In the summer of 1975 my husband and I went for a ride in the Ramapo Mountains with our 2-year-old son. Something ran across the road in front of us. We looked at each other and said “what was that?” I started yelling to stop the car but my husband was reluctant because we didn’t know what it was. Needless to say he stopped. I got out and sat on the side of the road. This poor little thing came slinking out of the woods with her tail wagging and crawled into my lap. I was in love. Into the car she went. We brought her home gave her food, a bath and a comfortable bed.

The next day we took her to the vet. She was approximately four months old. She had lost most of her hair due to flea infestation, she was under weight, had a broken leg and rickets. She threw up berry skins, twigs and leaves for days. We had to leave her at the veterinarian overnight. The next day when we went to pick her up she was overjoyed to see us. Her leg was splinted and she’d been given a thorough flea bath. In time her hair grew back, the rickets cured and her leg healed.

How she got her name; when I put her in the car our 2-year-old kept calling her a rat. We thought about naming her Rat but it just didn’t seem right so we all agreed on Mouse. Mouse lived with us for many years. We always felt she was grateful to us for saving her and we were grateful to her for enriching our lives. She was the best baby girl we could ever have asked for.

JoAnn Kulcsar

Highland, NY