When you look at a picture, do you only see what is right in front of your eyes? Or do you see more? Maybe you can see romance. Or maybe you are someone who reads fantasy, mystery, intrigue, or even horror into everything you see.
Mice roaming through a house or apartment is a pretty common thing. You don’t always see them because they’re great at hiding. They will typically enter your home between October and February, searching for food, water, and shelter from the cold. But it is close to the end of May now. The temperatures are nice and warm even though it has been raining.
I have nine cats. Six of them are always inside, two go in and out, and one lives outside all the time. I figured the mice who had escaped my home—if there are any—would put some kind of a warning sign up for other mice that came this way, but no. Apparently there is no such warning sign as I found out this morning.
Some mornings, I find nice little surprises waiting on me when I get up. One morning, I walked into my kitchen, poured myself a cup of coffee, and walked across the room to lean up against my dishwasher before I took my first luscious drink. I took the anticipated sip of my coffee and looked up at my stove as I did. A baby bird, sitting on top of my Cream of Wheat tin on the back of the stove, stared back at me. I had to be imagining things. Why would a baby bird be in my kitchen? How could it have made it on the back of the stove with all my cats wandering around? I squeezed my eyes shut and reopened them. The bird was still there. I did the only thing I could think to do: I said good morning to it.
There wasn’t a baby bird waiting on me this morning, but a mouse that appeared to be tucked in for a long winter’s nap. Doesn’t he look so cozy with the lower half of his body tucked beneath the rug? That was my first thought when I saw him there this morning. Actually, at first I thought one of my dogs’ cow hooves had somehow been pushed beneath the rug and was sticking out. I hadn’t had any coffee yet and had forgotten to put on my glasses, so I obviously wasn’t seeing things clearly. Besides, I don’t expect to see a mouse first thing in the morning, especially one that looks as if it is sleeping beneath my dining room rug.
I didn’t run screaming from the dining room. I took a picture. Who would believe me otherwise? Several of my cats were wandering around in the same room the mouse was in. I guess that they are so well fed, they had no interest in eating it. I wondered, what was this mouse doing when attacked by one or more of my cats? Only seven of them were roaming through this part of the house last night.
Mice carry disease, and my cats earn their keep by not letting any mouse that enters my house escape. I normally find only what is left of the mouse. Finding one that looks as if he is resting comfortably under the cover of a rug is highly unusual.
Writing Prompts:
Could this mouse have been lost and entered my house be mistake? Were there warning signs along the way that he ignored?
Was this mouse chasing after a mate?
Was he searching for food for his family?
Was this mouse a detective following a clue that would solve the crime he was investigating? Was he searching for one of my cats that had been accused of killing other mice? If so, how did he plan on apprehending the cat?
What did he think when he entered my house and saw seven pairs of eyes—I like to think their eyes were glowing—staring at him? A mouse can squeeze through a tiny hole. Could he not find a way of escape? Or did one or more of the cats pounce on him without him even realizing the house he had entered was full of cats?
Was this mouse good at making deals? Did he perhaps try to bargain with my cats to let him escape? Did he promise to never enter this house again?
I think this is probably the most important question: how did the mouse end up halfway beneath the rug? If you look closely at the picture, you’ll also notice that he fit perfectly inside one of the rectangles on the floor.
You could also write a story about the baby bird that was on the back of my stove. How did he get in the house? Even more miraculous, how did this bird manage to fly around to get to the Cream of Wheat canister on the back of my stove without being spotted by any feline eyes? I would like to say that even if one or more of my cats spotted him on the back of the stove he would have been safe. But I’m smart enough to realize that if the bird had been spotted, my cats wouldn’t have cared how many things they knocked over or broke to get to it.
Finding a sleeping mouse or a baby bird in my house is preferable to what one homeowner in Florida found in their kitchen one morning. Write a story pretending that you find an alligator in your kitchen one morning. What happens? How did it get in your kitchen?
https://katu.com/news/videos/11-foot-alligator-removed-from-florida-kitchen
Have you ever found any strange animals in your house when you get up in the morning?
Recommended Articles:
