Mouse in the printer!

Before you assume I am a Zany inventor of a mouse operated printer or a TC who managed to insert the mouse inside my precious laser printer, let me clarify..

A real mouse got into my printer!! A tiny mouse, which I would call cute if I wasn't Animal-phobic... My animal phobia encompasses all species of animals from rats to pigeons to dogs... I am just plain scared of them...

Anyway, back to the story of the printer....

I landed home yesterday.. and saw all things which used to lie about on the floor, propped up on stools. It wasn't a sudden cleaning spree, I was told, just a reaction to little mice, which were sharpening their teeth on our things.

There I digress again....

I woke up today, and switched on my computer and went off to brush my teeth... When I came back and logged on to Gtalk.. I heard thak-thak.. the sound that Yahoo Messenger makes when someone comes online... another thak-thak... and another one..
Subah Subah itne log online kyon hain.... its a Monday morning...

I know all of you have figured out that the mouse was knocking inside the printer, and all this build-up is wasteful...

So, I opened the printer cover.. and the tiny fellow peeped out... light brown, smaller in length than my little finger.I shut the cover again in horror, to collect all my courage to open it again and peep in.I had no option; it nibbled at something inside my mom's precious laser printer, my fear of the mouse won't count as a good enuff excuse...

The mouse had gone deep inside the printer, only its wagging tail was visible..

I made my next logical move... screamed at the top of my voice!!!! Our maid servan, Sarasa came to my rescue... You see, she knows my usual routine for animal emergencies, so her first question was.. "kahaan??"

By that time, I had pulled out the printer cords, and got as far away as I could from the printer and the mouse, and was standing up on my bed. Sarasa is usually very competent in such situations but she had never seen a printer before.

She lifted the printer and walked out, placing it on the floor outside the house entrance. As soon as someone takes charge, I get lots of courage. So I followed her.

Method 1: Cajole
We called to the Mouse in the printer, wishing all the while that it understands Hindi/Tamil, listens to us and gets out. Predictably, this method failed.

Method 2:Threaten
Sarasa decided to poke the mouse with a thin stick and coax it out. This only made the mouse search for and hide in unreachable depths inside the printer.

Method 3: Bait
I frantically searched the refrigerator for foods mouse would like. Only found a bowl of papaya. I reasoned, that I don't like papaya, so the mouse must love it. I placed a piece on the edge of the printer cover. I and Sarasa settled down, squatting on the floor near the printer, attracting weird looks from passersby. Unfortunately, mouse did not find the papaya too tempting, so it persisted in its hiding place.

Next food to be tried was Mysore Pak, which also met with the same result.

Method 4: Shake Out
One passerby now stopped and began to laugh at our futile exercises, and decided to help out. He took the printer and started shaking it vigorously, face down, so that the mouse would fall out. I was damn scared, for the mouse (my friend by now), and the printer.. because he was holding the printer outside the second floor lobby of my flat.

The mighty mouse clung to the printer and hung on, till this fellow gave up.

Lest more people stop by, and try crazy tricks, we carried the printer into the house.

Method 5:Let It Be

We kept the printer in the balcony, and placed the Mysore Pak there too. then we went about our work. About 10 minutes later, the mouse peeked out cautiously. And being satisfied, it ran out of the printer, and began to devour the Sweet. By the time we reached to pick up the printer, it ran into the printer again!!!

3 more trials of "let it be" were performed, and 3 more pieces of precious Mysore Pak were placed at increasing distances. Distance optimization had to be applied here. Too far away, the mouse would not be able to sniff it out. Too near, we would not have the time to decamp with the printer, on which the mouse had by now, laid an ownership claim.

Finally, 2 hours after the discovery of the mouse, it left its snug quarters and we restoed the printer to its rightful place, covering it with 3 layers of plastic.

Phew!