NIGHT WITH THE MOUSE
Ipsita Choudhury
Last night was an adventure; a fight of wills, a show of ingenuity. Protagonists? I and a Mouse. Not a meager weakling thing but a big brown-black healthy mouse with a long tail, its plump body shining and sharp teeth glistening through the dark. Clicking off the lights, I suddenly realized that I was looking at two shining eyes peering out into the dark at me. I hate rats,mice and all such. First reaction fear followed by disgust.
I knew I had to do something, so reluctantly at first but with determination I at last zoomed on my weapon of choice; a long handled broom. The dance to death started around 3pm and continued a good two hours till dawn. Faced with a challenge to evict the rodent, I resorted to all the agility and cleverness at my disposal. In fact, I surprised myself with the jumps and climbs I carried out on the furniture- bed to table, table to almirah, almirah to bed and so on. The mouse was resilient, leading me on to a merry dance around the room clearly outfoxing me with its small size and ability to wriggle into corners, nooks and crannies.
Varieties of evil thoughts ran in my brain, should I bring a pot of boiling water and pour it on the fellow or will hot oil do the trick? Wish I had a machete, or a sharp blunt long handled blade. I could spear the damn bastard and then show it as a prize. Or better still cut it into pieces and say RIP. A clever movie I had seen had this blessing R.I.P; Rest in Pieces. Well, all my blood thirsty genes handed down by my forefathers had woken up, edging me on in a fight to the finish.Was there even an iota of remorse or regret for such evil thoughts? No, not at all. In fact, I reveled on it.
So, the question to be answered now, who won? Well we compromised; the Mouse and I. I opened the windows and it climbed out. I could not do the dastardly act finally, not because I developed conscience but because I was not swift enough. Age and swiftness was on his side and he escaped. God Bless him
