Dedicated to
Rachel. In her time of need.
I was hired by University Place Presbyterian Church so quickly
that I moved to Tacoma without a place to live. Luckily, my cousin owned a
house in the area and Jimmy let me temporarily hijack his living room. I
struggled to find a decent place that would allow for my 80lb monstrosity of a dog
fit my criteria. Gradually, I became the annoying cousin that overstayed her welcome
until…
One day, Jimmy called me and asked me to pick up a mouse
trap from the store. I came home with an arsenal of every rodent trap known to
man. Jimmy laughed at the overkill, and assured me that we probably didn’t have
mice.
As I lay on the floor that night, I tried to convince myself
that I was hearing the house creaking and not the scurrying of little feet.
Suddenly, I heard a mousetrap go off in the kitchen… and, a scrape sound as the
mouse dragged the trap behind him.
I rushed into Jimmy’s room, jumped onto his bed and screamed
like a crazy lady about the kitchen. Jimmy, in a sleep induced stupor, tried
telling me to go back to bed. After several more moments of jumping up and down
on his bed, Jimmy realized that he needed to go investigate. While I guarded
his bedroom from atop my post, Jimmy stalked into the kitchen. I heard a loud WHAM!
And, after a couple seconds, two more. WHAM! WHAM! Jimmy had finished the mouse
off with a large boot.
Without so much as a word, Jimmy hauled my mattress into his
room for the night. I had a new apartment within two days and I didn’t stay at
Jimmy’s during those 2 days. In hindsight, I’m starting to wonder if it was
Jimmy’s plan to get me out all along…
