Friday, September 26, 2014

A Mouse In and Out


It was morning at the farm.  I walk into the barn and say "Good Morning" to each horse as I pass their  stall.  Some horses whinny while others shift and snort.   They are hungry for breakfast.
I enter the feed storage room.  There are barrels of grain lined up along one wall.  Most mornings the grain buckets are ready, having been refilled the night before in readiness for the morning feed.  This morning, as occasionally happens, the buckets weren't filled.  So I begin by taking off the barrel lids to fill the buckets with grain.
I open one barrel to find a mouse inside it.  For a split moment I let out a short scream and shut the lid.  Then in the next moment realize it's not useful to freeze since I have a task at hand.
I open the lid and look at the mouse.  Mouse gets nervous since big human is standing over barrel that it's in.  It occurs to me how senseless it was of me to scream at a creature so much smaller than I am. Especially in contrast to how large I am: human being vs a mouse.  Yet it is what it is.  I got startled so reacted.
Mouse runs and tries to jump up to get out.  It fails each time to get out.  Apparently mouse is lower in barrel than it can run and jump out.
So I choose to help it out.  I try to get the mouse into a scoop to lift it out, but it runs and tries to jump out more.  So I stop for a moment.
Mouse stops for a moment too.
--then there is the incredible moment.
Mouse looks up at me.  I mean really looks at me.  Our grazes meet.
Mouse's eye look soft  and shiny.  The feeling I get- "Please don't hurt me".
I say, "I'm not going to hurt you.  I just want to get you out of the barrel so I can do my chore- to feed the horses.
Mouse seems to relax a little. I position scoop and shift it under him and lift him. He accepts the lift then moves - jumps out of barrel and scurries away.
Out loud to myself I say "Now I can get to the chore at hand-feeding the horses". I turn to pick up a grain bucket.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice mouse momentarily still for a moment under the wire shelf on the other side of room.
Mouse looks.
In a soft voice I reply, "Your Welcome".
Mouse scurries off to do what mice do.
I move to do what's at hand.  Feed the horses.




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