No Good Deed Unpunished

Miguel hurried inside his apartment and closed the door, twisted the key and attached the chain before slumping to the floor. He doesn't spend too much time out in public since he was linked to a terrible incident that resulted in him becoming a wanted man. He has managed to avoid being recognised thus far by growing his beard and hair to lengths he's never worn before. Every time he leaves his apartment he rushes to the shop, speaks to as few people as possible whilst being as polite as he can. Almost every time he returns from the shop to the 'safety' of his apartment, his bag of groceries does exactly what it did on this occasion; in Miguel’s eagerness the bag is put down too quickly and thuds onto the kitchen tiles which resulted, this time, in several clementine’s rolling out of the bag and underneath the refrigerator.

"Aww man!" he called out with a sigh, while dragging himself off the floor to collect the bag and its contents. He placed the retrieved items onto the counter, sighing again as he shoved them back inside the bag, and then turned toward the fridge. Realising there were some items missing and sighing for a third time within a minute, Miguel dropped to his knees to look beneath the fridge to where some of the clementine’s had rolled to. They were at the back, central and against the wall. Miguel stood up and started to move the unit, but as he did the fridge started to make loud processing noises which startled the Spaniard. He stopped trying to move the fridge and with another, more prominent sigh hanging in his throat, he dropped back to the floor, and extended his arm out underneath the fridge, trying to grab the fruit. He couldn't quite reach them.

"Dammit! I can feel you, you little orange wannabes" he whispered as he extended his arm once more, managing to twist the fruit with his fingertips but not enough to push it in any particularly useful direction. Miguel sighed again (as you probably realise by now, this isn’t unusual for Miguel) this time as he pulled his arm out, he looked around for something he could use to extend his reach. "I will not be beaten", he said sternly. He glanced around his bare apartment and considered using the TV remote. He shook his head and looked toward the bathroom. His eyes widened and he rushed inside, returning to his small kitchen armed with the toilet roll stand. He dropped to his knees and placed the pointed bit underneath; it slid under fine, right up to the base, which is wide & circular, and therefore does not fit underneath the fridge sufficiently. He sighed (again) as he withdrew the holder, stamped his feet on the floor, and returned the toilet roll stand to the bathroom, feeling like the fool he probably is.

Miguel returned to the kitchen while scratching his head. His frown grew deeper as an itch spread to the middle of his back. He went over to the counter and grabbed a spatula that he then used to scratch the middle of his back. "Si" he let out as the itch had been scratched to his satisfaction. Now itch free he headed to the basin. As he began to place the spatula into the sink his metaphorical light bulb clicked. He hastily dropped to his knees and thrust the spatula at those nuisance clementine’s and much to his delight he swept several of them out into the open.

"Yeah!" he called out like a wolf into the night, stretching his arms out in a victorious pose. Naturally (in Miguel’s world), as his left arm rose it caught the bag on the counter and out of it fell his vegetables and a carton of milk which popped as it struck the hard floor. "You've got to be kidding me!" he moaned out loud before rushing for some kitchen roll. One sheet remained. Sighing yet again, he placed the sheet on the quickly spreading milk, which gurgled as it saturated the sheet and looked to encompass the vegetables. Miguel turned to his growing laundry pile to grab a towel; he turned back around in time to see the sheet fail to suppress the spreading milk. "Grr!" escaped from between his gritted teeth as he frantically mopped up his lactose free milk with his second favourite towel.

During his final pats onto the now semi cleaned floor, something moving caught his eye. Sharply twisting his head he realised what it was. A little mouse scurried beneath the fridge and moments later an additional clementine rolled into view, with the little mouse nudging it. Miguel stared incredulously. "Huh!" he managed to exclaim. The little mouse kept nudging the clementine toward a hole that Miguel now spotted in the corner of his little apartment. "And I thought you guys only liked chocolate and cheese, go figure." he said.

