It's the matter of disassociation that I am incapable of achieving when it comes to these tiny creatures. I see that little mouse running thoughout the house, and before I know it, I have introduced myself. After a couple of meetings, I find out that the mouse has a name and a story. And after a week, he has become a household guest. I think the proper term is anthropomorphism, and I am "Queen Anthropomorphodite"!
Of course, the general consensus of most of the sane members of my family is that the best mouse is a dead mouse. So, I try to find the most humane euthanazia possible for the tiny mammals. I refuse to use glue pads. The idea of catching a mouse on one of those sticky pads and the tiny animal struggling for it's (literal) life to get free gives me the creeps. If you don't agree with me, that's fine. I just have a problem with starvation, suffocation, dehydration, torture and slow death! I also can't stand the bait that causes the mouse to search for water, which activates the poison and explodes in their stomach. Something seems terribly sinister about that whole concept. And the worst form of eradication for me - MOUSETRAPS!
Humans are absolutely obsessed with mousetraps! There's the spring-loaded bar mousetrap, the mouth mousetrap, the electric mousetrap, and believe it or not, the inert gas mousetrap that notifies the user by email so the trap can be emptied!Just recently my mom told me about a humane way to eradicate mice. It's a anticoagulant bait they eat that supposedly kills them humanely and painlessly. After they have ingested the poison, it also embombs the mice so they don't have an offensive odor when they die. So, I tried it. The next morning, I opened my bedroom door, and a baby mouse was dead in the hall. He had one little drop of blood on his mouth, and I know he sacrificed his life to send me a message! Leave us alone!
Years ago, I received The Mouse Trap Story via email. I knew that the mouse tale had to be part of the Tomorrow Trunk, but I wanted to write an adaptation in picture book format. I also wanted my version to rhyme. I entitled my adaptation Trouble For Us All. I searched to find a name to credit the original story, but all I could find was Anonymous. Maybe it should have been credited to Anonymouse!
TROUBLE FOR US ALL
Mouse looked through a crack in the wall,
and that’s what started trouble for us all!
Farmer had a sack tucked behind his back.
He bent way down to Mouse’s hidden crack…
“I’m going to catch you, sneaky little mouse.
Starting today, there’s a trap in the house.”
Farmer held out his hand and the flat wooden trap
with a tiny gold hinge and a GREAT BIG SNAP!
Mouse ran outside! He squealed and he squalled!
“A trap in the house means TROUBLE FOR US ALL!”
Chicken, quite nobly, raised her proud head.
“Dear Little Mouse,” she clucked, “I heard what you said.
But truly this means no trouble for me.
Don’t ruffle my feathers! Please let me be!”
Well, Pig was a-wallowing like all pigs do.
“Mouse, I know the trap means trouble for you;
but the sun is shining, and I need a nap.
Come join me in the mud and forget about the trap.”
Now Cow was so big, and mouse was so small,
that Cow barely heard Mouse shrieking at all.
She made fun of Mouse, "MOO-OOOH! We all need to hide!
Let’s dig a deep hole and get way down inside!
Now, MOOO-VE!" Cow bellowed, and Mouse ran away.
“I’ll dig a deep hole,” said Mouse, “and that’s where I’ll stay!”
That very night trouble started with a SNAP!
Wife woke up and ran to check the trap!
But it wasn’t Mouse in the trap (like she thought),
instead the tail of a sneaky snake was caught!
Snake was scared, and he wanted to be free;
so when Wife bent down, he bit her on the knee!
Farmer called the doctor, and the doctor said,
“Your wife will be fine, if she just stays in bed.
If she runs a fever, here’s what to do –
make her a pot of hot chicken stew.”
So Farmer grabbed his hatchet, and he went outside.
Chicken saw trouble coming, and she ran away to hide.
She spied Mouse’s deep hole, and with a little peck,
tapped on the door to save her pretty neck.
Wife got better without chicken stew,
so Farmer decided to have a big barbecue.
“Let’s thank our neighbors, our family and our friends.”
So he grabbed his hatchet, and he headed to the pen.
Pig saw trouble coming, and he slid behind a log.
Farmer couldn’t find hide nor hair of that hog!
Pig is down in the hole with Chicken and Mouse,
and it’s all because there’s a trap in the house.
Finally, Wife was well, and Farmer couldn’t wait
to invite the whole town to come and celebrate!
How would he feed them all? He knew how!
He grabbed his hatchet, and he headed for the cow.
Cow saw trouble coming, and she jumped over the gate!
She knew she had to hide or else seal her fate!
So, deep, deep down in Mouse’s hole she went,
and that is where her next two weeks were spent.
When the farm was safe, they all came out.
Each one of them had a tale to talk about…
It really doesn’t matter if you’re big or you’re small –
trouble for one means TROUBLE FOR US ALL!
Adaptation, 2005. Dianne B. McLaurin.
During the past few years, we have learned many lessons about the importance of personal and global responsibility, and how they are so interconnected. We are all first-hand witnesses of the "ripple effect" within our ecosystems and our economy. We have learned that even when there is a teeny, tiny trap in our big global house, the end result might be trouble for us all. Maybe that's why there is only room for mouse stories in the Tomorrow Trunk, and never mousetraps!
Dianne ; )
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