Bear with me...I'm a storyteller, and I include details, so my stories get long, but I like to build drama and suspense!

Last night, after my middle of the night potty break, I was too restless to get comfortable in bed, so to keep from disturbing dear husband I moved to the guest room.  I managed to fall asleep for awhile, but woke up to the sound of raindrops falling in an amazingly steady beat.  A few minutes of listening, and I realized it wasn't the rain after all, but sounded more like scampering...Origami (the sugar glider) exercising  in his wheel?  A few more minutes, and I could tell it wasn't coming from that far away, but more like running up and down the hallway.  Finally, I sat up in the bed and looked around in the dark, trying to identify the location of the noise.  Then I saw it...a mouse-like shadow running past the door up the hallway, and back down the hall, and up and down the hall again.  Now, Origami has never gotten out of his cage on his own before, and when he has escaped from us while out of his cage, he immediately goes up (anywhere high, like the curtain rod or a shelf, or coats on a coat rack), so I couldn't imagine him running around on the floor.  I just sat there in the dark, listening...

...until I had to go to the bathroom again.  For those of you who don't know how I react to mice, just let me say that I do one of two things: keep my feet off the floor or scream.  I waited until I was sure our little friend wasn't near the room and got up and turned the light on, then stood in the doorway looking for any signs of him.  When the coast was obviously clear, I darted across the hall to the bathroom..safe.  But getting back down the hall to our bedroom was a farther trek, so I stood in the bathroom doorway for several minutes listening to the scampering of little feet on the kitchen floor, until I mustered up the courage to get the hall light on and scamper back to bed myself.

You'd think once I was in my own room with the door closed and on the bed, I'd be okay...but you'd be wrong.  Now, every little sound echoed in my ear (including my husband's breathing and the raindrops that were still falling outside), and every little thing tickled my bare feet, so I couldn't lay down and put them that far away from the rest of me.  I sat up with my legs pulled close (yeah I should be sleeping, but that's not going to happen now!) and think about catching the pest: Gotta get a mouse trap, what kind?  I want it set asap, but Mark will be at work, so I'll have to do it myself.  What if the little thing gets caught during the day, I don't want to empty the trap, but I don't want to just leave it there.  If it isn't until Friday morning, Mark can empty it, but then we have until Monday before the trash goes out again.  Maybe he'll just take it outside...

Finally, the alarm goes off and I can tell Mark to be a man and go take care of our guest.  I turn on the bedroom light, put some shoes on, and slowly creep toward the living room, wherein Mark is trying to  catch Origami, who was out of his cage!  I guess we named him right:  One Rather Impish Glider AM I (ORIGAMI)!

Do you realize there's only one letter separating "pet" from "pest?"