There was nothing special in a cold Chicagoland winter, it has always been like that. The only special in that particular year was, that it was that cold. Single digit temperatures and even negatives several days in a row. Everything was frozen, and I really mean, everything – the tree branches, the bushes, the little and even the big lakes. There was even a layer of ice on the roads because the salt didn’t work anymore, which make the humans grumpier that usual.
So, you could probably say it was a hard winter that year. The deer and the coyotes fought over the last warm spaces beneath the bushes and the hawks fought over the numerous squirrels that were still out there and were having fun with all the bird feeders in the area.
The neighborhood was pretty neat. I surely hoped that I could find a
place to stay. Lots of families in those warm houses, but unfortunately a
lot of them had cats. And, I definitely didn’t want to share my
prospective new home with a feisty cat that had nothing better to do
than to chase me around and make my life miserable.
So, just the tiniest hint of such a life-threatening beast put that house on the bottom of my list.
But finally, I found a new home I liked. Handpicked from all
the others. All boxes of my mental checklist were checked. And the icing
on the cake was the very easy entrance I found one night, a tunnel with
a big enough hole for me to squeeze myself inside.
In my daydreams I imagined those humans must have rolled out the red carpet for me. Man, was I wrong!
Two nights after I had found the open tunnel I packed my few things, said goodbye to my mother’s grave and walked towards the house. My new home’s lot was adjacent to a small forest and the free meadow merged into their yard. There was only a wooden fence, with the first plank hovering 1 foot over the ground, no wire mesh fence or any other ugly hindrances.
So I walked with my suitcase on my back straight through, under the fence into my future. In a good mood, I whistled the newest songs I had heard while I entered the house through the tunnel that ended in the basement of the house, right there in a nice and cozy heating room. I dragged the suitcase behind me, pulling it into the house with me. I took off my coat and hat, hung it on the provided hook and made my bed for the night.
As it was early in the night I decided to explore the vicinity. Although the vents were drafty as always they were warm and meant healing to my cold and hurting feet. The bitter winter cold was not the only cause of my injuries. The thick ice everywhere was the worst thing in the world. But now I had found a nice home and there was no ice inside.
“Time to relax and enjoy your luck!” I told myself.
Climbing up to the first floor was easy. I ended up above the
dishwasher. Panic shoot through me, when the water went on, replaced by a
relief that settled in immediately after I realized, that the water was
rushing way under me. The little pathway brought me to the silverware
drawer, where I tasted some brush. They must have oiled a cookie sheet
or something, because it was still mixed with some sugar. My hunger
carried me away, and I gnawed a little on the brush until I noticed it
was not really eatable.
New panic came upon me when I noticed I had totally forgotten how to get out here. I ran around between the knifes, the spoons, the forks and more knifes and huge things, I couldn’t name. But as there was not exactly something real to eat, I wanted to get out of here. I’m afraid I left a trail of poop because the panic got worse until I heard the dishwasher again and suddenly knew the direction I had to go.
Following my little nose to the awesome smells that came from behind a door, I squeezed myself in and ended up in paradise! The smell in here was overwhelming. Bread, lettuce, cookies – even chocolate. Everything a mouse could wish for was staked in the pantry I had found. Some packages were already open. As I said, they surely welcomed me. My taste buds screamed party. Well, of course I had to climb the shelves first. Luckily, I found an apron hanging in the corner. The rough texture helped me immensely. I hadn’t eaten much in the last couple of weeks. So I stuffed my cheeks with all the delicatessens.
I was just about to poke my nose into one of these little
Nutella trial packages, when the door was torn open and light spread. I
jumped behind a huge crockpot to hide. Cowering there, I held my
breath.
A scream, followed by, “Oh my Gosh! Tom! Tooooom!” sliced through my sensitive ears. I winced.
The door was slammed shut.
Find out in the next part what happened to the little critter…
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