The Late Night Intruder (Revisited)

In celebration of my brother David’s birthday, I’m reposting one of my earliest stories.  It’s a true family favorite that takes place when my brother and I were in college.

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My brother and I were in the kitchen burning the midnight oil, studying.  This night was particularly intense.  We weren’t even speaking.  The only audible sounds were rustling pages, and our groans.  At least, those were the only sounds I heard.

“What’s that noise?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t hear any noise.”  I went back to my books.

“That noise!  Don’t you hear it?”

“No David, I don’t.” I also thought, “Now will you please let me get back to this?”

David wasn’t deterred.  He got up, pacing, determined to find the mysterious noise.  I was convinced he needed a break.

He stopped by the center drawer of the pantry, bending over at the waist, listening.  Yeah, David lost it alright.  School must be too much for him.

He looked at me and pointed. “It’s coming from in there!”

“What are you talking about?”

“That noise!  Don’t you hear that noise…that tick tick tick tick?”  He imitated the sound, pinching his thumb and index finger together a few times.

“David, I think you’ve had enough.”

Now on a mission, he pulled out the entire drawer and shook it.  It didn’t take long for the intruder to stir.  A mouse jumped out of the drawer, onto the floor then dashed into the dining room.  David yelled, dropping the drawer. It went crashing to the floor.

“AAAAAAUUGH! A rat!” He ran off and quickly came back with a baseball bat.

The rest of the household was now awake.

“What’s going on here?”

“Dad, there’s a rat!”

“What? Where?”

“It jumped out of the kitchen drawer and ran into the dining room!  Look, it’s there under the china cabinet!”

My dad got on his hands and knees.

“That’s not a rat! That’s a mouse!  What are you going to do with that baseball bat?”

“I was going to get it.”

“Not with that! Go get a broom!  He’s probably more upset than you are!”

My dad and brother got on their hands and knees, peering under the china cabinet to corner the mouse.   One swift whack and it was stunned.

“Okay, now what do we do? It’s not dead.”

My dad answered, “Well, why don’t we just put it in the dust pan and toss it over the fence (into the lot) across the street?  It’ll have to take its chances with any cats that come by.  At least it won’t be in here!”

David agreed.  As planned, the stunned mouse went across the street.

Unbeknownst to us, my grandmother, Abuelita, was watching the late night antics.  Before shuffling slowly and softly back to her room she looked around and said only one thing.

“I tol’ you we had mice!”

David and I looked at each other and laughed until we almost cried.

It was obvious we weren’t studying any more that night!

Happy birthday, David!

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