Sunday, July 31, 2016

A HORROR BEFORE DAWN




A fair warning before I begin. The subject matter of this post is going to be disgusting. I would  advise not to read it if you're eating......

Now that I have your attention, I'll begin.

Saturday night I was plagued with my usual insomnia. Ate some leftovers at midnight. Watched a few YouTube videos. Messed around with my computer. Brushed my eldest cat Scratch. Made sure the cats had clean water and fresh food.

As usual, I'm making a short story into a lengthy one. Please bear with me.

My habit lately has been to go to bed around 3:00 a.m. and read until dawn. I have a lot of new books to read. Blogger Ron from Retired in Delaware recently (and very generously) sent me a large collection of books about Hollywood that he no longer wants. I'm presently reading several of those books simultaneously.

Before I delved into Ron's books tonight, I grabbed an old history book of mine because I've been doing some research on ancient Babylon.

None of this has to do with my horror story, but it's a good buildup. Hang on....and whatever you do...don't eat....

Okay, here we go:
3:15 a.m.
I'm propped up in bed with my book. It's a warm, stuffy night. My bedroom window is wide open and the morning mountain fog is already obscuring the forest. An owl is whoo-hooing in the distance.

I have been transported to the great city of Babylon and am immersed in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. I can almost see the spectacular city and the hear the rush of the nearby Euphrates River.

I can almost smell the Euphrates river.
Well, hell, I have a good imagination.

Funny, the river doesn't smell very good. In fact it smells rotten. Really rotten.

Actually, when I first settled into bed and began reading I smelled something rotten but tried to ignore it. Soon the smell couldn't be ignored. 
Is it me? Do I smell rotten?
Is it the sheets on the bed?
Is it the book?
The Babylon book I'm reading had been in the garage for awhile. Maybe it's moldy.

I'm very reluctant to face the reality of what I really think. This smell isn't rotten - it's putrid. very putrid. Dead and decomposing putrid. And it's extremely nearby.

I try to ignore it one more time, but I can't. It's horrifyingly real. And it is definitely dead.

Perhaps there's a dead animal outside, nearby. I get up and go to the window. The air is damp and fresh. 
The putrid smell of death is coming from some place around my bed. I'm starting to slightly panic.

I thoroughly check the pillows and covers while I'm having a nasty flashback.
When I first moved here, the cats killed a mouse and put it in my bed. My apprehension of going to bed has been intense ever since.

My bed is situated about a foot away from the wall. That's where the stench is coming from. I force myself to look in the space between my bed and the wall.....

.....and there it is - a big dead decomposing mouse. Right by the head of the bed. To say I felt sick would be an understatement.

It's not easy to extract the rancid rodent from it's temporary tomb. I use a broom and a dustpan. I then put on my boots and take the odious thing outside and toss it far away from the house, somewhere in the forest. I'm not in the mood to prepare a fancy burial.

Back in the bedroom I use carpet cleaner, an ammonia spray, and a pesticide spray (just in case). The room no longer smells rancid, but it now smells like absolute hell from the cleansing mixtures. I'll do more cleaning tomorrow.

It's presently after 5:30 a.m. and daylight has arrived. I'm not exactly in the mood to go back to bed, even though I'm tired. 

I just checked the room again and there's no odor at all......so.....I might crawl into bed and try to get some shuteye.

I took a helluva long time to tell a short tale (tail?) of a dead mouse, but unnecessary mileage with extended detours is my specialty.

It's over. Now you can eat.


 

19 comments:

  1. well, I just woke up...thank the dogs and cats I just skimmed this post...and all I have is my cawfee...(holds her nose)

    ah, the joys of living in the wilderness.

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  2. I don't know which is worse, finding a dead mouse in your bedroom, or find a live mouse in your bedroom. The dead one is easier to remove.

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  3. Jon,

    All we who work as staff to cats have had these moments.

    Larry

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    1. Larry,
      This reminds me if my hostess on one of my vacations to Provincetown, Mass who woke up to a dead headless robin sharing her bed, a "gift" from her tabby cat.
      Ron

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  4. Doesn't make me sick at all. I grew up poor, living in old houses. My mom fought mice and cockroaches in almost every house we lived in (and there were many, up until I moved away). She fought a good fight, but we still encountered mice once in awhile, dead and alive. I once had a parakeet that died due to my mom's spraying for cockroaches just before we went to church one day.

