when a mouse eats a cookie

last night i was up in matt's room when i heard chris yelling at my cat to come downstairs. apparently she had "dropped it at the top of the stairs." i opened the door to see what "it" was, but before i could get there, a small mouse darted in through the crack in the door and scurried into the closet. the closet FILLED with stuff. the closet that acts as a depository when we try to clean the room in a hurry. awesome.

chris came bounding up the stairs with a flashlight, and we found the little critter under the shoe rack.



after setting eyes on this tiny creature shivering in fear, i decided i must have it as a pet. i quickly snapped back into it and realized that could not happen. i then tried my hand at capturing the little fellow, but as you can see,



he was so intent on NOT being caught, that my efforts proved fruitless [i have never seen a mouse hide like this].

so instead, i spent the next hour creating a trap for this tiny mouse so that he could not go far, and so that matt could help me when he got home. i spent until 2am creating barriers and traps made of towels, sheets, trader joes bags, magic hat boxes, and priority mail flat rate boxes. after an hour, i was sweating and about to fall asleep. i did not want the mouse leaving the closet, though, so i propped myself up on some sleeping bags and sheets [that i had cleared out of said closet] and kept watch. i felt like a prison guard. except not.

i tried real hard, but matt walked in the door sometime after 2 to find me sprawled out on the floor, flashlight still on, eyes closed. lucky for me, my immaculate barricade had worked, and mr. mouse had not gone far. matt and i spent a bit more time chasing him back and forth behind various pieces of furniture, until the mouse made a dash for it. he leaped over my fortress and started to run around the closet. i took this opportunity to run out myself and slam the door behind me, leaving matt, his snowboarding glove, and the mouse to fight it out.

i heard some rustling, some laughter, some "he's in my wallet!" and before i knew it, matt emerged, victorious, the tiny rodent quivering in the towel he was holding. we brought him on down the road and let him go under a street light, where he scurried away, hopefully safe and sound, to his little mouse family.