Every once in awhile there are people who come on tour at the mansion who are a little, shall we say....nutty. You know, those people who just seem to be a few fries short of a happy meal? Well, a couple of days ago, we started out the day with one crazy ol' couple. Matty and I were on door and for the very first tour of the day we would have had a skip but this couple came up at the last minute so they were the only ones on the tour. There was confusion over whether or not they wanted to use the bathroom...."huh?? eh? what'd you say?" And after affirming they did NOT need to use the bathroom, Matty began showing them into the receiving room where the tour starts, only to have the lady declare, "this isn't the bathroom!!!!" This same lady after I told her the guided tour was about 45 minutes long said, "what if I don't WANT to have a 45 minute tour??!" Hmmm....well....then I guess you can leave whenever you want to....??
Anyway, we forewarned those giving the tour about the nutcases and they lasted for a surprisngly long 25 minutes of the tour. After going upstairs for a couple minutes (the upstairs portion usually takes around 20 minutes) they decided they were ready to leave and started heading down the stairs. I had started heading that direction to use the little girls room (not to be confused with the receiving room, of course) and as I was about to turn the corner at the foot of the stairs, the very stairs the crazy ol' couple was slowly heading down, I saw it. A teeny, tiny, itty bitty little grey mouse just chilin' in front of the marble table/desk at the foot of the stairs. I couldn't help it, I let out a few eeps! And yelps. Not because I was frightened, this little guy was surprisingly cute for being vermin. But at the mere shock of seeing an actual MOUSE in Mrs. Astor's house right by the front door and right at the feet of where Mr. and Mrs. Looney Tunes were about to tread. I just stood there sort of dumbfounded, unaware of what I should do or how best to catch it. So I got Matty's attention and he, upon seeing the mouse, leapt into action (literally, he kind of jumped and then ran toward the broom closet down the hall). I very calmly thanked the crazies for coming and started to lead them out the front door while trying to motion to Matty that the mouse had moved to the table across from the first (thankfully the first had a mirror so I saw the critter scurry across). And as I closed the door behind the guests I heard Matty start running up behind me, screaming, "open the door! open the door! open the DOOOR!!!" He had somehow managed to sweep the mouse into the dust pan and was trying to keep it from running out with the broom! The sight of Matty running, screaming toward me would have been funny enough but as I opened the door and he ran out, I saw that the couple was still standing just outside the door! Matty went tearing out the door and ran all the way down the driveway, around the corner, and dropped the mouse off in the bushes in front of the Rose Cliff Mansion next door.
Worried the couple might have wondered what was up and be a bit put out that a mouse was sharing their tour, I glanced in their direction and to my relief they hadn't noticed Matty at all. "Excuse me, our driver doesn't see us and I don't want to go out in the cold, how am I to get his attention?" the ol' crone asked me. I was desperately trying not to laugh in their faces and before I could reply she said their driver had seen them and started heading their way. Matty came back and we all started laughing 'till our sides ached. Definitely an even better pick me up than an americano from Starbucks.
No comments:
Post a Comment