La Souris De Paris

Bonjour, Mes Amies! It's been a while since I've been on here so I'll spend the next few entries catching up on the amazing happenings in the life of Mollie Bee over the past few months. Ready? Here we go...

Picture it, Paris, IL. Thanksgiving. 2016. Moose and I were at my brother's house for a couple of days. We had a wonderful time. The food and company was fabulous. I got to meet my new great-niece, Allie, and Moose got to meet all of his doggie cousins. 

It's a  five-hour long ride each way, so we stopped on the way home and I got an iced tea for the road. I don't like McDonald's french fries, but Moose does, so I got him a small bag as a treat. He ate his allotted three fries and I put the rest in the brown, McDonald's bag, rolled the top down, and put it on the passenger-side floor. 

When we got home, there was a lot to unpack and carry in the house, but I saw the fries and thought about how they would stink up the car if they got left inside, so I took them out and set them on the garage floor, planning to toss them when I had a free hand. I forgot.

When I next went to the garage I noticed them and went to toss them, but the bag was empty! I thought Moose has found and eaten them until I turned the car on and the gorgeous aroma that is Eau de McDonald's wafted from my air vents. I've never had a mouse in my garage before, but all the signs were there so I popped the hood. I found two fries right away, sitting on top of the engine, but there wasn't a sign on the rest. For those of you doing the math, this would be :

1 Small McDonald's Fry

minus the 3 Moose ate

minus the 2 in the engine compartment

= Wheretaheckarealltherest?!?!?!

Crap.  

I called Jeff, my car husband, over at the dealership and told him that I needed to schedule a fryectomy. Jeff has been through a lot of weird situations with me and my cars, but this one even made him shake his head and say, "You've got to be kidding!"

He was grinning like the Cheshire Cat when I showed up with the car. He checked me in and sent me to the waiting room. It wasn't too long before I heard raucous laughter coming from the repair bay, then a couple of seconds later from the parts desk, then the receptionist desk.Then into the waiting room he strolls, bearing the missing fries on the platter that is my car's air filter like it was a delectable entree. There was even a little seasoning of bird seed on them. He joked that they looked good enough to eat! I told him that he could certainly consume them as long as he took the $1 off my bill. 

Not one of the fries even had a tooth mark on it. Mr Mouse must have thrown each one over his shoulder in a fireman's hold and walked on two legs to carefully store them deep in the inner workings of the air system. I kind of admired him... right up until I got the bill for the surgery to remove them and then, lover of animals that I am, I decided that his furry little butt was MINE! 

I put down down a trap (guess what the bait was?) and caught him within a couple of hours. Folks told me to put more traps down, that where there is one mouse there is more, but I only ever caught the one. I suspect he stowed away in the engine during the two days I was parked outside in Paris so it was a one and done kinda deal. La Souris de Paris and his pomme frites may have caused me $65, but  the story Jeff will tell for years to come...priceless!