Strange Incident-1

Last evening, Pongal cleaning was underway. I was busy plying the pitchers downstairs to wash the steps, the next morning. 

"Mahaaa...."

Came my mom's shriek with a tremor, when the pitcher was halfway through to be full. It was so ominous that I closed the water tap in a jiffy and went rushing to her. When I climbed down a flight of stairs, I saw my mom standing puzzled looking at the cardboard box in which we keep our slippers. The broomstick in her hand had been wet. I could spot a weird sense of distress in her face besides a muggy smell wafting from the box, that made me cringe my face. 

"Mmmaaa...Wwwhat?...." I asked matching her tension drenched voice. 

"See this atrocity!", said my mom without the usual life in her voice. I climbed down further to peep into the box. To my annoyance, the box had been holed in the bottom and the slippers had been spread across the floor clumsily. For a split second I couldn't make out anything. When I peered deeper I could find some tiny mice wiggling inside the box. There were at least ten of them, all less than two inches; most probably just-borns. When they came out of the box through the hole, my mom prodded them one by one back to another box with a strange worry in her eyes.

It was so funny to see those tiny tots struggling to get on the dust pan. They were in a still faint condition and had no motivation to survive. Just got along with my mom's proddings. My heart leaped to see those baby like mice being strayed. 

"What's this, mma?", I asked equally baffled. "That mouse!!!", my mom let out with displeasure. 

"Why are you so dull? Wipe them all away... See they have nibbled the bike cover too!!!", I barked irritably. But my mother didn't respond. As if she liked playing with those little mice, she went on prodding them back into the box all the while seeming worried. When I asked for the reason she told that their mother was missing. Had the mother been alive she would have visited these mice. 

"When did you start communicating with mice?", I asked jokingly. My mother didn't stir. She reminded me of what I did three days before...

(To be continued...)