Episode 1 -- MY NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE

By Edgar Littlefellow

To introduce myself, I am a formerly homeless diminutive field mouse.   My fur is an attractive light brown, my eyes soulful, my ears protuberant.

For years I lived the life of a vagrant in the woods next to George Washington’s magnificent house.  Life was tough.  Many an anxious night I shivered under fallen logs dreaming of central heat.  Time and again shaking with fear, I dodged ferocious snakes, foxes, owls.  But today by the grace of Our Good Lord and a blessed opportunity to stow away in a sack of donated groceries, I now reside only a mile from Mount Vernon in a three-story building called Rising Hope Mission Church.  It has a tall white cross out front and is Methodist.

Here I occupy a comfortable mouse hole in the Rev. Keary Kincannon’s study.  The day I gnawed my doorway into his baseboard, he was hard at work writing one of his thundering sermons.  So absorbed in God’s work was he that he did not notice me on the floor gnawing.  These sermons I came to realize after sniffing around some are quite famous among the humans who flock to the sanctuary on Sundays.

Other days, during the week, the church aids the needy along Route 1.  Being a scrawny field mouse I’m all for that.  Not only are there chapel services every day at noon, at which I’ve become quite spiritually inspired, tiny as my soul may be, but there’s employment help and emergency aid for keeping humans out of trouble.  Then there’s the Milk and Honey Food Pantry where people line up for free groceries.  Just a short hop across the hall is the Rags to Riches Clothes Closet where people can pick out free clothing.  Too bad they all can’t be furry like me; it would solve so many problems.

Also there’s the Rock Solid Soup Kitchen where folks after chapel get a free hot lunch.  After Sunday service there’s a free hot lunch too.  For many of these humans, these are the only regular meals they can depend on.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the whole world could be more like Rising Hope!  Gnaw on that for a while.

Well there I was boring a hole in his baseboard.  Once I thought I detected him watching me with kind blue eyes and smiling slightly.  But when I quickly glanced his way, his eyes were back on the screen of his laptop.

Not that I’m a lot to notice.  I am only two inches long not counting my wispy tail.  Nor do I tower at slightly more than seven-eighths inch in height.  My pink ears add another half inch.  Not to brag, but I’m proud of my ears.

Rev. Kincannon however is so tall that looking up at him is like looking up an oak tree.  He’s a big jolly man well over six feet.  He clomps around in cowboy boots too, so I can always hear him coming.  Some folks call him “Pastor Dude,” so I suspect he used to be a Hippy.  Other folks call him “Pastor Keary.”

Soon after gnawing out my doorway and moving into my mouse hole, I learned that working with him is a very pleasant Englishwoman, Kay Barnes, who is director of missions.  She makes sure that everything runs just perfect.  I like her British accent.  If I could talk I’d like to talk like that even though I’m a Southern mouse.  I discovered her office is next to the Pastor’s study.  Every day she wears a proper dress and stockings and high heels. 

I should mention here that house mice of bad reputation are known to dash up a lady’s legs and cause them to scream.  But I am a field mouse and don’t behave like this.  House mice are gray with shifty eyes.  But being a field mouse, my fur is a pleasing shade of light brown as I previously mentioned and my eyes are large and soulful.  And unlike rascally house mice, my habits are sanitary.  House mice too will crawl around on kitchen counters, horrifying housewives, but I stay on the floor, most of the time.

It was this past Pentecost Sunday that I first met Pastor Keary and Kay face-to-face.  Just after the joyful worship service which I observed crouched under a front row chair, he was seated in his study behind his tidy desk resting a little.  Kay sat on the couch under the window, her legs crossed.  I poked my nose out my mouse hole eavesdropping.

“You know, Keary,” she said, “we really must figure out a way to publicize the Family Fun Fair and do it quick.  Saturday, June 29, is just around the corner.  People need to know what a joy this is going to be for their families.  And it’s all free—food, games, the Moon Bounce.”

The pastor nodded. “Dynamite live music too. But how can we get the word out?”

“I’m unsure.  Shall we pray on it?”

No sooner had they bowed their heads when my mouse hole shook.  An unseen force propelled me out into the center of the floor!  I heard Kay holler.  

“EEEKKK!  A mouse!”  

I trembled.  From high above, they looked down at me.  Pastor Keary looked amused, but Kay was terrified.  He got up and came around his desk.  I wanted to reassure her, to calm her, so I ran up to her feet.

Her eyes sprung wide.  “Dear God!  Don’t let it scamper up my legs!”

Struggling to speak, I sat up on my hind legs and went “Squeak!  Squeak!  Squeak!”  This only fueled her agitation.  She lifted her feet.  “Step on him, Keary!”

I eyed his huge cowboy boots.  Had my time come?

(To Be Continued)

The Family Fun Fair, free food and games for all, starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, June 29, and goes to 2:00 p.m.

Visit Rising Hope online at http://www.risinghopeumc.org/index.php.  Better yet, come in person anytime or come to the Open House in September.

Want to volunteer or donate?  Visit Rising Hope Tuesdays through Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  8220 Russell Road, Alexandria VA 22307.  703-360-1976

And the King will tell them," I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of my brothers and sisters,
you were doing it to Me!"

                                                                            (Matthew 25:40)