The Great Gerbil Escape...

The setting -

I have been watching Alias w/Jennifer Garner for the last two weeks. For those of you who have never watched the show it is all about spies, murder and intrigue. I had just watched 4 episodes, so I am already nervous (hey, you never know when Russian spies are going to infiltrate your home), it is 12:30 a.m., Wes is still at work.

Everyone remember I am rattled from watching Alias!

I go upstairs to go to bed and start my routine. I plug the cell phone into the cord by the bed and I hear something move...I tell myself that my mind is just playing tricks on me. I go and turn off the light and I hear something move under the bed...again I tell myself that some of my storage (we keep boxes and what-not under the bed) just settled. I lay down in bed and I hear something run from the head of the bed to the the foot. I was out of my bed and into the hallway faster than the speed of light. First I thought bomb (Alias...I know, irrational) than I came to my senses and thought snake. For those of you who know my fear of snakes you know I would rather have a bomb under my bed. That did not make sense either because I heard scampering...so I thought mouse. Just so you all know, I am sometimes not the sharpest knife in the drawer. The gerbils' cage is right beside me in the hallway. I look to my left and I only see Indiana Jones. I go over their cage and shake it a bit and start calling Mocha and low and behold, NO MOCHA!!!! She did it, all the exercising and plotting finally paid off...she escaped. Don't ask me how she did it or if she had an accomplice (Hannah) but she achieved her maniacal plan.

I am going to tell you a secret...you can not call a gerbil like you call a dog. For a good 5 minutes I was using my call your dog voice, and then she finally appeared (when I stopped) from underneath the bed and stared right at me as if to say HA, HA, HA...I am now going to take over the world!!! I threatened to go and get the vacuum if she did not back in her cage.
Well I guess I was being much louder than I thought I was because Audrey comes down the hall to see what I was doing (1:00 in the morning) and I tell her we need to get Mocha back where she belongs before Daddy gets home. So for the next 30+ minutes Audrey and I are trying to wrangle the gerbil from underneath the bed. I finally cornered her and trapped her in her ball, and kept her there until I could examine the cage for her escape route...who knows maybe she dug a tunnel. I sent Audrey back to bed thankful that I was not alone in my paranoia and gave Mocha Joe a stern lecture. I don't think she was listening to me because she had that glazed look in her eyes like the words were going in one ear and out the other. Lets just hope that this is the last of Mocha Joe's adventures.

(After using the interrogation skills I learned from watching Alias I finally got Mocha Joe's accomplice to crack. Steven the 8 yr old we have been babysitting for the summer, gave the gerbils something to chew on and did not make sure the door was closed, case closed. I wonder how much Mocha paid him?)