Ghost Mouse

I’ve lived in houses before that I’ve believed to be haunted; hearing phantom creaks and noises that “could only have been created by a ghost” innumerable times. Most memorably, Adam and I were convinced that our east-side Milwaukee house had post-mortem attic neighbors. We’d hear them walking around, opening and closing doors, sometimes moving furniture that we couldn’t see or enjoy. At times we were convinced that there were ghosts; other times we thought that maybe our 18-year old downstairs neighbors were seriously messing with us.

Ghosts and anything paranormal can really freak me out when I start thinking about it. It’s scary stuff to me. Luckily, with my new apartment in Pulaski, I haven’t had to worry about the feeling of unwanted, phantom roommates. At least in human form.

I’m pretty sure that a ghost mouse lives in my kitchen. I don’t mind it so much; it doesn’t get into my food, it doesn’t leave droppings…in essence, it’s the perfect pest. But, every time I walk into my kitchen, I swear I see a mouse on top of my kitchen cabinets. It’s one of those things that I see for a split-second out of the corner of my eye, and upon further inspection, the mouse is never there.

Rationally, I think that all I’m seeing is a dark spot from my eyeglasses against the corner of my kitchen cabinets. (Yes, I’ve put a lot of time and thought into these ghost mouse theories.) It’s driven me crazy enough to actually get a chair and investigate the top of my cabinets for evidence of real mouse or ghost mouse existence, which I’ve done twice now.

I’ve even tried to sneak up on this invisi-mouse, hiding around the corner and then jumping out to see the upper cabinets. The mouse isn’t real. This I’m sure of. However, it doesn’t explain why I’m always seeing what I believe to be a mouse every time I enter my kitchen.

Ghost mouse doesn’t leave signs of his or her existence; I feel at times like it’s my little guardian mouse-angel, keeping an eye out for me. As long as I don’t find a young family of mice living off my breadcrumbs, I guess I’ll allow ghost mouse to coexist with me.