They Called Her Mouse Lady!

 Grandma Lu was finally settling down after the mouse attack. She grinned to herself and thought, "Old lady, you let that little bitty mouse get you all upset. Now you have a mission to get done. You have the precious journal with you and you need to get back on the road."

Just as she was pulling out onto the two lane highway her phone rang. It was her husband. "Hey girl. You are the talk of the town at least in the cafe you are. I decided to come over for an ice cream and you and the mouse was all everyone was talking about. Are you alright? They said you almost went in the ditch."

"Yes, I'm alright, but that little thing just kept running across the dash and then he'd hide in the defrost thing and drove me about crazy. Some nice young man got him out for me though so I'm just about to get back on the road."

"No, I want you to stop at a shop there on the county highway. They'd better check out the air filter. That mouse just might have a family in your car. So do that before you get on the big highway, okay?"

Nothing irritated Grandma Lu like a delay or change in her plans. She had her schedule all planned. This was not a fun trip. She was going to Texas and go to her lawyer's office and get that mining company stopped in it's tracks. She hated to delay her trip, but she also did not want to have to deal with another little stowaway in the dash of her car either. "Oh, alright, but I'm not a bit happy about this, Fran. I guess you are right. Mom always said, ' Where you see one mouse, there is a dozen more.' I hope she's wrong this time. I have to get going and get this done so I can get back home. I'll call you later and let you know what they said. Love you!"

Her husband shook his head and grinned. That wife of his kept him on his toes for sure. He finished his ice cream and went back home. He had chores to do and a dog to tend to. She'd be back home soon.

Grandma Lu knew about the shop that her husband was talking about. She knew it was just a few miles up the road. She'd have the car checked out and be done with it. She pulled into the driveway. There were several cars there. She hoped that they would have time to check the car. She walked in the door and a woman at the counter said, "Are you the mouse lady?" Well Grandma Lu straightened her hat and said, "Well for goodness sakes, why did you ask that?" People in the waiting room were grinning and snickering as they waited to hear what she had to say.

"Your husband called and said that you would be stopping. It will be a few minutes, but we can check under the hood and make sure that the mouse didn't do any damage and get you on your way. I hear you are headed for Texas."

A man and woman were sitting in the waiting room and told her that they had come through Texas on the way to Missouri. "Oh that's nice. Are you on vacation? Grandma Lu asked. They told her that they had been touring the country and their motor home had broken down and were at the shop to get it fixed. Grandma Lu noticed that the woman was a bit nervous. When she would start to speak her husband (she presumed) would interrupt her and would take over the conversation. Grandma Lu didn't like that, but was glad she didn't have to put up with that at her house.

 People were coming and going at the shop. They would pay their bills and grumble about how much they were getting charged. She was starting to get annoyed with the wait and continued to watch the woman across the room as she also checked the time on her phone.

"Hmm, I wonder what is going on with that couple. I just feel something isn't right; not at all. The woman has little beads of sweat on her forehead, but it's rather cool in here. Besides that he has beady eyes. Oh well, I'm sure everything is fine.  You just need to but out of this, old woman. You have places to go and a job to get done so you can get on with your life."

After a bit the lady at the desk said, "You had a busy mouse in your car. He completely tore up your air filter. We had to replace that and of course, the labor charge. That will be forty eight dollars." Grandma Lu silently sighed and paid the bill. She was anxious to get on her way. The day was getting late. She was going to have to stop for the night after this delay. When she was getting herself in the car she noticed the couple walk over to a rather large motor home. "Well, hopefully they have a good trip. I'm sure that young lady is alright. I'm just imagining things. I write way too many stories. But I didn't like the look in that man's eyes when he looked at the young woman; like he was controlling her."

As she made her way down the road singing along to the radio she didn't notice that the motor home was a car or two behind her.

There's A Mouse On The Loose!

 Grandma Lu tried unsuccessfully to stop the tears as she drove out of her beloved small town. Here she had made so many friends; both young and old. Marleewood was her dream place. How she loved to tell her stories to the youngsters, but today she was leaving to head to Texas. She had to deal with the legacy of the Dude Ranch which without her intervention would be made into a strip  mining disaster. She was leaving with a red face of embarrassment. She hated the fact that folks now knew about the stepbrother that was in prison for swindling folks out of their hard earned money. "That pretty much ruins my reputation as a good person. My mother always said that you were known by the company that you keep. Well, so much for that. Folks will get over it I suppose." As she rounded the last curve headed out of town she let out a scream of terror! "No! no! no! Get out of here! You are going to cause me to go in the ditch! No you don't. Mercy, mercy! Where can I stop and get you out of here? There's the little old church at the cemetery. I'll stop there and force you out of the car, mister or whatever you are."

Her heart was beating so fast she thought she was going to have a heart attack. He was running up and down on the dash. Then he just sat there staring at her and let out a little squeak. "I just know that you will run up my leg. Eek, where are you now? I know what I'll do. I'll fix you." She got in the back seat and grabbed two of her old sweaters. "There that should fix you!" as she stuffed the last sweater as tight as she could against the windshield. She got back in the car and thought. "This will never do. There is no one at the church but somebody's cow. He didn't seem to care that she was screaming her head off. "It's just plain silly to be scared of a little mouse. I don't care! I have had a really bad day!" She started running around the car and opening the doors trying to get that mouse out of the car.

A little girl said, "Mom, what is wrong with Grandma Lu? She's running around her car and hopping and jumping all around. Is she okay? Should we stop?"

Her mom slowed down, but said, "I think she's alright. Remember we have to get to the dentist's office in just a few minutes. I'll call her when we get you checked in to make sure she's alright, okay?" 

Across the road from the cemetery Kia and Sage were watching the show. "Kia said, "You know, Sage, I thought this trip visiting the grandparents and all was really going to be boring, but this is quite a show! I wonder who will win, the mouse or that old lady."

"I know that lady. She's a good person. We really should go over there and chase that thing out of her car. I don't think she can do it by herself." 

"No, we can't go across the road. The humans get all upset when we do that. We can just keep an eye on her and get help if we think she needs it." So they sat and watched instead of playing ball.

After the dentist's appointment and a wonderful cavity free checkup, their mom treated her little girl and her brother to an ice cream along with a promise to keep up the good work with brushing and flossing. There was another family there too discussing Grandma Lu. "Did you see her drive out of town? She was driving like a crazy woman? Is she sick? What in the world is going on with her? First the new sheriff arrested that man by her house and then she left and didn't even go to her own party. I just don't understand her. Maybe we should pay our bill and go check on her. I wonder where she was going and why she was driving like that."

Two men were sitting down at the end of the counter chuckling when they over heard the conversation about Grandma Lu's driving. "She actually drove down to our shop on the highway and offered us twenty dollars to get it out of the car for her. Of course, we did it for nothing, but she was really upset."

"Get what out of the car for her? asked Grandma Lu's husband. She just left a few minutes ago. What's going on?"

After he understood the situation and laughed, "She does not like mice, that's for sure." Then everyone laughed and shook their heads and some agreed that they would have paid someone to take a mouse out of their car too. Some said, "I would have walked back to town and some said, "You just gotta love her." 

Soon everyone in Grandma Lu's small town knew about the mouse that was on the loose. Where did that mouse go? Two curious people wondered that knew Grandma Lu very well. They were sure there would be a story someday to go along with this latest adventure.