You’ve done something terrible and know you will go to Hell.
The other day, my boyfriend found a little mouse that had accidentally found its way into a gigantic vat of waste motor oil. Since my boyfriend is a kind man, he quickly scooped it up and attempted to wipe it off. The poor thing was so exhausted that it didn't even try to run away. I sat in the corner, nose in my book, but I heard him say,
"it's ok little mouse, I gotcha"
as he attempted to soothe the frightened, oil covered rodent. I looked up and laughed at him. He quickly spun around,
"Look, it's all sad and limp, what should I do?"
"I dunno, go give it a bath or something, like they do for all those oil spill ducks"
He stood for a moment and figuratively scratched his head, trying to decide what to do. Eventually, he turned around and walked to the far end of the garage. He stooped low for a while, and I assumed he was letting it outside. I went back to my book, not really paying attention. When he was done, he went back to working on his car. After a while, my eyes hurt and I looked up,
"What'd you end up doing with that mouse?"
"I gave it a water dish and put it in there so it could clean off...why?"
But I was already rushing to where he had gestured to the mouse. Sure enough, it was it the shallow dish that he had made so it could "clean off". It wasn't moving. I whipped around,
"You drowned it!"
"What?! you're kidding!?"
"No Evan, mice can't swim!!" I said, and i picked up the water dish to prove it. He looked at it sadly and stood there with his mouth agape.
"Damn it! I killed it" He whispered.
I'm not even going to tell you about the bat that got trapped in some flypaper and what happened when I tried to free it. Let's just say that we've had a lot of flies around lately.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there was the momma mouse who made her nest under the gas tank of my motorcycle, unbeknownst to me. One day I drove it to Falmouth and left it overnight. The bill next day noted 'removal of mouse and mouse nest to nearby woods--no charge!' So, that was a happy ending!
One way I comment on a piece is to let my own stories that are parallel or similar roll out--it's a way of saying that this reader was interested, stimulated, affected by what you wrote--and what writer can ask for more?