The Courthouse Mouse
Joseph P. Rogers
It all started with a teeny-tiny mouse
Who wandered from his itty-bitty house
Into the old courthouse down the street
To get some delicious-smelling treats
That were left on a lunchroom table.
Deli sandwiches, ice cream, and pizza pie
Were devoured by the little guy.
He then went through the lunchroom door
Into a busy courtroom,
And scampered right across the floor.
As soon as they saw the mouse that day,
Some witnesses quickly ran away.
The trial was thrown into a tizzy.
A few folk even felt dizzy.
The Judge banged down his gavel
As everything began to unravel.
It was the wildest trial that anyone had ever seen!
The court clerk’s computer got knocked off her desk
And shattered on the hard floor tiles.
The clerk shouted for quite a while!
“That darn mouse!” the Judge declared
As his eyes with fury flared.
The Judge himself grabbed at the mouse
From every angle,
But the creature could not be wrangled.
The Judge’s robes became entangled.
He got wrapped up in his gown.
Everyone was jumping up and down
And running all around.
It was disorder in the court
To the highest degree.
The mouse was as confused as could be!
The jury fled in all directions:
north, south, east, and west,
Whichever way they could get away the best.
The rodent caused so much consternation
That the day’s litigation
Came to an abrupt termination.
The defendant on trial kept cool amidst all the commotion
As he got a pleasant notion
Of how to make the best
Out of this chaotic mess.
His arrest was because of the IRS.
He had not paid any taxes said the Internal Revenue Service man,
But getting caught had not been part of the defendant’s plan.
Amidst all the racket,
The defendant stole the bailiff’s jacket
And escaped out a side door and onto the street,
Hurrying away from the County Seat.
“That dear mouse!” the defendant declared.
“He got me out of that courthouse
And back out on the road,
Traveling south for some fun!
I’m headed toward a sunny beach,
Far from the tax man’s reach.
Soon I’ll be sailing and seein’
Every port in the Caribbean.
Thank God for this second chance.
I feel like I could sing and dance!”
The mouse, too, escaped from that courthouse
And the courtroom loons,
He planned to come back soon,
But next time the mouse would try to avoid the crazy bunch
After he ate a delicious lunch!
