T-Hoe's Mystery Is Nothing To Sneeze At

As I was getting out of T-Hoe at the Gas Station Chicken Store on Monday, I saw something white on my black pants. Like lint, a couple of pieces. I brushed it off, noticing that it seemed to be pieces of a tissue. When I came back out, I saw that one of the Puffs With Lotion that I have on the console had a raggedy edge. Huh. I supposed that one might have blown over as I was getting in, and maybe I'd closed a piece of it in the seatbelt latch. Not a big deal. I put the raggedy tissue in my purse to bring into the Mansion and throw away.

On Tuesday, as I hoisted myself into T-Hoe in the garage, I noticed more flecks of tissue on the floor. That was odd. And the seatbelt buckle was not lying on the console and tissues where I leave it. The buckle had fallen into the crevice between the console and the seat. Well. Maybe I had hit it with my purse as I got out. 

But wait! The stack of four tissues was askew. And the edge of all four in the stack was raggedy. I don't think I could have done that without noticing. As I tried to make sense of this on my way down the gravel road, it dawned on me...

I THINK T-HOE HAS A MOUSE!!!

EEK! Such a thought makes me feel unclean! Violated! What if a mouse (even a cute little big-eared field mouse) is roaming T-Hoe once I get out? Where is it when I'm driving??? 

I asked Farmer H later that evening if it's possible that a mouse could be in T-Hoe.

"Anything is possible."

"How would it get in?"

"If a mouse wants to get in a car, it gets in. It could come through the vents. You cain't stop 'em. What makes you think you have a mouse?"

I explained the tissue situation.

"It could happen. I need to get a sticky trap."

"There's a regular trap under the sink. A pack from years ago, when we had one in the basement. You can put a piece of cheese in it, and set it on the floor on the passenger side."

"Here. Give it to me. I'll take it outside right now."

Farmer H got a mousetrap, and I gave him a piece of the soft Oberle cheese.

"You can mold that around the trap. Probably once you get outside, so you don't set it off on the way."

"Yeah. I don't wanna snap my fingers."

Farmer H was back a few minutes later. 

"Well. I set it off. It hurt! Caught my finger in it!"

"Genius used to do that, when it was his job to set them. I don't know what I'll do if I go outside tomorrow, and there's a mouse in the trap! I guess it will just have to ride to town with me, and you can get it later..."

I'm not sure if I want to see a mouse or not! It would explain my tissue situation. But then again, it would mean there has been a mouse in T-Hoe!!!