the
alcoholic mice of Bodegas Fante
there was this winery in
Spain having some trouble
with
an infestation of mice
the mice were chewing their
way through
the casks to
get their bellies full of that
sweet red wine
I don't
blame them
the casks were ruined
and the wine unsellable
or so the
owner said
I don't think I would
have much trouble
drinking with a
mouse
I would like to hear what
the little guy would have to
say
while drunk
I could certainly
drink him under the table
tuck him
gently
back into bed
but the owner of the
winery said put
put
out poison
so the workers
put out poison
the next day the
poison
was
still there
untouched
so the owner said lay down some
traps
and we'll snap
snap their damn necks
so the workers
put out the
traps
the next day the
traps were
still
there
unsprung
the owner called an
exterminator and
after that
the
fat owner laughed
because the mice
were gone
three days
later
fresh casks of the
best wines were
chewed straight
through to
ruin
once again
it was the janitor who
figured it out
he was an
old fellow who
worked late and swept
up all the cobwebs and
the mouse
droppings
he built a little
staircase out of
matchbooks and
next
to this he placed a
small wooden bowl
which he filled from
a
cask in the cellar
he did this every
night and when the
morning
came around
the bowl was always
empty and the casks
were never touched
again
and then the janitor
he was fired
by the fat
owner
really?
you say
I was about to end this
with a
platitude or a
lesson but I know
what the lesson is
and what all
the
lessons in this are
and I hope to Christ
that you have
somehow
grasped
them too
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