The Mouse That Came for Coffee

About a week before the Disney Store permanently closed its doors at Meadowood Mall, I went to see what they had for sale. That’s where I found a very unique looking Mickey Mouse coffee mug.

Since I consider this mug to be somewhat special, I don’t often use it. Beside, it’s so large that I generally have to heat the coffee in it a number of times because it goes cold too quick.

Anyway, recently I decided to use it and after filling it up I went out side to enjoy a little sunshine and to play fetch with the dogs. Half an hour later I came in the house and sat down at my computer to do some research and to write.

Two-hours later I stopped to reheat my cup of coffee, only to discover I couldn’t find it. I searched all through the house looking for, even checking in the microwave, the cupboards and the refrigerator-freeze, jus’ in case I had a brain-fart and set it down in one of those places.

But my search turned up nothing. While still vexed, I decided to grab another cup and pour myself some more coffee and return to my computer.

The following day I again took up the search for the missing mug; even digging through the kitchen trash can and the large green monster in the garage. Still I couldn’t find it.

By the second day I had pretty much put it’s disappearance out of my head, telling myself it would suddenly show up when I wasn’t looking for the damned thing.

Three days after I had last seen it, I went outside to see what the dogs were up too as sometimes their quietness makes me think they are up to no good. As I stepped out on the back porch, I noticed my Mickey Mouse cup sitting on the fence rail – right where I suddenly remembered placing it.

“Doh!” as Homer Simpson would say.

Happy that it really wasn’t lost, I walked over and picked it up. It was still half full of coffee as well as something else.

A little set of eyes peered up at me as I held the cup. A small mouse had fallen into the coffee cup and it was dog-paddling for all that it was worth.

Squatting on the cement pad and gently tipping the cup on its side, I dumped both the cold coffee and exhausted mouse out onto the concrete. At first I thought the strain of swimming to keep it’s head above the surface had proved to be too much; the mouse lay unmoving a my feet.

It was still breathing, but doing little else and I was sure that it was a goner. However after a few seconds it rolled over, stood up, shook itself (which looked more like a spasm than shaking) and scurried off into some dead leaved gathered at the base of our fence.

After taking the cup into the house and giving it a thorough washing, I couldn’t help smile at the fact that I had a real mouse swimming inside my Mickey Mouse coffee cup.