Payback

A few years ago my sister discovered mice in her house a month or so before Christmas. After some discussion and planning with my father, we developed a plan to deposit several fake mice throughout her kitchen for our Christmas amusement. It worked great. My sister found the first one sitting in the cupboard as she was putting the clean dishes away. We were all there to see her jump and scream. The exact outcome we were going for. I know the payback will come at some point, but since she lives so far away, she will miss this opportunity.
Last night as I was cleaning out the basement when I discovered some mouse droppings. I didn't see any other evidence of the mice, nothing seemed to have been chewed up and no visible nests. I dismissed the idea that the mouse/mice were still in the house. They may have come in when the weather got cold this winter, but without easy access to food, went back outdoors to find nourishment. I was nearly done with the cleaning (shifting of stuff from one place to another), when I was ambushed. Maybe that's a little strong of a word since there was no physical attack, but the surprise and shock was still present. I apparently frightened the mouse into motion and I can't say that I was a solid rock of courage that would drive fear into any living creature. It jumped out of the corner in my direction and as I displayed my fear of the little critter (screaming like a girl and running in the opposite direction), it made a quick u-turn into another, currently (until tonight) more protected hiding place. As I went to bed last night (only an hour after the experience) I was a ball of nerves thinking about a mouse crawling up into bed with me. It is said that turnabout is fair play, so a couple traps are now ready to return the shock, fear, and surprise to the little creature.