Mouse Rescue

In a farmhouse near the edge of a forest dwelt a woman named Kim. She lived a quiet life of painting, writing and going for long walks to enjoy the woods and all the animals that lived there.

Kim shared her life with two big, fat, lazy cats named Damienne and Pugsleigh. For the most part Dami and Pugs (as she called them) spent their days curled up on Kim's bed, their heads resting on her pillow as they napped.

However, once fall came around and the leaves began to change colors, Damienne and Pugsleigh's lives got a lot more exciting. For, once the days started getting shorter and colder, the house started getting lots and lots of new residents. Mice!

For the most part Dami and Pugs weren't very good at catching mice. Being far too lazy and well fed, they lacked the sharp hunting instinct needed. However, once in a while a mouse came along who was careless enough to be caught.

"What are you doing?" Kim asked when Dami jumped up on the bed and started racing around. She laughed and watched him for a moment, amused by his playful antics. Dami possessed a large collection of small stuffed toys that he often brought up onto the bed to play with.

When Kim saw what he was playing with she gasped, startled. "It's a mouse!"

Dami let the mouse go and it jumped up, trying to run away. Kim made a grab for it, but Dami got there first and picked the mouse back up in his mouth.

"Let go of him Dami," she said, taking the cat gently by his scruff. He refused, holding the frightened little creature tight.

"Look at him, he's just a baby." Kim gave the cat a little shake. "Put him down, Dami. I'll take him out to the forest and let him go."

Damienne dropped the mouse, and Kim held him back as she tried to to grab the scurrying little fellow by the tail. The mouse turned and ran straight towards her as fast as he could go. Kim let out a little cry and jumped as the mouse ran up her side. She scrambled to catch it but it leapt down, ran across the end of the bed, down onto the floor and disappeared.

Laughing, but still gasping in shock at being run over by a mouse, Kim searched, but couldn't find any trace of the little fellow. Pugs and Dami joined the search, but they found no trace of the baby mouse.

"Well, I guess he got away," she sighed, a little uneasy about the thought of a mouse hiding somewhere around her bed. For the rest of the day she rattled everything before she picked it up, and even checked inside her shoes before putting them on, but no mouse.

Later that evening, as she was working, Damienne jumped up on the bed, carrying something in his mouth again. This time she grabbed him right away. When he turned the mouse loose, Kim closed her hand around it gently. She hoped to hold it long enough to get it outside, but her grip was too loose and the mouse ran out of her hand, across the bed and was gone. Again!

"Rats!" she grumbled. When she looked at Dami, she could have sworn he scowled at her. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't just let you torture the poor thing." She sighed. "Well, I didn't think you'd catch him again after last time, and you did, so I guess I had better get ready just in case you catch him again."

Kim went out to the kitchen and took a small plastic container out of a cupboard and brought it back.

"Now if you catch him, into the container he goes and then outside!" She set the container on her desk and went back to work.

That night Kim painted and talked to her friends on the computer. She had just said goodnight to her friend Mark and turned off her computer when Damienne started running around on the bed again.

Kim grabbed the container and turned to find the mouse, but it wasn't there. All she could see was Pugsleigh lying on the bed next to her and Dami staring at Pugs.

"Hmmm," she said and shrugged. "False alarm I guess." Then she saw a small flash of movement at Pugsleigh's tail. She laughed when she saw the tiny mouse backside and tail sticking out from under Pugs's tail. It was hiding from Dami under the backside of another cat.

"Poor little guy is scared stupid." She carefully used the container to push Pugsleigh's tail aside and capture the little mouse. Sliding the lid underneath, careful of his little paws, she sealed him inside.

"There!" Now I can take you for a little walk and turn you loose." When she held up the container to look at him, she could see that he was hurt and unable to use one of his back legs.

She let out a sad sigh. "Oh dear. I can't let you go like that, can I? You wouldn't last the night." She studied him for a moment. "Well, I don't know if you're too badly hurt to make it, but I'll do my best to make you comfortable."

Kim went back to the kitchen and found a much larger container. She punched the lid full of holes, then searched the cupboards to find something to work as a water dish. Finally, she found a little shot glass.

"That'll do nicely."

She ripped up lots of Kleenex, making a nice soft bed, and then put in the water and a few pieces of cat food for him to eat.

She opened the lid to the small container and turned the baby mouse loose into his new home. He ran underneath the Kleenex and sat very still, afraid that Kim would hurt him. She just smiled and closed the lid on the container.

"Don't worry little guy, no one will hurt you. You just rest and get better. When you're strong again, I'll turn you free in the forest."

She set the container at the back of a shelf where it was dark and quiet.

The next morning, as soon as Kim woke up, she checked on the mouse and was delighted to find him alive and running around, still on three legs, but running.

"Good morning little mouse," she said, and frowned when she looked closer at his house. He'd pulled some of the Kleenex into the water, soaking his whole bed.

"Well, we can't have that," she sighed. "Your leg might get infected." So, she took out all the wet bedding and replaced it with clean, then refilled his water.

Throughout the day, she checked on him, and each time he looked a little brighter and a little friskier. By the time she was ready for bed, he looked so much better that she decided to give him a name.

"What should I call you?" she asked, smiling as she looked into his bright, beautiful eyes. "You sure are cute."

She thought for a few minutes, trying out different names. Then she remembered a boy whom she had been hearing about for so long that she felt as though they were already friends, even though they had only spoken for the first time the night before.

Kim smiled at the mouse. "What do you think of Max, my little friend?" She nodded. "It suits, I think. Yep, that's your name, Maxwell Mouse. Welcome to the family, Max. Tomorrow we'll get you a Habitrail."