Whose mouse is this?

After having successfully captured our two little mice, the next stop was to ward off the inevitable begging that followed. "Can we keep them, Mrs. Mosiman," my 4th graders incessantly pleaded. "They're NOT pets," I stated firmly, ignoring how adorable they (the mice) were, "Let me introduce you to a new phrase: Cruel to be kind." We discussed how our little mice were wild creatures, not meant to be closed up in a cage. But one of many voices in my head was simultaneously pointing out that "Walt" and "Mickey" were actually raised in an environment of literature, love, laughter and learning. "But what are we going to do with them," my compassionate little crew of creature-rescuers wanted to know. "I'll release them into my neighbor's barn," I said into the sudden silence, pausing before adding, after a quick glance toward the window, "after it warms up a bit."

My friend, Geri, was incredulous. "You're doing wh-at?"  The mice were currently situated on her cluttered back counter as they were too much of a distraction in my own classroom. With Geri leading the charge, I was mocked for much of the day. After school, though, a shift occurred. My door was thrown open and Geri appeared, motioning me to follow her. "You have to see this," she exclaimed happily, "I thought it only happened in cartoons." We returned to the mouse motel where Geri carefully dropped in tiny pieces of cheese. "Walt" picked one up in his little paws and nibbled daintily at the Colby-Jack. Geri laughed, clapped her hands and then clasped them together beneath her chin as she proclaimed them "precious." It had happened...Geri was "mouse-merized."

I became aware of a problem over the course of the next hour. I passed my friend, Barb, in the hall. "Did you hear about our excitement," I asked. "You mean Geri's mice?" she said. I stopped in my tracks, staring at her. "What did you just say?" And it spread from there...the story of "Geri's" mice ran rampant through the school. Thus began one of the ugliest rodent custody battles of all time.