A pet by accident

The small hole in one of the tomatoes in the basket set the alarm bells ringing. It was clear evidence of a rodent bite.

I enjoy watching Tom and Jerry cartoons and cheer Jerry, every time he scores. I have watched the adventures of Stuart Little, quite forgetting that Stuart was but a pint-sized anthropomorphic mouse. But a mouse, in flesh and blood, inside the house petrified me disproportionately. The small hole in one of the tomatoes in the basket set the alarm bells ringing. It was clear evidence of a rodent bite. The mousetrap borrowed from the neighbour was dangerously rusty but I managed to pin the coconut bit to the hook and set it up by the kitchen sink. The next morning as I tiptoed in, I saw the trapdoor of the box held up, as I had left, but not the coconut. After three more nights of losing the bait and the battle, I returned the trap. “We too didn’t have any success with this,” the neighbour admitted. “Finally, we got a sticky mat from the medical shop and the mouse got caught within a day. When the rat steps on it, it gets stuck.”