Mouse.

In the following weeks we started hearing much scritch-scratching in our apartment at night. We're pretty sure the noise is coming from inside the walls, where no doubt the beasts are destroying the insulation for their nests. It is most unsettling to wake up at 4 a.m. to the drywall-amplified sound of rodents gnawing at unknown objects. And it is especially hard to go back to sleep.

Two weeks after the first catch we were sitting in the bedroom watching a tape of ER when we saw an actual mouse run across the bedroom floor. It ran out from under the bird cage table (I'm not actually sure it ran; "darted" is a better word to describe the flight-like speed at which these things move) and under the bed.

We pulled things out from under the bed -- slowly. Dave pulled out the final box, which was full of sweaters and moth balls, and opened it slowly. There were mouse droppings and some unidentifiable shredded stuff. Aluminum foil? Insulation? Who knows.

Here comes the horror-movie part (imagine creepy music): Dave slowly pulled out a sweater and shook it, then another, and suddenly a mouse jumped out at him! We both screamed full-throttle. This was around midnight.

The thing darted around the room, first behind a dresser, back under the bed, then off to who knows where. At first we tried to corner it and catch it with a big box. This was a stupid, futile effort.

Lesson No. 2: Don't try to catch a mouse without a mouse trap.

The things can move damn fast.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4