The Great Field Mouse Escapade

Yet one more story from the Dutch bungalow chronicles.

We knew we were in trouble the day we found a hole in our cloth shopping bag. It was an incredibly neat and tidy round hole, so it was doubtful that a knife had done the damage. Then we found the droppings on the floor in the living room. Yep, we had a mouse.

After further investigation, we discovered that the interloper had taken up residence behind our portable closet in our bedroom. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of a mouse, my image is more of a rat-sized creature with big, ugly teeth, so I was prepared for war. Unfortunately, neither Herman nor I resemble Winston Churchill when it comes to strategy. I forget what we planned on using to demolish the enemy, but with implement in hand, we decided to move the closet and take quick action.

As we moved the closet, a small creature flew out like a shot and I got my first brief glimpse. It was a field mouse with huge eyes and a tail twice as long as its body. I turned pleading eyes on Herman and declared, “I can’t kill THAT!”

Okay, new strategy. Herman grabbed a broom, and I found an old shoe box with a lid. After closing the bedroom door to prevent escape, Herman proceeded to “encourage” the mouse toward the closed door where I stood ready with the shoe box. The poor thing was so terrified (as were we) that she sprang across the room, jumping from curtains to bed to floor with Herman in tow and me shouting battle plans. Finally, Ms. Mouse ran toward my shoe box and I readied the trap…except she squeezed under the slit under the door and disappeared into the living room. Great!

It was now at least 12:30 a.m. (oh, I forgot to mention that we figured out the mouse was in our bedroom as we were going to bed), so our patience was wearing thin (never mind the mouse’s terror level). We finally managed to locate our prey near the door to the outside, which seemed like a perfect solution, as this was a mouse meant for the outdoors.

We positioned ourselves on either end of that wall where the door was located, brooms in hand. Our thought was that we would be able to sweep the mouse out the door, but she was having none of it. For the next hour, we swished her back and forth like a ping pong ball until finally, miraculously, she disappeared into the night. Exhausted, we flopped onto the couch. Nature 1, Humans 1. It was a tie at best.