From a Howard Johnson’s hotel, Leavenworth WA (’13)
Friday, 9 Dec 16: mom looked out the front door and winced. Two hour snow delay but it all turned to rain, and now the lawn looks patchy and white like a grisly, old dog. Stayed up late watching it, listening to the branches slap the windows, getting up in the middle of the night to see how much there was. Rescuing a live mouse in the morning from the kids’ bathroom in the tub, how it cowered by the drain and lowered its head anticipating the blow, how it tried to make itself look invisible and how we’ve all been that mouse, caught with nowhere to go. I put it in a shoebox, took it outside, let it go in the cold and snow.
William Pearse publishes memoir, travel journals, poetry and prose. 
Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
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Hugs my friend! Bill
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Lucky mouse. In my own Buddhist way, I try to save spiders and silverfish when I find them in a bind, but ticks? No. The ticks must die!
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The ticks get split in half with a nail and rubbed out, back to their tick essences. Back to Zero.
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Fear replaced by freedom.
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Yes, suppose so Mark! My mom captures mice at her old house in Germany, puts them outside, and I’m sure they come right back in. Funny. Was a good excuse for my wife to clean the bathtub, anyway. You should go take a bath now, didn’t we talk about that a few weeks ago?!
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Yes. I need that bath, still. Talked about the very same thing with another blogger, just a couple of days ago. Or was that you? I don’t know. Apparently blogging and baths are a thing.
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They’re kind of all the same but still satisfying.
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The mouse part is great…yes I guess we’ve all been the mouse. Spared the blow and put back out there (probably looking for another way in already). The bit about the snow turning to slush made me sad. We haven’t had any snow here yet, just real cold and it feels right.
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That snow turning to rain always reminds me of that goddamned song by Dan Fogelberg. Can’t believe I’m citing him here but so be it. That poor mouse. Wishing you snow, the pretty kind that twinkles in the dusk. Bill
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Oh my god, that song! It played in the car the other day and can you believe my husband had never heard it? I have a soft spot for it, even though it’s terrible.
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That returning mouse is like the spiders in our house. We find them, skittering round the skirting board, climbing over the Lego, tangling their legs in the fibres of the rug. We save them, stick them outside and I swear a few days later I’m rescuing the same spider, with the same spindly legs. Rubbish life, being a mouse.
I love your writing Bill. I swear it makes my brain work differently, rewires it, tweak by tweak every time I read a new post
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I love your comments Lynn. I read them right away but take time to think about a response, feels like they deserve that. I was thinking today perhaps this is it, this is enough for me, for now: to write here and not judge it like it needs to be something more, somewhere else. I get all the enjoyment I need from you and other readers, and the feedback and encouragement you give me goes a long way. Thank you — happy to know the posts are making your brain work differently, that’s sensational feedback. Thanks, Bill
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Always a pleasure to read your posts, you know that. And I know what you mean about the blogging – it is a fulfilling experience and as such, such a shame it doesn’t pay! I do think reading your work makes me think differently, see differently and that can only be good
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an excellent animal rescue caper. and we have 10″ of snow here tonight and the snow day home tomorrow!
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If that mouse knew what was good for him, he would learn to tap dance and tell jokes. It’s worked for me (except the tap dancing part).
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I know, makes you think of Walt Disney or Tom & Jerry. Did me, anyways.
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These are really good. These paragraphs. I don’t always comment on them but they’re all very enjoyable. Are they edited before you hit ‘publish’ or is this how they come out? Is this raw?
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I’m glad you like them Mark; no I do edit them but try for the raw sound still. If I’m lucky I get a good riff I can use and build around it; I’m thinking you know what I mean by that. Some that just ‘comes’ and the rest you have to work at some more. Thanks for reading and commenting when you can, always great to hear from you! Bill
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