The Mouse Must Die

Yesterday morning my temporary housemate and I discovered that we had a furry friend in the kitchen. He had unsuccessfully chewed into the lid on a plastic container. We were both annoyed, and contemplated what we would do about it. As there's a good inch between the tin back door and the ground, there's no telling where this guy is coming from. Fast forward to late last night, when I am sitting at the computer waiting an hour for those photos to upload to this site. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement . . . and with a sinking gut I see HIM. Yep, the little beast was in my living room next to my jug of clean drinking water--but he quickly retreated to the kitchen. So I march my barefoot self into the kitchen wielding my flip flop, thinking, "Ok, so even if I found him what would I do about it?" For the next hour I heard him in there--he even got in the dishdrainer, knocked over stuff, crawled over our utensils, and left his friendly signature on the counter. Ugh. So tonight my housemate and I wait for a lull in the rain and walk down to the little corner shop. Now, my Amharic is up to a few greetings and basic things like "thank you" and "I'm full". She's been here for a couple of years, however, and can hold her own in basic conversational Amharic. Obviously, though, "mouse" had never entered either of our vocabularies. There we are, two dripping feringes crowded into the tiny shop along with the corn, wheat, lentils, etc in their big burlap sacks . . . trying to explain that we need a mouse trap. My cohort gave a valiant effort, complete with hand motions and sound effects to try to mimick our little beast. We got plenty of blank stares and laughter with minimal comprehension. Finally, comprehension broke through and we got a response of "Ishy, Ishy" (I understand)! Sadly, though, they had no mouse traps. So we slogged back home through the now pouring rain. And here I am. Listening for the little beast. He must go down. Tomorrow is another day. OH, OH I just heard him!! He knocked something over!!! Off to get my flip flop . . .