SNAP GOES THE . . .

Matt and Jerry heard the car door close in the driveway.

It was time to put things in quick order.

         The dogs barked as the gate latch clanged.

         It was the typical routine.

         Woof, woof, woof.

         Scurry, scurry, scurry.

         The thunderstorm began to break at the moment that Mike

reached for the door handle.

         Mike scurried to get into the backdoor of the simple four

room house.

The doors were never locked in this small mid-west

community.

With the twist of the knob, Mike and pooches squeezed into

the kitchen all at once luckily with no mud on their shoes or paws.

Sometimes, life was easy. Sometimes . . .

         Hopefully, most times.

         Matt and Jerry felt the same way.

When they were out frolicking, a sudden downpour of rain

could quickly soak them.

Even drown them!

         After all, Janie and Marge were drowned just a month ago.

They never had a chance!

They sure were great mice! Loved by all!

        One night, Mike came home late with Suzie.

         Matt and Jerry liked Suzie, at first . . .

         “If she moves in with us, she might workout” Jerry remarked.

         “She may not be the next one, Jerry,” Matt replied.

 “But if she is next and she doesn’t work out, then we’ll just

get rid of her, like we did the others,” Jerry said.

“Human females really don’t seem to like us. Prejudice!” Matt

said emphatically.

         Susie quickly moved in with Mike and became a member of

the household.

         Matt and Jerry did their best to stay out of sight.

         Mike had an obsession with running the vacuum cleaner.

He loved to keep the floor clean. He seemed to have a bond

with the floor, as if it could talk.

         Matt and Jerry loved it, too! After all, they considered

themselves to be clean mice.

         Matt and Jerry would often share morsels with visitors from

the east and west, north and south.

They held no territorial prejudice.

       Suzie had a bit of a problem, though.

While Mike was not particularly concerned about cleanliness,

Suzie was!

They appreciated Mike’s obsession with vacuuming. Mouse

droppings were usually concealed.

         Matt and Jerry took notice of this, and recognized Mike to be

a more gracious host.

         Suzie and Mike had no idea they were considered such

gracious hosts.

         Mike was simply aware that there were other residents and

occasional visitors.

         Shortly after Suzie had become a part of the household, she

had begun to notice some tell-tale signs.

On a few occasions, Suzie politely mentioned her

observations to Mike.

         Mike was nonchalant about it.

         “Sure, maybe?”, was his reply.

“Honey, I keep thinking that I’m seeing movements of

something scurrying around,” Suzie said with a sense of

trepidation.

“No, it’s just the wind,” Mike would respond without interest.

“Yeah, right, who’s wind? Ain’t my wind,” Suzie would throw

back at him.

Matt and Jerry continued to frolic in the backyard.

Suzie was becoming alarmed, especially when Mike was away,

working the evening shift.

She was experiencing more moments of “wind.”

This was serious and had to be discussed.

A traumatic event occurred while Mike was at work, while

Suzie was watching the “Wheel of Fortune” on TV.

Jerry had run across the top of the bookcase!

This was Just too much!

Suzie was alone! Jerry was alone!

Mike arrived home from work on schedule.

He grabbed a beer, and sat down on the couch to connect

with Suzie, who he was considering to be his future wife!

         Matt’s and Jerry’s friends were over earlier in the day, from

the east and west parts of the street.

         “Mike, I have something very important to talk to you about.

I think we have a big problem!”

         “Tell me, Suzie, what is it?” Mike asked after a long slug of

beer.

         Mike sat with nervous anticipation awaiting her reply.

         While Mike waited, he spotted Jerry sitting on his haunches

on top of the couch, sniffing at Suzie’s hair, behind her left

shoulder.

“Mike, I have to ask you, is it possible that we have mice in the

house?”

Mike looked at Jerry.

Jerry looked at Mike.

Suzie looked at Mike.

Mike looked at Suzie.

“We might, Suzie,” Mike confessed, “after all, this is the

western prairie.”

“Suzie, let’s go to bed, now, right now!”

Suzie thought this to be a bit abrupt, but got up and followed

Mike to the bedroom.

Jerry scurried off to bed.

The next morning, Matt and Jerry were out playing . . .

The small four room house was getting a little bit too

crowded. Best to be outdoors.

Big changes were in the making for Mike.

Eviction or die notices were being put down for Matt and

Jerry.

It was very fortunate that Jerry’s paw did not get entangled in

Suzie’s hair on the previous night! It could have spelled the end for

all involved, even the dogs.

The next evening, Suzie heard a sudden snap sound occur

behind the refrigerator.

Mike had told her to expect the tell-tale sound, yet she had

mixed feelings.

She was afraid to even look. By looking, it would feel complicit

in the crime.

She needed to feel that she was perfectly innocent. Yet, she

was implicated. After all, it was she who had insisted.

         Shortly before midnight, the door opened, it was Mike

returning from work.

         He greeted Suzie with a smile.

         “You murderer!” she shouted out with an accusing glare.

         One of the dogs trotted over to greet Mike and spotted Matt.

         Suzie spotted Matt at the same moment.

 She screamed and jumped up on to the couch.

         Mike yelled.

         The confused Boston terrier also jumped up on to the couch

and bit Suzie in her hind quarters.

         Mike ran to Suzie to pry the dog off her.

         Matt scurried off to meet up with Jerry.

         “Our plan worked like magic,” Matt said to Jerry, “and she

should be gone in a snap!”

“You managed to make up some good wind to set off that

trap. She was terrified that she had killed one of us,” Matt added.

         “Let’s have friends over tomorrow evening,” Jerry suggested.

“Mike will either be out with friends or at his job. We’ll have the

house to ourselves!”