I originally recorded this scene for one my closest friends who was asking for “real life” stories from the jungle, but I thought you might like to share her little glimpse. You’ve heard my first impressions of life in Waspam, you’ve heard about some of my budding relationships. And now for a bit of comic relief…
My turn for a funny story (all true): We have been having a little war in this house. Three against one; all of us against one little mouse. And, as of right now, the score stands Mouse 5, Us 0. Every night as we sleep he comes down and finds little things to nibble, so each morning we figure out something else that needs to be put away before bed. Not all of the cupboards close completely, so we have to put stools and stuff in front of them to keep the doors closed.
So two nights ago I’m in the shower, and I hear Nutie yell, “He’s in here!! He’s in here! The mouse! TOOOOMMM! He’s in here. Oh quick, we’ve got him.” (“Here” is the left set of cabinets above the sink, adjacent to a wall that reaches the roof). And then she starts getting into a frenzy (Reminding me of a mouse-moment at the very beginning of Bible school. Picture Kirsten with us in the pantry, only this time she doesn’t have to worry about waking anyone up). “We’ve got to come up with a plan. We need a plan. We need a plan. He’s gonna get away. What are we going to do!!!???”
By this time, I’m out of the shower, and trying my very best notto laugh at her. She is, after all, my hostess; it’s not very polite to laugh at the distress of the person who’s letting you sleep in her house. We formulate a plan and distribute our weapons: Tom has the broom (to sweep the mouse out of the cupboard, and, ideally, onto the floor), and I have a shoe. Nutie, visibly shaken at the thought of having to attack a mouse with anything, is hesitant at deciding her weapon of choice, and eventually takes her place standing on the counter….
We open the cupboard. There he is, just looking at us, the little devil! Tom tries to sweep him out, but he runs to the right, hiding behind the right cupboard door. After a few turns of running him from the right cupboard to the left cupboard and back, he decides to take matters into his own “hands”. A flying leap, and he’s on the counter (that thing jumped 4 feet). Nutie is freaking out, “There he is! There he is! GET HIM!!!!!”, which is easier said than done. You see, we took everything that was breakable out of the cupboards when we found him in there, and put them on the counter. So now he’s scurrying around all these bottles and such, let’s just say whacking him is a bit difficult.
But he’s running straight for me, so I raise my shoe arm and brace my mind for mouse-impact. I land what I think are a few good blows with the heel of my tennis shoe, but only catch the tip of his tail. And now he’s on the floor, running straight for my room. I get ahead of him, slam the door, my mind racing as to where to direct the little beast. He bolts for the bathroom, but instead chooses to hide in a little crevice under the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. And that ended the night’s battle. He won. I saw him surface one more time that night, just outside his little hiding place in the bookshelf, but my approach scared him back inside.
As of right now, he has the upper hand, but let me tell you,this mouse’s days are numbered!We’ve set countless traps. We’ve tried poison (which he has eaten, to no avail), and now we’re trying to figure out how to make some sort of glue. I think this quite the jungle adventure, and would find it completely hilarous if it didn’t cause Nutie so much frustration/anxiety or result in so much food wasted. Every morning we either have to cut some eaten bits out of a plantain or throw away limes/potatoes, etc…
I have a little list of things I pray for every day (people God has laid on my heart, people I love dearly, and such), and every morning when I pray for Nutie, I also pray for the visible death of this mouse. We want to KNOW he’s dead, and to be able to find him. The only thing worse than a mouse running around in the middle of the night is a dead mouse smelling the whole place up!! And the whole world will know when that glorious day of victory finally comes and we finally win this war. Victory is coming… I can almost taste it!
On This Journey with Him 