WINE VS. MICE

And here is a different story to do with WINE, I like and MICE most people dislike.
It goes like this:
I do shop at Trader Joes and I like their wine section in their stores.
I find that they have a good selection along with rather good prices.
A few months ago I discovered a French wine called Maison Barboulot 50% Cabernet and 50% Syrah. I have never been crazy about Syrah but felt I should try it. Not only that but the name mixing  Bar with boulot ( in French slang for job ) sounded pretty curious.
I did like it and had it tasted by many friends who also liked it .
By my next visit to Trader Joes, I bought a whole case and again offered some bottles and shared it with many.

I don’t know how guilty I am to have advertised  it so much  in my way and  before I tealized it, the store run out of  it . I waited three weeks then asked the store to hold a case for me as soon as they receive it. I left my name and phone  number and a week later I got the call telling me that my case is waiting for me.
I show up at the store the next day and yes my case was waiting for me. As the attendant gives me the case, I notice that one of the bottom corners seemed smashed as if there was a water damage. I ask if we can open it. He agrees and the shock happens.
By the time Mike the attendant opens fully the case, several mice jump out of it. We are both flabbergasted wondering what is going on. We both attempt at closing the case while the rodents travel through the store.

Imagine the customers , mostly women seeing these rodents come their way. Everyone panicks and wonders what is going on.
I did succeed in counting them. There were six of them, now all over the store. The manager on the loud speaker tries to reassure the customers  that the situation is under control but these customers all leave their carriages and go toward the exit.

The store decided to close the doors in case customers walked out with the content of their carriage unpaid.
And at a corner in the store an old woman succumbs , maybe a heart attack and lays on the floor. Everyone calls 911 hoping to get some help. Oddly, each one of the six  culprits  go in different directions. One to the bakery area, one to the meat section, another to the cheese counter and another to the fruit department.  That is four so two are missing.

The store personal runs all around, having taken off one shoe to try to hit the mouse. The situation is helter- skelter and everyone is screaming. By now the personal is realizing that all their goods may be unsafe , thus unsaleable, so they try to save as much they can dumping in carriages all they can. They keep looking for the rodents …

In the center of the store à young woman is screaming as a mouse entered through the bottom of her pants going up her body. People run to her and hit her leg feeling it could catch or kill the mouse. A manager comes to her and suggests she should take off her pants quickly. She refuses claiming she has no panties.
Everyone is embarrassed but the manager insists and remove her pants. As he moves her pants down he does notice the mouse hitting the floor. It jumps back to her body and the manager clasps both hands and killed the rodent. Everyone is happy. One down five to go. He runs to wash his hands and drop the dead mouse in a  container.

In the meantime the  Meat Manager believes he should use a hose to try to hit the rodents. His three assistants do the same and within minutes the floor of the store is a pool and people start skidding. A woman skids, falls on her behind and her head hits the floor. People come to her side to help.

At this very moment the ambulance arrives and the personal looks around to help . The heart attack lady gets the first care, they carry her to the ambulance while they ask for  more help. Most clients are now out of the store while the mice have yet to be found.

One mouse is spotted in the cheese section and two people using their shoes succeed in killing the mouse that was having a snack.  Much of the cheese is removed to be thrown away. So now it is two down four to go. The second victim  is placed on the same container the first one was resting.

By now the ambulance is about to go to the nearest hospital with three clients: The heart attack, the naked one and the lady who skidded and we are told another ambulance is in the way .

The store manager had to call Head Office to tell them about this mishap.
The commotion is amplified  when journalists  along with a TV crew from the nearest station show up to find out what is going on and to let the city know.
The Head Office informs the manager to take account of the loses and collect a maximum of data to decide if they should sew the wine company.

Luckily,  the meat department people also succeeded gettin their mouse thanks to the water hose. Three down , three to go.
In the bread area, one mouse succeeded entering inside a baguette and when the baker seized it to save it, he noticed the intruder and started hitting the Babette on the ground till the mouse died. Four down, two to go.

After all this, I go back to the front desk where my “case “ was waiting for me.
I find Mike the attendant and we both decide to look at the case from where the mice got out. To our shock we realize one bottle was broken, empty  of its content , but in the bottom of it laying dead a bigger mouse. We understand it is the mother that gave birth to the six,  but died of drinking too much wine.

We understand what happened. During the transport from France to the U.S, a mouse succeeded getting inside a case through a bottom corner. That particular case must have fallen thus breaking a bottle inside it. The pregnant mouse gave birth and during the trip, the babies grew and the mother died from wine intoxication.

TEMPORARY END TILL FIND MORE, as 2 mice are still missing.