Science Project

Every year since fourth grade, we had a science fair. You had to come up with an idea and make it work. Given my love for animals, I decided to create a mouse maze. Mom said, “No way are you bringing mice into this house.”

I responded, “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

I ran up to the farm and went straight into the house, asking Grandma if I could bring two white mice here for my science project. I told her a friend had them, and they were tame to hold. He also assured me he would give me either two males or two females. She asked me about my plans, and I told her I was going to train them in a maze. She agreed, so that weekend, I acquired the two white mice in a cage. I received some assistance in constructing the maze and began keeping a record of their progress. I wasn’t familiar with tame mice, but they would scurry up and down my arm. Everything was going well until I noticed that one of the mice was getting rounder. Indeed, I had two females, and one was pregnant. I informed Grandma, and she advised me to get another cage. It took some time for me to distinguish between the males and females. Eventually, I had ten cages, but only the first housed the tame mice. The rest contained wild mice, and I was unsure of what to do with them.

One Saturday morning, upon visiting the farm, Pop told me to see Grandma immediately. In the house, Grandma was frantic, exclaiming, “Someone let the cats in, quick!” I opened the door to a chaos of mice scampering all over the kitchen. “Open the door!” she instructed, knowing that the cats, which usually followed me, would be right outside. I inquired about the situation, and she responded that she wasn’t sure but needed to get the mice out. After the commotion settled, I entered the living room to find the doors of all the mouse cages open, except for the one containing my tame mice. Grandma never confessed to having opened the doors, but I suspected she must have done it. Moreover, she was the only one aware of which mice were the tame ones. However, the excess of mice was now under control, and the cats got a snack.