The House Mouse

There was once a mouse named Chipper. He lived in a house that was also close to the forest where he once lived. Chipper decided to move to the house about a year ago as he was cold and hungry, and decided that the house would be the best source of shelter and food for him. Chipper frequently went to the garbage cans and kitchen floor to find scraps of food and other materials that made his life a little easier. “Now this is the life,” thought Chipper, “I don’t have to worry about stuff like local hunters, which I frequently had to back when I lived in the forest.” Unfortunately for Chipper, life in the house wasn’t going to be as easy as he hoped it was going to be.

The house also had a human resident, who was not very fond of having a mouse live in his house. “That mouse has to go,” said Mark, the name of the human resident, “there has to be stuff in the store that would help finally get rid of that thing. It constantly chews through garbage bags, causing food to be spilled everywhere.” Mark drove to the store later that day and bought a box of mouse traps.

“This should be enough to finally rid my house of that thing,” said Mark as he put them all over his house, using fresh cheese as bait, “mice can’t resist fresh cheese.” Fortunately for Chipper, he had seen mousetraps before and knew of ways of grabbing the cheese without setting off the trap.

“Silly human,” thought Chipper, “I have seen many mousetraps back when I lived in the forest. Yours are actually low-quality ones, so grabbing the cheese and quickly leaving should be an easy task.” Chipper knew that pressing the part of the trap would cause the trap to activate, so instead he grabbed a stick to push the cheese off and then grabbing it after. “This cheese is very yummy. I would like to thank the human for giving me them as well as the traps. They were a fun distraction.”

Needless to say, Mark was less than happy to see that not only did none of the traps catch Chipper, but also that he managed to get away with the cheese, which Mark had to pay a lot of money for. “Hey Furball,” said Mark, “that cheese wasn’t cheap. I will find another way to catch you, and when I do, you are going to wish that it was one of the mousetraps that did it instead.”

Mark had heard that the store was also selling poison pills that could kill mice and other animals, and left for the store the next day. When he arrived back home, he had bought at least seven boxes of the material. “This is going to fun,” said Mark, “I am going to enjoy seeing that thing’s dead body on the floor.” Chipper heard what Mark was saying, and had never heard of the poison that he had just bought.

“This isn’t good,” thought Chipper, “I have never encountered the poison that he is talking about.” Chipper continued to think for about an hour about what to do next. “It is going to be risky when I leave to go find food, so I will only stay with food that I have eaten before to avoid eating anything that had been poisoned by the human.”

The following night, Chipper was hungry and was aware that if he encountered the poison, he wouldn’t be able to identify it by either sight or smell. “This is going to be tricky,” thought Chipper, “and I am going to be in serious trouble if I accidentally eat one of them.” Going as planned, Chipper avoided any food that he had never seen or smelled before, diving into garbage cans looking for cheese and bread. After about an hour of foraging, Chipper felt completely fine and went back to the hole where he was hiding in. “Well, I am still alive and full now. Looks like I can still survive in a harsh and treacherous land.”

Again, Mark was furious that his latest plan was unable to either kill or capture Chipper. “Fine,” said Mark, “I have had enough of having to deal with this furball. Not that I like pets, but I am going to the pet store to find a cat to deal with it now.” Chipper heard Mark clearly, and remembered that when he lived in the forest, he frequently had to avoid stary cats who were hoping to eat him for their next meal.

“Come on think,” thought Chipper, “how did I use to avoid cats back in the day.” Chipper then began to remember one time when he lived in the forest and needed to gather fruit to stay alive. “I remember. I rolled in a strange blue liquid to avoid cats.” Chipper had actually rolled in mouthwash, which he found in a nearby garbage can. He remembered that it had a strange smell, but it was enough to fool nearby cats into thinking that he wasn’t a mouse, allowing him to forage for food for hours.

“There is some of that stuff in a garbage can outside of the house,” thought Chipper, “I just need to keep rolling in that stuff, and then I will be able to evade the cat.” Mark brought his cat home a lot earlier than expected, saying that it was a cat trained to hunt mice. Mark smiled as he brought in the cat, saying that it was only a matter of time before Chipper was dead.

“I am going to enjoy this,” said Mark loudly, “when you are dead, I am going to celebrate.” Unfortunately for Mark, Chipper had already put his plan into motion. When night finally came, Chipper was already covered in mouthwash and left the hole to forage for food. After leaving his home, Chipper looked for the garbage bag and could also see a massive object on the kitchen floor that he had never seen before.

“Yep, that is the new housecat,” thought Chipper, “I am hoping that this works now.” As Chipper moved across the floor, he could see the housecat look at him, but because he had disguised his smell, the housecat couldn’t identify that there was a mouse in the kitchen. Fooled, the cat went back to sleeping and Chipper was able to forage for the rest of the night.

“Now this is the life,” thought Chipper, “a lot of food, and I don’t need to worry about the cat anymore.” Chipper ate every piece of bread and fruit that he could find, and when he was full, he went back to the hole. “Thank you for your hospitality human. Needless to say, Mark was furious that his plan didn’t work, and Chipper laughed the entire time. “I am going to enjoy living here now. Also human, it would help if you placed your garbage in an area that I can’t reach instead of constantly spending money on traps that I can avoid.”