Small footsteps scurry along the hallway, quickly, yet surely, avoiding obstacles in its path: a lost paper, discarded tissue or dropped snack. A tiny body, squeezes through the cracks and crevices of classroom doors, seemingly searching for something. Perhaps revenge? Or maybe attention… both of which it has accomplished once again at South Windsor High School.
With the current school year, the widely known “Mouse in the Clubhouse” was forgotten…until now.
On February 4th, the mouse was spotted again, scampering through the English hallway. While students were making their way to first period, the mouse was entering classrooms and bathroom stalls seeking shelter from the bustling crowded hallway.
“[The mouse] came out of the bookroom, came outside and then went down the hallway,” English teacher, Mrs. McCullough told The Prowl.
Perhaps a lover of literature, the small creature has been noticed to favor the English hallways, with the majority of its appearances taking place in the surrounding areas, and remnants of himself left behind in the bookroom as evidence of his visits. As a result, the English department has stayed vigilant, while the occasional shriek has been heard erupting from a room while the rest of the building remained unscathed.
The most recent mouse sighting was on the morning of February 6th in English teacher, Mr. Dalton Hawie’s room. The mouse has been a regular in room 125, reducing the typical surprising effect it had during previous school years, allowing it to take on a storybook character-like presence with his 10th grade friends.
“He’s like a modern day Robin Hood if you really think about it,” Mr. Hawie said.
While some are unsure as to why the mouse has chosen to return now, there is certainly no shortage of rumors circulating. Is there a community of small mammals in the rodent family Muridae holding book club meetings in the lockers that line the 130 hallway?
Regardless, with the record-breaking frigidness of its typical outdoor home, the mouse is most likely seeking shelter in the building, conveniently discovering discarded candy and additional food remnants fueling its pursuit.
This tiny trespasser may also be a connoisseur of fine food as last year he was known to frequent the cafeteria.
The controversy of the hallowed hallway hermit has caused upheaval for the English department who have heavy and heated emotions about their long-standing little ‘Haiku-ist’ making its Homeric journey through each of their classrooms.
And, while last year the faculty’s formal cry was to script his final chapter, this year, the sentiment towards this pint-sized protagonist has changed to “Let it eat cake!”
“It was cute and tiny,” English teacher Mrs. McCullough said.
And, “I recently watched Ratatouille, and my opinion has changed on the mouse,” Mrs. Onochie explained. “Now, I just want him to take his power back.”
While whispers of the rambunctious return of the rodent continue to wreak havoc in the high school halls, this Hamlet of the hallway has forced us all to recall our Shakespeare, “And though he be petite, he is persistent.”
