Templeton

            So, remember how, around last Christmas, I told you about Squeakers the black ops mouse? Well, a little over a week ago, Colleen and I noticed some rodent activity in the kitchen. Naturally, we set out traps, but they were unsuccessful. One was set off the first night they were out, but didn’t catch anything.

            This was when we started to notice how clever this particular rodent was. For starters, it avoided going after the same source of food twice. It avoided the traps. It removed the steel wool we used to plug its entrance, so we had to hot-glue it in to keep it in place. At which point in time it found a new way in. Rather than gnawing through the plastic wrap covering a dish, it lifted up the edge. I was actually tempted to write a note to our uninvited guest to see if it could read.

            Then, on Thursday night, I heard a gnawing from downstairs. Colleen and I went to investigate. That’s when we caught sight of him – not a mouse, as we assumed, but a rat (almost as big as a squirrel)! He skittered across the counter (from where it’d been eating an onion) and down behind the stove.

            Colleen headed over to her parents’ half of the house to see what could be done about this new plot twist, while I stayed to watch over the kitchen. After a while, I heard a skittering behind the stove. Sure enough the rat, henceforth known as Templeton, was coming back. He hauled himself up onto the back of the stove, looked up, saw me, and almost did a back flip in his hurry to scurry off.

            Well, we got a live trap set up. The next day I was sent out to get a trap that’ll electrocute Templeton if he can be lured in. However, we’ve had no luck so far. We still notice occasional signs that Templeton is still around, though he doesn’t seem to have been eating anything. I suspect he’s lying low, aware that we’re trying to get rid of him.

            While I can’t stand having such a pest living in the house, I wish we didn’t have to try to kill him off (I can’t even bring myself to kill bugs). I mean, if we could establish communication with him, I wouldn’t mind cohabitating – as long as he’s willing to wash his paws. Alas, the language barrier is fairly large and we must tolerate Templeton terrorising us until he is caught.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.