Washing Dishes

Animal Rights

                My mom loved animals, and I got that from her. I love little creatures with their wee little noses and their cute little noises. Unless, of course, they are in the house and they aren’t supposed to be.

                I was home for Mom’s birthday and to take the Place test so that I could apply for my teaching license in Colorado. Greg was home at the same time, planning to move back with his then-fiancé in early summer. We were looking around the Denver area for reasonably priced apartments for people our ages, but we were really spending time with Mom and Dad, enjoying the feeling of being at home again.

                One night, after laughing and chatting over grilled vegetables and chicken, I was rinsing the large colorful plates and bowls before loading them into the dishwasher that my grandma had handed down to my parents. It wasn’t new, but it worked better than the dishwasher they had previously had.

                I lifted the chrome handle with my left hand and pulled the front of the dishwasher down, peering inside as I did so in order to see how full the dishwasher already was.

                “AHHH!” I shrieked when I saw the tail and I slammed the door shut!

                “What??? What’s wrong?” Mom asked and she, Greg, and Dad all bolted up in their chairs with their eyes as big as the plates I wanted to put away.

                “A mouse! There’s a mouse in the dishwasher!”

                “How? How can there be a mouse in the dishwasher?” Greg and Dad asked as they joined me in the kitchen. “Where was it?”

                “On the right side, near the back! I saw the tail when I opened the dishwasher. It was running away!” I backed away, wanting to see and point it out, but also wanting to get out of the kitchen in case the mouse… well, in case it… I don’t know what it could have possibly done, but I didn’t want to be there if it did anything!

                It should be noted that my dad and my brother are not just smart. They are sma-art! Genius smart! And they had battled mice together before, like the time they put a mousetrap in the kitchen trash can, but had to end up drowning the poor mouse that got caught because he was hopping up and down in the canister with the trap stuck to his foot.

                So these smarties were in the kitchen, investigating the dishwasher situation, with me peeking over their shoulders and Mom standing just outside the back door, where she could hear us, but wouldn’t hear any sounds of an animal suffering. She had coaxed Casper, her white fuzzy cocker spaniel, into the backyard so that he wouldn’t interfere with whatever had to be done.

                They slowly lowered the dishwasher door, peering in at the spot I had described, and then slammed it closed when they saw the tail go back down the drain! They did this a couple more times, and then, before getting the mousetraps, one of them said, “Why would a mouse return so quickly to the dishwasher? If we scared it, wouldn’t it hide for awhile?”

                “Yeah… It can’t be a mouse,” the other replied.                

                They exchanged an inquisitive look, and shared a genius thought that ended with a look on their faces before saying, “It’s the rubber lining! It came loose!” and then opened the door again and grabbed hold of the loose rubber!

                Mom came back inside when she heard the laughter with a look of relief that there was no mouse, and there was no need for pesticides. We laughed about it for the rest of the weekend, and again when Greg moved near Cherry Creek. When I moved back into my parents’ house, there was a new dishwasher with tightly fitting linings! Thinking that I had had such a close brush with a mouse gave me a greater appreciation for my dad’s humor and the Mickey Mouse in a mousetrap ornament!