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  5. I raised rodents when I was a kid so mice don't bother me. Once had a cat drop a live mouse at the foot of the bed while I was sleeping and the mouse would run up the bed and down behind the headboard. The cat would catch it and drop it at the foot of the bed...etc, etc. Darn gift wouldn't stay put--LOL! But when I got up and turned on the light do you think the cat had any interest at all in catching it again? No, of course not. Had to quick shut the bedroom door to keep it trapped in one room and spend an hour catching it myself so I could let it go outside. Yes, dead mice are easier to remove--LOL!

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  6. Cause of death?
    Obvious trauma aside, I'd hate to suspect there was a latent poison around that might harm the kitties. I hope you've had a chance to grab some rest!

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  7. Ahhhh ewwwwww! At least it wasn't a dead body. lol

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  8. Jon,
    First of all I want to thank you for something that I rarely hear, someone who says "Thank you" to me for something I did. Those are just two words, that take so little effort to say but I am always surprised at how rare it is to hear those words. I would like to think those people I am generous to appreciate my generosity but, except for Pat, I can't remember the last time I heard those words "Thank you." Thank you Jon for acknowledging me. I'm sure you understand, it means a lot not to be taken for granted. And I am so glad you're enjoying those books. There are more to come!
    Now about the dead mouse. I had a similar situation happen back at our old house in Pennsylvania. We had four bedrooms. We only used two. One for Bill at the one end of the hall and my bedroom at the other end of the second floor hallway. Bill had another spare bedroom next to his and I had a small bedroom next to mine. Neither one was used. One night I woke up to a "smell." A "dead" smell. I searched all over and couldn't find it. As the days went by the "smell" became less and less but did linger for a couple of weeks and then finally disappeared. Several months later, when I was in the small bedroom looking for something I happened to notice a dark shadow in the bottom of the plastic trash can. I had no idea what it was. I put my hand down and lifted it out. "It" was a dehydrated BAT! Apparently the bat flew into the trash can and couldn't get out. My first thought was it must have suffered terribly before it died. Then my second thought was "How did it get into the house?" You had your scorpions in Texas. Your dead mice in Tennessee. So far no bats here, dead or alive.
    A long story but I felt I had to share. And again, I'm glad my books found a home where they're appreciated. I tried to choose books that you liked. What other types of books do you like? I suspect you like history books. Of course you wouldn't' want any of my Republican bashing (Al Frank, Michael Moore) books. (big smile).
    Ron

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  9. at least you didn't play an extended game of cat and mouse to find it. And the air will once again smell fresh in a day or two. we once discovered a mouse DOA between the boxspring and mattress. The hows and why of that have never been uncovered here. But suffice to say bedding needed to be replaced.

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  10. If one of your cats didn't leave you a gift, then it either found a poison or was fatally wounded and was trying to reach the comfort of your bed for its death rattle. On the other hand....it takes 4 days for the decomposition to produce an odor. Methinks you should start running a dust mop or vacuum occasionally. LOL

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  11. Never a dull moment in your house my friend with those cats. I know that smell though from work. It is god awful...you almost want to dry heave. At 3:00am I was sitting outside smoking a cigar, enjoying a beer, while being visited by three fox. Pretty cool moment.

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  12. Nearly every summer we have a rat die under the house. Smell comes up around the bathroom pipes no matter how much we collar and caulk, but fortunately only lasts about 3 or 4 days. We keep the door shut, window open and, understandably, no one monopolizes the bathroom.

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  13. We all have things that we find difficult.I am sorry that you had to meet the mouse.
    However I could not help but picture you in a satin something and a cowboy hat hurrying along with a mouse on a shovel.You are going to tell me that its NOT FUNNY arn't you.Sorry Jon .xx

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  14. Dead mice here...common as dust.. I dont even think twice about them

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  15. Our issue, in '73 was skunks. Living in a very rural area, blocking the hole they were getting under the house, going out in a tshirt and flip flops with a .22, getting sprayed, wife not letting me back into the house, throwing out lava soap and a sponge, pointing to a water hose....
    Oh well
    bleach the hell out of the area.

    cheers,
    Mike

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  16. Hi Jon, I've visited your blog before but never commented much, sorry. I've even watch a few of your You tube videos of you playing the piano, very nice. But your dead mouse story made me chuckle and go eeww at the same time. I think one of your kittehs was trying to tell they like you. If I had that problem, I'm currently catless. I'd buy a small shop vac to suck up the rodent carcasses. Hope you don't find any more. Randy in NEB.

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  17. What?! You didn't like my present?

    Philistine.

    -- Scratch --

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I love comments. Go ahead and leave one - I won't bite. But make sure you have a rabies shot just in case.