sink and peer further and still see no mouse. I look down into the trashcan and there are two beady black eyes shining back at me. Now in one hand I have the defensive Tupperware and in the other, the enemy! I think, “Ok, how am I going to do this?Do I reach down with the bowl and try to trap it? Do I tip it into the bowl?”

Then it dawns on me that this is a best case scenario. I take the whole trash can out to the yard, I lay it down on one side, run back into the house and slam the door. Then I peer through the window and wait for the mouse to run out! I'm obviously a genius in the vain of MacGuyver. I call my boyfriend to impress him with my amazing skills. The mouse then runs out of the trash can, across the walk and back toward the house.

CRAP! I hope it doesn't have a secret tunnel back into the kitchen.