Miguel grabbed his Tupperware lunchbox, and standing over the little creature, he struck, capturing the mouse with a speed Mercury himself would’ve been proud of. Grinning to himself he raised the box to eye level. Miguel scrutinised the animal. It scurried around the container for a few moments before looking back at him with its whiskers bobbing in tandem to its inquisitive twitching nose. "I'm sorry little guy but you can't stay here, it's not good for hygiene." The mouse continued sniffing the sides of the lunchbox. "How about I take you somewhere nice for you to start a new life? I'll get you some chocolate and you can go find another mouse and make a family." He smiled as he placed the lunchbox onto the couch and resumed tidying up the wreckage of his shopping. His broccoli survived the milk attack but the cauliflower now looked a lot paler than it had previously. Miguel chucked it inside the fridge anyway, deciding that he'd wipe it clean after he'd dealt with the mouse.

Dusk was closing in so Miguel felt more comfortable vacating his sanctuary without too much risk of being recognised under the approaching cover of darkness. "Right then my little grey hombre, let's get you on your way, have I-" Miguel checked his jacket pocket and removed a Twix bar from it. "Excellent, we're all set." he said while gathering up the lunchbox and heading out of his apartment door. He locked up quickly and walked hurriedly down the stairs onto the street. Miguel took the main road until he came to a crossroads, where he took a right turn which led him toward the canal that runs along the golf course, and meets up with his little town where there is a merging of several local parks.

Miguel left the path and headed through the trees toward his favourite spot where he used to enjoy sitting and watching the water flow - something he now only does at night or, in this instance, when relocating visiting mice. As the light rapidly faded Miguel heard the sounds of the varied park-life that thrives in places with a little greenery, and in the area around the canal that comes to life at night. He loves hearing the ‘twit-twoo’ calls, seeing the foxes dash around, he has even had a hedgehog walk right up to him while he was sat on his favourite bench - an event he used to talk about frequently.

"So I was thinking, if I let you go running off into the night you will do way better than stealing my fruit. Gracias for helping me get the last clementine!" Miguel stroked the lunchbox as though comforting the mouse as it continued running around the container in confusion. "You’ll love this place, isn't it pretty?" he asked the little animal as he sat down on the bench, having now arrived at his favourite spot. Miguel planted the lunchbox beside him as he opened the Twix bar and scoffed one of the fingers. He opened the lunchbox and put the other finger inside, and the mouse started nibbling at the chocolate. Miguel watched it gnaw for a minute or two before turning to look at the water. The sound of the canal flowing by soothed his inner being in a way he hadn't been able to replicate elsewhere since the fateful evening several months ago.

The wind began to pick up, the bushes started to rustle, while the leaves on the trees waved & played as the chill of night started to grip Miguel and his little buddy. "You'll do well here, have faith my little friend." he said, putting the lunchbox on the ground and watching the little grey mouse scurry off into the night.

"Farewell mi amigo!" Miguel called after the mouse. As the last word left his mouth an owl swiftly swooped by him and claimed its prey, which let out a wretched squeak; it was the mouse. "No!" Miguel exclaimed, rushing several paces after the bird of prey. "No, no, no, what have you done?!" he cried out, looking up as the Owl alighted atop a tree overlooking the canal. The Owl was pale, but its ghostly beauty was lost on Miguel, who was focused only on the fact that this majestic bird had just cruelly ruined his well intentioned plan. The squeal of his little grey friend faded after a couple of moments and the Owl flew off to find a more private place to eat its meal.

Miguel stood perfectly still as a feeling of dreadful emptiness and loneliness had him quite unable to move for several moments. Eventually he walked back to the bench and, looking at the half eaten Twix finger inside the Tupperware lunchbox, he felt a tear run down his cheek. Miguel took a few deep breaths before then gathering up the lunchbox and heading back to his apartment. Before Miguel was able to pass through the undergrowth and back onto the street, he noticed the owl fly softly overhead and Miguel felt something land on his right shoulder; it was red and wet. "You've got to be kidding me!" Miguel let out with another anguished sigh.