I just saw a rodent

We were playing cards on Sunday night and across the other side of the room a rodent scurried next to the wall and behind the clothes storage shelving.

“I just saw a rodent” I said to Emily.

Then jumped up to see where it had run to. I looked down from on top of the shelving and saw the rodent very still on the floor next to the wall. I own a cycling proficiency certificate, first aid certificate, but haven’t yet achieved my rat catcher’s certificate so I wasn’t keen on actually catching the thing.

As I looked down an idea came to mind. I remembered hearing one of Emily’s cousins recant the story of looking after a friend’s hamster then loosing it. She found it when she closed a draw and heard a crunch. The plan was to crush the critter.

The shelving was quite heavy but with a determined push and a little adrenaline I shoved it hard against the wall. I didn’t want the rodent escaping so there was a little more pushing before Emily went to find a stick to poke it with. I poked it, it didn’t move, the deed was done. I pulled the shelving away from the wall and scooped the rodent onto some newspaper and into a bag to be carried off to its grave, the bin.

Upon examination the rodent was actually a shrew, although not that it really mattered, it was dead that was the main thing; except that now there was some blood to clear up. The crushing death blow had squashed the shrew enough to cause it to bleed form the mouth and to force its intestines out of its rear. A rub down with some bleach and a few shrieks form the girls and the job was done; just in time for devotions, very neat and tidy.

Paul