So You Thought YOU Were Having a Bad Day...

I was standing in the Shell gas station at Clevinger's Corner, wondering when we'd have to take out a second mortgage in order to fill up the tank, when I saw this little shape moving out on the road. It was small and kind of brownish. At first I thought it was some sort of debris being kicked up by the cars rushing at 70 m.p.h. through the morning commute, but then I realized it was deliberately picking its path across the road.

It was a mouse, and it was in a harrowing experience. I found myself standing there, pumping gas, and silently rooting for the little guy. I couldn't take my eyes away, and I hoped I wouldn't have to see him smooshed by the traffic.

Somehow, he made it across all 4 lanes and onto the small grass divide between the highway and the gas station. That's when a crow swooped down and picked him up. The bird flew about 6 feet in the air when it dropped the mouse back into the grass. (Did the little guy bite his way to freedom? Who knows?) I thought, "Ouch! That fall's gotta hurt. But better a 6 foot drop than to be picked apart by a crow!"

Oh, but the bird wasn't giving up on his breakfast that quickly. He took another dive at the mouse, snatched him up, and started to fly again. Yet somehow the mouse broke free and fell once more. This happened two or three more times when another crow took interest. Pretty soon both crows were fighting over the mouse. Every time the little guy was dropped, he'd hop about in the grass desperately looking for some hole to hide in.

Finally the mouse made a break for it. He darted out of the grass, straight across the Shell station parking lot, and right into a little hole in the hubcap of the truck parked next to me. And he wasn't about to come out, no matter how many people stood there coaxing him. All he knew was that he had survived 4 lanes of the highway and the talons of 2 hungry predators. Now he was safe in a place that was dark and inaccessible.

I didn't wait around for the truck to take off, but I wondered what the little guy would think when he started tumbling about in the wheel well. Talk about having a bad day!