Mouse 1

I buy my regular 40-pound bag of bird seed. The conversation turns, as it does often with everyone lately, to mice. What a year we’ve been having. They are everywhere. It’s because we had such a mild winter last year, Randy tells me. Didn’t kill enough of them. I admit I’m still live trapping, which I know is ridiculous. He tells me about Jawz, a trap that kills instantly, and you never have to touch the mouse.

He is ringing me up, but there’s a slight delay. I’m the first customer, in early, and he admits that he is doing a cash-register chore he should have done last night before closing, but he had to get to a board meeting. “What board are you on?” I ask. Second Chance, he says, which is an animal shelter. “But not for mice,” I say. He laughs. “But not for mice.”