The mouse that killed me

If I disappear from the online world, you'll know that the mouse did it.

While I don't think that I'm necessarily afraid of mice, they do freak me out. And make me scream uncontrollably. Even as I'm standing there, irritated with myself for screaming, I can't stop. And so I try to avoid mice, moles, and other small scurrying critters as much as possible. Sometimes, though, they come to get me.

Understand, please, that this has been a dreadful day from the start. If it's not the sour economic news on the radio as I'm swimming into consciousness, it's Rachel having a meltdown because she can't go to her enrichment classes because she didn't finish her other work. Both of which happened this morning. Abby also said something that aggravated me, at which time I sent a resignation of motherhood notice to my dear hubby at his office.

For some reason, David felt compelled to be extra clingy and whiny today and went ballistic whenever I was not in a room that he expected me to be in. Ballistic meaning a meltdown including screaming, crying, and wailing. And you mothers know how much we run around, trying to gather everything up in anticipation of getting out of the house at a specific time. So a lot of screaming was heard in my house this morning.

We also got some bad news at the enrichment classes, which bummed me out and immediately thereafter I had to drive to the workplace of Friend Husband to get a flu shot. And I parked, unpacked twins, and repacked twins twice because I parked on the wrong side of campus.

Ok, get to the mouse. I'll stop with all the other whining.

We got home from the enrichment classes. I was dog-tired, as were the children. Rachel called on the cell and was trying to get me to understand something while I was carting Lucy the Wonder Dog's food bag (stored in the garage) over to her bowl to give her some food. Lucy was jumping on my back and generally being Lucy while I poured a little more food into her bag. And in with the food plopped a plump gray mouse. It sat there, looking around at us (cheeky thing!) and I commenced to screaming. I also dropped the cell phone in the food dish, right next to the mouse, which didn't even flinch.

As I kept screaming, the mouse finally decided to get out of the food dish and huddle up to the garage foundation. I was exhorting Lucy to kill the thing but Lucy was much more excited about the idea that I was out there and could pet her. By this time, Sarah and the twins were running around, trying to figure out why I was screaming. The mouse finally decided to make a run for it, running within a hair of Sarah's shoe, while I was screaming and gesturing incoherently about the mouse.

After the mouse ran away, I picked up the phone and told Rachel what had happened. I then proceeded to the van, to unload it and carry our belongings into the house. It was then that the incomprehensible happened. It came back. The idiotic mouse ran back toward us, right next to Keziah and Sarah, and under the van. I, of course, began my screaming and incomprehensible gesturing again, Sarah jumped back, and the twins started crying. In the phone, I could hear the huge guffaws of my second daughter and my husband. I gathered everyone up and went into the house, where I lay down on my bed until Friend Husband walked in a little while later, still laughing. With my hand laying protectively over my eyes, I said, "You are a very bad man," which got him started with hearty laughter again.

I eventually settled down, but the damage was done. My blood pressure must have been sky-high because I just felt sick. I wondered how old you had to be to have a heart attack because my chest hurt so badly (didn't occur to me it could have been muscle strain from screaming so much). A good time was not had by all, although I will say that Rachel and Friend Husband seemed pretty amused by the whole thing.

It took hours before I finally got reasonably calm and didn't feel so sick. Stupid mouse. Oh, and the rest of the dog food? In the freezer.