Story of the Day 1/ 15/ 2012

Mice.

Yes, I was speaking with Aaron and the topic came up.
Again.

There are still mice in the dorm, despite the cats that some of the students have imported from the streets and alleys near the yeshivah, despite the $70 worth of fancy mouse traps that Aaron’s mother mailed off to Israel ( she is including postage costs in that hefty estimate), despite the two mouse traps that Aarons’ mother sent off with Rabbi Cowen when he went to visit his brother in Sfat, and which Aaron took the bus to collect. ( Okay, he also took the bus because when went to visit Rabbi Cowen’s brother, also known as Rabbi Cowen, he went to visit and to eat well.)

Despite all of these measures, (oh, and how could I have forgotten the Nike shoe-box catch and release trap? ).... Despite all these measures, the mice are still scampering happily around the yeshivah. And there have been complaints.

About the mice.



As it turns out, Aaron was not the only student bothered by the mice.

Nor was Aaron- the other Aaron, who is Aaron’s roommate- this Aaron being the one who was awakened by a mouse scampering over his face at 3 AM, the only other student bothered by the mice.

Other students, some of whom may have even had names other than Aaron, have been complaining. Not just catching cats and buying their own mousetraps, but complaining.



So, This Sunday, an exterminator arrived.

He went through the yeshivah, or at least through the dorm, and while in Aaron’s room, he told Aaron and Aaron that the traps were better positioned against the baseboard. You see, in addition to my son’s learning disability, the one where the word that is printed “ REEBOK” is read as the word “Nike”, my son was somehow unable to read the instructions that came with the mouse traps. Those being the instructions that tell you to place the traps by the baseboards, along the wall.



In addition to repositioning the mouse traps, the exterminator also spread rat poison throughout the dorm.

I am sure this is causing a bit of unease with the rabbi who made the catch and release trap from the" Nike" shoe box. To be honest, it is bothering me a bit, as well.

You see, there are two basic kinds of rat poison.

There is the kind that most people use.

The rats and mice eat it. It causes them to die.

The problem is that it causes them to go back to their nests and die.

And then it starts to smell.

Really bad.

Really, really bad.

Of course, eventually, the smell goes away.



The other kind causes the rats and mice to go out in search of water. In that case they tend to die out in search of water, outside, in a visible area, not inside the walls or the crawlspace or the…..and the smell Is not in the bedrooms and classrooms and cafeteria.

Unfortunately, this second kind of poison is not the kind that is usually used.



Aaron, after all, is deaf. That means his ears do not work.

He is , however, Jewish, and he has a very fine nose that does work.



I think my next box will contain a supply of nose plugs. For Aaron . And Aaron .