Souris

n. – mouse
Sourire
n. or v. – smile
Sauter
v. – jump

The word for mouse and smile sound very similar although one rarely has anything to do with the other. I have been smiling a lot lately because I’m so much happier in our new apartment. That was until I found the mouse.

After returning ahead of my husband from running errands, I walked into the bedroom and opened the window. As I turned around, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye that didn’t quite fit – on my bed. And there it was, a little grey mouse, just sitting there quietly. It seemed unfazed by my presence. I, on the other hand, launched into full panic mode. I thought quickly as it started to move toward the pillows and grabbed an empty cup to trap it under. It worked and there I stood waiting patiently for my husband to come back and dispose of it.

He took an unusually long time and as I stood there, another mouse appeared from the living room. It started to come toward me, probably trying to rescue its friend. I screamed because that’s very helpful in these circumstances and kicked out my feet as if to say “don’t you come in here, too!” And it didn’t, but I was forced to watch it wander around the living room helpless to do anything about it. Finally I put a book on top of the cup to hold mouse #1 in place while I went out to investigate if I could trap mouse #2. The second was much faster and kept disappearing behind furniture and moving boxes.

Mercifully, my husband came home and was able to secure it with the same cup method. He then humanely took it downstairs and released it on the street. Unfortunately, the system failed with mouse #1 and after successfully guarding it for 20 minutes, when he attempted to remove it from the bed, it escaped!

Mice have a way of disappearing into thin air and I was convinced it was still hiding somewhere under the bed waiting to attack me later in my sleep. But then I saw it in the kitchen. Once again, we lay in wait trying to secure a trap for it, but once again, it escaped.

We went out to dinner with friends and regaled them with our mouse stories. Then we returned. My husband went to bed before me and as I was standing in the kitchen cleaning glasses, I saw the mouse scurry out of the bedroom and disappear into the bathroom. Defeated, I went to bed myself, exhausted enough to fall asleep without fear of the mouse running across my forehead.

At 3:30 in the morning, the light sprung on and my husband was sitting up in the bed, cup in hand. The mouse was on the floor jumping in an attempt to get into a plant we have in the corner – who knew they could jump! Apparently, it was so distracted by its goal that it didn’t notice my husband sweeping down on it from above. Finally secured, it was also taken downstairs and released to the street below.

I’m somewhat relieved and trying to convince myself that it was in fact mouse #1 and not mouse #3. Time will tell, but for the moment, the sun is out and the apartment still makes me smile.