Our family home is a somewhat large, two story house by the ocean. A few years ago my brother, SH retired and returned to live there. My mother who was in her late eighties at the time and had Macular Degeneration  used to walk slowly and really move close to everything so she could better see. She would quite frequently go to the kitchen window and peer out over the back garden and into the cove. My mother also wore what I call ‘boot slippers’……. ankle high, lined with fleece and quite easy to put on. She used to shuffle around the house issuing orders and requests to all who were near.

My sister who was visiting one day thought she saw a mouse/shrew in the porch and of course this just wouldn’t do!

When I heard the story of the mouse, I found it quite hilarious and so I wrote this nonsense verse.

Dottie the Mouse

Harry and his mummy lived in a big house by the sea.

“Oh Harry”, says mummy “you must take care of me!”

 “I’ve heard a strange sound from the stairs below.”

 “I wonder what it could be…..”

“I don’t suppose you would go………”

“Yes, Mummy dearest”, says Harry with a sigh.

“Whatever shall I do? Oh my, oh my!”

and down the stairs he went

(using a few choice words to vent!)

Suddenly a little critter scurried to and fro

A mouse to catch, a job for a real pro!

Sticky traps were quickly bought

 so that mummy wouldn’t be too distraught.

They were placed around the basement floor

And Harry wondered, should he use more?

“Maybe just one near the kitchen wall”, said he.

“Just in case one climbed the stairs and we didn’t see!”

Everything was done and away Harry went.

Mummy shuffled to the window and over she bent.

And that very day, in their very own house,

Harry caught his mummy, Dottie the mouse!

Carol Fudge

Nonsense & Whimsy, 2005

A few years later, I bought two little mice for my daughters and made a little booklet with the poem. Every year Dottie the Mouse is placed in their homes at Christmas time. Eventually I found my mouse and every Christmas, Dottie is placed somewhere in my house, this year in the Christmas Tree.

Eventually, other mice were bought and my sister and  nieces acquired Dotties of their own…..I can hear mummy grumbling now!

Wishing everyone great treks and tales for Christmas 2016!