Squeakers the Black-Ops Mouse

            You may remember that some time ago, I told you about how spider assassins want me dead. Well, it seems they’ve upped their game. They hired Squeakers, the black-ops mouse.

            It all started at 5:00 am last Wednesday. I awoke to this scrabbling-scratching sound. Never one to jump to conclusions, I waited and listened carefully. The sound came again. It sounded exactly like the sound they use for unseen rodents in movies. The third time I heard the sound, I was convinced and I woke my wife to inform her we had something skittering around our bedroom.

            We turned on the light to search, but couldn’t find the intruder. We did, however, find confirmation that there was, indeed, a mouse in our bedroom. Squeakers had left a calling card in the middle of my bedside table, not a foot and a half from where my sleeping head had been a moment before.

            That was when I realized that Squeakers was no ordinary mouse. No. The sounds that came in the middle of the night, in our bedroom where we feel safe enough to sleep. The dropping, placed so perfectly to assure us that those sounds were real, not a figment of imagination or the result of branches brushing the house on a windy night. These were deliberate actions, intended to instil terror. Clearly, Squeakers had to be a black-ops mouse, skilled in the use of asymmetric warfare.

            Since the spider assassins have unsuccessfully sought my death for years, it was easy to guess that they were the ones who sent Squeakers. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep the rest of the night. Squeakers was an expert. Every time I came close to drifting off to sleep, there came a sound of one sort or another. Colleen somehow managed to sleep through it – but then, she can sleep through anything, whereas I’ve been woken up by someone silently looking into my bedroom before.

            Well, the next night was a little worse. My mother-in-law (living in the other half of the house) told us she had mousetraps, but with it being so close to Christmas she hadn’t gotten around to setting it up. The sounds were less frequent this time, but I was too tense to get any sleep until the sky started to brighten with the coming of morning. Even with then, I doubt I got even two hours of fitful sleep.

            That day, the trap was set. It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, every creature was stirring, including the mouse. From downstairs, I heard the mouse scurrying in the ceiling well before going to bed. Yet, when I did go to bed, I was so tired from the previous two nights (and secure in the knowledge that the only food available for the black-ops mouse was bait), I dropped right off to sleep. Until...

            SnapThump! A sound woke me up at 4:00am. The trap, perhaps? Indeed, when we shone a light down the hole in the floor (it was extremely obvious how the mouse was entering our room), it was clear that the trap had been set off. It didn’t look like Squeakers was in it, though. It seemed like the cunning black-ops mouse had gotten away.

            I managed a fitful half-sleep the rest of the night. In the morning, I declared that in spite of getting such poor sleep for the past three nights, I was sort of glad Squeakers had survived – and received a Christmas dinner, to boot. Of course, later, when the trap was actually checked, there was Squeakers – a mouse small enough to be missed.

            It’s nice to be able to sleep soundly through the night again, but I can’t help feeling sorry for Squeakers. We suspect that this talented black-ops mouse was quite young, separated from his/her family when they were chased out during recent renovations. Lost, alone and unable to find food, Squeakers wandered through the foreign upstairs of the house, seeking the means to survive. There, Squeakers fell under the influence of the spider assassins who, ultimately, led him/her to his/her demise.

            Here’s to you, Squeakers! The most talented black-ops mouse that ever there was. You may no longer be with us, but your memory shall live on – thanks to the internet.

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

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.

What is it all for?

            With all these terror attacks this past week, it got me to thinking – what is actually the benefit of such attacks? Who stands to gain? What is the point of it all?

            In terror attacks, almost nothing can be achieved. Are you trying to prove a point? Okay, you got the attention of the world, but you don’t seem to have anything to say. If you did, we’re not exactly receptive after so many people have died. Are you trying to kill people who don’t believe the same as you? Hardly. In a world of billions, won’t make a difference to your war.

            The truth is, there are only two ways to benefit from a terror attack. The first (which is not the case with these attacks) is by being a government – if the people are afraid enough, they will object less to the government taking more power to protect them, or of giving up civil liberties. This is also an extremely stupid thing for a government to do because eventually it will be uncovered.

            The second is a manipulative mind-game with the world. By creating fear of a specific religion or culture, people are convinced to exclude, hate, oppress, and even attack people of that religion or culture. This reason is overlooked by most people because it doesn’t make sense for the attackers to turn people against themselves. Or does it?

            I actually missed seeing it at first – and I was specifically trying to figure out what was gained. Then I read an article that made it seem obvious. By encouraging people to oppress their primary pool for recruitment, the terrorist organisation has a better chance to draw people into their cause. After all, it takes two to fight – if the enemy is accepting your refugees, where will you find more soldiers to fight your war?

            Once we realize that, of course, it becomes simple to fight against. We mourn the tragic loss, but we do not allow ourselves to be filled with fear or hate. We pay attention to the truth that just because someone has something in common with a radical extremist, that doesn’t make them one. We stay open and welcoming to those different than ourselves.

            When we have done all that, terrorism will cease to have an effect. Once that become apparent, the attacks will become less common, then fade away. After all, why throw away soldiers on something that doesn’t work?

            But as long as people react with fear and hate, the terror attacks will continue. Because the true brilliance of this form of warfare is that it turns the victims into tools. Act with hate and you have unwittingly joined the terrorist army.

            All it takes is compassion. Welcome in those that the terrorists want you to drive into their arms. Then, and only then, will they truly be defeated.

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

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.