I Bagged a Trophy

Want to hear another Julia vacation story?

So we've stayed in several hotels over the last week. Most of them were excellent. Actually, all of them worked out just fine, with the exception of a two night stay in a hotel a few days ago.

It's a really sweet little mom-and-pop type hotel, and we've stayed there before. It has a gorgeous view and the rooms are very comfortable.

But.

On our first night of a two night stay, I awoke at about four AM when I heard a strange little scritch scritch sound over my head. I groggily rolled over and looked up directly into the teensy black eyes of a little mouse, who was perched on top of our bed's headboard.

The mouse and I both jumped in fright. The mouse disappeared in a flash, and I bolted out of bed. I whomped John with a pillow.

Mflsglefuf....What?

John! There's a mouse in our room!

Snorglefaurguff.....That's nice, dear...

Whap!

Jul. I'm sure he's long gone. We'll talk to the hotel people about it in the morning....zzzzzz......

I tentatively got back into bed after turning on every light in the room. I couldn't see where that little guy had disappeared, so I lay back down and pulled the sheets up under my chin.

Don't worry, babe. I'll protect you from that big bad mouse...zzzzzzz....

How reassuring. The thing is, I'm not really afraid of mice. I just don't want to sleep in the same room with them.

So the next day, Terese and I walked over to the office to report the mouse sighting. The two people at the front desk looked meaningfully at each other. As if they had heard this before. "Don't worry, ma'am. We'll get our exterminator over here. Again."

Again??

"Oh, and we'll cut your room charge in half."

Whoop-de-do.

So the next evening, as we were getting ready for bed, John and I made jokes about another mouse visit that night. Terese and Greg were perfecting their mouse squeeks to taunt me over our adjoining balconies. Har har har.

We hopped into bed expecting a good night's sleep. And we did. Until....four AM. Scritch scritch scritch....

Yikes. Mr. mouse was nowhere to be seen, but I definitely could hear him rustling around somewhere. I crept quietly toward the sound, which was coming from the bathroom. Actually, the bathroom garbage can. I had tossed a candy bar wrapper into the garbage, and it seemed Mr. Mousie was intrigued. I watched him nibbling the paper wrapper for a few seconds, wondering what the heck I should do, then carefully lifted the corners of the plastic bag lining the can and twisted the top of the bag shut.

I lifted the wiggling bag containing a little mouse running laps inside it. The plastic was clear, so I could see him frantically jumping around. Poor little guy.

I walked over to John, who was still snoring away, and rattled the bag in his face.

Guess what's in here?

What the heck?

It's the mouse! I caught him! What should I do with him?

Jul. Just put him outside. ZZZzzzzzzz

Ah. Good idea. I opened the door to our room and placed the bag down on the deck, then waited to see what Mr. Mousie would do. It didn't take long before he pushed his way out of the open bag and was gone like a shot.

Towards Greg and Terese's room. Who had half of a rhubarb/strawberry pie in their room.

Bwahahahaha.

Just call me the fearless mousie hunter.