scampering feets

just when i thought that the mouse debacle had ended--just when i thought it was safe to stop jumping every time i see a shadow or a flit out of the corner of my eye--i heard from my upstairs neighbor that her cat had caught another mouse but that it had escaped into the boiler room. the boiler room that's right below my apartment. dammit.

i took half a tylenol pm last night (i'm down from my all-time record of two pm's, a valium, and two beers), so i was completely comatose by 11:30. i'm still fairly convinced that someone's going to try to force their way into my apartment via the back door that's in my bedroom--after all, all that separates me from the outside world is a doorknob lock, not even a deadbolt--but with the help of deep breathing, rational thought, and sleeping pills i'm able to go to sleep anyway.

i woke up early this morning--i always do, at around 7am--and thought, dammit, i wish i could sleep past 7. i looked at the clock. it wasn't even 5am. you know that feeling you have when you think it's nearly time to get up, and you're thinking dammit (why do all my sleep-thoughts start with the word dammit?) it's nearly time to get up, and then you look at the clock and realize you can sleep another 2 hours? yeah, that feels good. what didn't feel good was my first thought: ohmygod, someone's trying to get into my apartment through the back door that's in my bedroom. once i talked myself down from that little delusion, i realized what actually woke me up: the sound of squeaking and scampering feet right by my head.

that's right, girls. i haven't seen a mouse in my apartment for a few weeks. but they are most definitely inside the walls. yes, the italics are necessary. every time i hear a mouse in the wall i think of the episode of sex and the city where carrie wakes up to find a mouse nestled beside her on the pillow. i know it's going to happen to me, and i know that i'm going to have the same reaction she did: screaming, crying, running to the bathroom. i don't care if it's just a mouse. i don't care if they're more scared of me than i am of them. and i don't care if trapping them on evil-looking sticky traps until they suffocate is inhumane. i'm the one who pays the exorbitant rent for my apartment and i'm the only one who should be living there.