Fear in Different Sizes

“I SAW IT! JOHN ZIP UP THE SUITCASE! IT RAN 
INSIDE THE SUITCASE! I SAW IT!” The shriek from my 
mother ripped through the 4:00 morning air of Grand Tetons National Park. 
Groaning, I rolled over and blinked in the glare of the lamp Mom 
had turned on in her fright. Unfortunately, I had to share a room 
with my parents while my brothers shared the only other room in 
our small cabin.  

“Umm...can anyone tell me what is going on?” I asked  sleepily. Dad had leaped out of bed and zipped up my parents’ open suitcase. Mom sat huddled on the bed, shaking in fear. She pointed a trembling finger at the suitcase where Dad stood uncertainly, wondering what to do next.

“A mouse just ran into the suitcase!” she said shakily.

“Oh, Mom!” I groaned, “This is what you woke me up about?”

“Sorry!” Mom gave me a teary smile.

“Maybe we should try to get some sleep,” Dad interjected.

“OK,” Mom said with a wary look on her face, “but I am going to wear my shoes.” Snickering, I turned my face to the wall of the cabin, intent on getting more sleep. 

The mouse had not decided to go back to sleep and scrambled frantically in the suitcase. Worried, Mom sat up. “John, uh, maybe we should try and get the mouse out before it chews up our clothes,” she said carefully.

“IN THE CABIN?!” Dad almost shrieked.

“Of course not!” Mom said in a horrified voice. “I meant outside!” A very loud laugh sounded from my side of the room. Dad took the suitcase outside, while Mom sat hunched on the bed, tennis-shoes on both feet. 

Dad knocked on the door, “Honey, can you get these clothes? I can’t lay them on the ground.” Timidly, Mom walked to the door and opened it a crack. Dad pushed a shirt through the tiny crack and Mom snatched it, then slammed the door shut. She leaned against the door and sighed heavily. This was repeated several times, until Mom, standing by the door, her eye pressed to the  crack, jumped back, screamed and ran to the bed. I dissolved into laughter. Watching Mom jump in pajamas and tennis-shoes unto a bed isn't a sight I get to see every day. The mouse had exited the suitcase and this had caused the amazing spectacle of Mom jumping onto her bed. 

Finally, we settled down and tried, once again, to get some sleep. This did not work and we were all up at 5:00 am, packing our lunch for the day’s hike. After alerting the park service of our predicament we set off on a lovely hike with the promise that all the mice would be gone when we returned.

After walking about a mile or so, we came around a bend into a clearing. There, a bear sat calmly eating berries.Talking and laughing, five of us passed the bear without noticing him, until my oldest brother, bringing up the rear pointed and said calmly, “Look, Dad,there’s a bear.” Dad had his bear spray out in a second while Mom calmly took out her camera and began snapping pictures, walking a bit closer to get a better focus.

“MOM, what ARE you doing?!” I demanded in a loud whisper. Just then the scene flashed through my mind of Mom, sitting hunched on a bed in her pajamas and tennis-shoes, scared all because of a little mouse. All of a sudden, I had a very big urge to laugh, but I resisted until after we had dragged Mom safely away from the bear. As we continued on our hike, I decided that fear just comes in different sizes!   

     Ali~