We have two pet mice. Mice are great little pets. They don't require much. They don't cost much. They don't live very long. Abby's mouse, Stella, is a gray satin mouse with a trademark tail that is half black, half white. Her tail differentiates her from Edey's mouse, who is also gray. While Edey's mouse, Delilah, is very calm and content, Stella is a handful. So it was no huge surprise to me when Abby shouted from the living room that she had lost Stella. Simply holding her while watching tv, Stella saw her chance and Abby was distracted, and she was gone. So, for almost three weeks, yes, three weeks we would see "evidence" of her presence in our house. We had several fleeting glimpses of her, tail high in the air, in an almost rude gesture of defiance. She would dash from corner to corner, only to disapear under some piece of furniture or seemingly vanish in thin air. She took up residence in the toy basket, the blanket basket and a mudroom drawer. She consumed one entire pack of Ramen, several dog biscuits and who knows what else. Then, last weekend, we caught her. Fed up, after one recent sighting, I got boards from the barn and with many hands helping, we cornered her, thumped a plastic container over her, and plopped her back in with Delilah. Abby was thrilled. Me too, really. I mean, what mom likes to have "Catch mouse" on her list of to-do's? She nestled back in to her captive lifestyle, none worse for the wear. Then, the unbelievable.

One day later, she was gone again. This time she shimmied up the smooth plastic side of the water bottle, and chewed through the plastic lid on the cage. It was right at bed time that we noticed and I did my required search in the girls' room before turning out the light, but I was done with this game. She could be wild, or she could be terminated. No more motherly heroics this time.

The story isn't over, folks. Stella, the wild child, was discovered in the bath tub one day later. My husband blearily staggers in for a morning shower and there she is. Stuck in the tub. So, she is back. This time we gave her an exercise wheel. A bit of exercise is good for the soul. She seems more content now. Like maybe she has had her wild fling. She seems to be in remarkably good shape, more rotund then I remember to be before. I hope there wasn't more to her "fling" than we thought, otherwise our mouse population may be growing.