And it's Not Even 6:00 A.M.

     When I can't sleep, as is often the case, I get up and turn on the computer, and read or write stories. Since I no longer have any deadlines to meet or any reason to be up and out early, I don't mind being sleepless, and find it rather comforting to while away my time, alone in the kitchen area. But this morning I was not quite alone. Maybe had stayed in because she'd switched her focus from staring under the oven door to peering under the dishwasher. After all these years, almost a decade, of having a mouse-free house, two mice have met their doom inside our house. I've heard if you see one mouse, that means there are a lot more, some very high number which I can't recall. A hundred, could be. So we let the cat stay in our living area.
     While at the computer, in the very early morning hours, I heard a crash. Maybe had leapt up onto the sink, and a few nearby items went flying. As I ran to the sink, Maybe jumped down. She knows she's not supposed to be there, and strictly obeys that rule, usually. I looked into the sink and saw a mouse, which, I say with shame, always makes me scream. I'm not really scared of mice. The mouse ran along the counter and out of sight. I tried to get the cat to pursue it, but she slunk away, afraid of being in trouble for being on the counter, or more accurately, in the sink.
      I hadn't had breakfast yet, usually a blueberry waffle, but the thought of using any dish or appliance that might have had mouse contact made me lose my appetite anyway. I'm not a fastidious housekeeper by any means, but rodent leavings are a different story. I grabbed the spray bottle of anti-bacterial cleaner from the counter, and a few old towels and started cleaning everything in sight. I loaded the dishwasher with everything that could go in it, including a few items that probably shouldn't. I threw away the old bread, washed the breadbox and the wall behind it.
      Then I remembered seeing a package of unused mousetraps in the storage area of the family room and retrieved them. Before settling down again at the computer, I set a mousetrap, the old fashioned kind with the lever. I may have set a few traps back in the old days, but I have to say it seemed like a new experience for me. First of all, the tension is very strong, likely to snap a little mouse right in two, I thought. I also had the thought that it was capable of severing a human finger if one were unlucky enough to land in its grip. I did incur a side-snap and a bruise on the side of my right middle finger, but no major damage. I dabbed a bit of peanut butter on the target and slid the set trap into the freshly sanitized area behind the breadbox.
      It's still early and I went back to the computer, researching some improbable fact or such. Not twenty minutes later, over the sound of the dishwasher, I heard a snap, quite a loud snap. Aha, I thought, and waited. But I did not hear the sound of silence, but of a thrashing around. Death spasms, I thought, and hoped. But no, the sounds persisted--10, 20, 30 minutes passed, and more. Not a sure hit, must be the mouse has a paw caught, or maybe two paws. I had visions of the mouse crawling out on its back legs, with bloody stumps where it had gnawed off its trapped front paws. Nothing happened. Except the sporadic thrashing sounds.
      I've got to do something. I go outside, find a large bucket, turn on the hose, half-fill it with water. I put on a pair of rubber gloves, locate and don a face mask (from a pack David sent us during some kind of epidemic). I gingerly pull aside the breadbox. I try not to look but can't help but see that the mouse is caught by its arm and shoulder. I reach in with my gloved hand, and deposit mouse and trap in the bucket of water. That should do it, I think. But no again. The wood in the trap is made of some type of light wood, balsa maybe or just a light pine. Anyway, whatever wood it is floats. And the little mouse is using it like a surf board, holding its head above water, and using its other legs to swim around.
     WHAT WOULD YOU DO NOW?