Something in the water

It was a Saturday morning, like most Saturday mornings. I don’t recall the exact time I woke up, but that’s not important. At some point after waking up, and watching TV for a while, I got up to go to the bathroom. As I approached the toilet it looked as if something was in the water. It’s an odd thing when something is in a toilet. You just want to get rid of it, but a part of you is a little curious. Instead of stepping closer, I did the neck stretch. I assume this is a defensive maneuver in case whatever is in there decides to attack. As I got a better view I realized what I had first seen was a tail and that tail was connected to a mouse. Yes, a mouse. I don’t recall my exact reaction. I don’t do well with rodents. I ran downstairs, I knew my mom was in the basement. I asked her if she knew about the mouse in the toilet. My assumption was that it was put in the toilet. Remember, this is a time of great confusion. I didn’t think a mouse would crawl into a toilet, it just doesn’t seem like something that would happen. The tub, sure, but not a toilet. Plus, it’s the upstairs toilet, that just seems too crazy. Someone must have found this mouse and thought the toilet was a good place to toss it. That doesn’t make much sense, but as I said, this was a time of great confusion.

Mom was in disbelief when I told her about the mouse. She went to take a look, as if this was something I made up. She called my stepdad to get a recommendation of what should be done about the situation. Both the mouse in the toilet and the fact that there was a mouse in the house to begin with. We’ve had mice in the attic but none actually inside the living space, at least that I know of. My stepdad’s theory was that it ate the poison in the attic and then somehow made it into the house and then tried to find water. It then climbed into the toilet, apparently mice are familiar with bathroom and toilets and thus was able to find its way. This is the same theory I’ve heard when we find mice in the pool, although to me that seems different all together. As for the current situation he told mom to just flush the toilet. I didn’t hear him, I just saw mom reaching for the handle. If you are familiar with my high-pitched, fast talking, voice of concern; that’s what came out. I needed to say, ‘What are you doing? Don’t flush it, it will get stuck and then we’ll have a backed up toilet with mouse guts all over.’ Only I needed to express all that in .7 seconds. Mom determined it was still the thing to do, unless I was going to fish it out. It went down without a problem.

Somehow my sister didn’t find the noise in the hallway alarming enough to get out of bed. Later in the morning mom noticed she was in the bathroom. She knocked on the door and asked her if anything bit her butt. Not the sort of thing you can process when you are just waking up. She was very upset about the mouse in the house situation. She decided she doesn’t want to clean up her room now because she is worried she’ll find a mouse. So far there has not been another mouse sighting.