Mice Tales, Part II

Click here for Mice Tales, Part I

Last week, I posted about a problem I had with mice some 20 years ago while living in a neighborhood less than a mile from my current residence. Thankfully, I haven't had any problems since then. But my best friend had a problem.

This wouldn't normally bother me, but it did this day. This had to be some 13 years ago. I was living in New Orleans at the time, and I would come home to Atlanta, a six hour drive away, to visit during time off. And during this time, I would sleep over at different friends houses just so I could get to hang out with everyone.

This one particular evening, the evening before I was to return to New Orleans, I'd planned on spending the night with my best friend LadyTee. I arrived at her place pretty late in the evening, around 10 at night. She'd already had the sofa made up for me, and we were sitting up watching television and talking.

"Uh, we saw a mouse in the kitchen last night," LadyTee said.
"What?!"
"A mouse."

And she went on to describe what happened. I think she cut on the light and there it was staring at her.

I immediately shuddered, thinking about my run-ins with the mice in my old place. "I can't stay here. Not with no mice."
"It's alright," she said. "I'm just letting you know, just in case you hear something."

O_O

"And I ain't worried about it. I got a trick for his ass."

I don't know what she meant. I didn't even ask, because I was sure I didn't want to know.

I decided instead to get up and go get some of those humane mouse traps that were useful in my own mouse issues. So I left her house and headed for the local Wal-mart. She lived in a neighborhood in the southern suburbs, and it's really dark out there with lots of woods. I had to take back roads to get to the Wal-mart.

And that's when I was spotted by the police.

I noticed in my rear view mirror that a cop was following me. He didn't have his lights on but he was following me.

Eventually he turned his lights on.

Do you think I stopped?

Nope. Not on no dark back roads. I am not a black male, but I'm still black. And one thing you don't do, especially in Georgia, is stop for the police in remote areas. He could've been a fake cop. Or worse, a dirty cop. I wanted no parts of that.

So I slowed way down. And I didn't stop until I reached the Wal-mart parking lot. Up near the front entrance.

The cop walked to my car, hand on his holstered gun. I let down my window.

"You didn't stop back there," he said.

"No I didn't. I was looking for a well lighted area. Sorry."

"You have out of state plates," he said. "Texas."

"That is because this is a rental car."

"Did you dump trash back there on the back road? Some trash bags."

I just looked at him. There was NO way I was going to be jumping out of my car dumping trash on a back road. No way.

"No I did not," I replied.

"We just had a report of someone dumping trash," he said. "That's why I stopped you."

"Sir," I said. "My friend has a mouse in the house. I was just coming up to Wal-Mart to get some mouse traps and some peanut butter. I am spending the night at her house, and I need to leave early in the morning. I just want to get some sleep without having to worry about a mouse."

He just stared at me.

"That's all I was trying to do," I said.

With that, he told me to have a good evening. I think he could see the fright in my eyes. This Oldgirl was not out illegally dumping trash. This Oldgirl was afraid of a mouse.

I bought the traps and we set them up. I still slept pretty light that evening.

Nothing was caught in the traps. Not sure how I felt about that. All I know I was getting away from there and making the drive back to New Orleans. I hoped she worked it all out.

A few days later I talked to LadyTee. "Did you catch that mouse? He still roaming around?"

"No babes," she said. "I think we got rid of it. I came up with a foolproof method."

"How?"

"This is what I did," she said. "I bought a can of beef stew. Then I mixed in some of that D-Con rat poison.

And then I put it in an aluminum pie plate and placed in the back yard, way back there by all them bushes over by the fence."

"Alright," I said. I had no idea where she was going with that.

"Then I went on back to house and went to bed."

"Uh, alright," I said again.

"When I woke up the next morning, I looked out the kitchen window, and that pie plate was gleaming in the sunlight.  Sun was just reflecting off it. Those mice and rats had licked the plate clean."

"What?"

"Yeah, girl," she continued. "I fixed them rodents. Teach 'em not to mess with me."

"Uh, but, what if a dog or cat got hold of that stew," I asked.

"That's not my problem," she said. "Dog or cat shouldn't have been in my yard. I'm trying to kill some mice here. They should've stayed out of my yard."

O_o.

Her unorthodox methods seem to work.  She didn't have any more mice problems for the couple of years she lived in that house.

We still talk about that 'til this day, the aluminum pie pan licked clean and gleaming in the morning sunlight. It was sort of a badge of honor for LadyTee. She is still proud of her ingenious master plan.

I just found it funny.

I'm not sure I would do the same. Too many stray cats running around my house.

I will let the cats do the dirty work of catching the mice.

That's one heck of a mouse tale.

I am so glad I don't have many to tell.