January 10 – “The Adventures of Mighty Mouse and the Shiftless Shoelace Man”

Nathan had called earlier in the day to see if we could be on call to pick up Cailyn from school.  He had arranged for some fire fighter buddies to help him move some things to their new house and wasn’t sure they could get away on time.  About ten minutes before school let out, Chris remembered that we were on call, so I texted Nathan to see if we were on.  And we were.  Yikes.  Glad Chris thought about it.

We went straight from the school over to the new house, and they were just arriving with a big load in several pickup trucks.  Chris disappeared up the stairs with Cailyn, so I offered to help unload.  They were kind to the old weak dude.  I carried in three couch cushions and the pet fish.  Exhausting work, this moving.  Much more difficult than I remembered.  I was pretty impressed with one spectacle in particular.  Four of those guys actually picked up, and lowered off a pickup truck, and carried to the garage … a refrigerator.  No appliance dolly.  Just brute force.  As I said before, more difficult than I remembered.

And that refrigerator held the source of another story that I truly wish I had been on hand to experience in person.  After the guys had the straps in place and lifted the fridge from its resting place at the old house, it became immediately apparent that they had disturbed a long-time residential property.  And the current occupant was none too happy about the abrupt eviction - with no notice whatever, I might add.  Prepared to present his defense in the only way he knew how, the tiny little squatter left his hallowed abode and made an initial attack on the interlopers.  Actually it was more of a “I will now rush across the shoelaces to let you know I am not happy” kind of statement.  And the Miniature Mound of Muscle, the … Mighty Mouse … made his point.  Shady Shoelace Man recognized at once that he was in peril for his very … ankle?  And he screamed.  Witnesses at the scene described that sound as blood-curdling, ear-piercing, terror-stricken.  Actually, there was just the one witness who came forward, and his words were closer to “like a little girl,” but you get the message, right?  No apparent damage was done to the refrigerator (Oh, did I mention that Shady Shoelace Man dropped it in his all-out desire to bid a hasty retreat from the afore-mentioned well-organized, mini-monstrous charge?).   It took some time to recover, as I am sure you understand, but Mighty Mouse is resilient if nothing else.  He will be fine.  He will find a new home, hopefully far from the clutches of evil, shoelace-wearing intruders.  Oh.  Shiftless Shoelace Man eventually recovered as well.  The fridge did make its way to Nathan’s new house.  Stayed in the garage, though.  After all, no one knew for sure what became of the tiny terror of the toes. 

And then there was that cat.  The one that showed up after the fridge was in place in its new digs.  Cat’s name was Fatty.  Fatty roamed the garage as the moving team took an extended break.  And Fatty was drawn by the irresistible scent of his natural enemy straight to the rear of that refrigerator – straight to the former home of Mighty Mouse.  Sorry, Fatty.  You’ll have to resume your search elsewhere.  No mouse here.  He was displaced, and just in time, by the antics of Shabby Shoelace Man and his crew.  So what looked to be disaster turned instead into a chance for Mighty Mouse to live to attack other shoelaced invaders another day.

Psalms 33:20-21 says, “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.”

Father, thank you for those friends that showed up to help Nathan and April yesterday, both those with two legs and those with four.  Watch over them today as they spend time with their families or head back into work.  Amen.