What a Surprise

My sister Bell, who lives in a small town in Indiana, decided one morning to put on her coat and walk to the post office. After she had her mail she started chatting with the postmistress. The conversation was interrupted suddenly when Bell felt a strange sensation — a tingling up her spine, across her shoulders and up and down her arms.

When the postmistress — startled by Bell’s shocked look — asked if she were going to faint, my sister ran out into the street, She cut across yards and through alleyways until she reached the steps of her home where she collapsed, exhausted.

A neighbor ran to her asking, “What is wrong, Bell?”

After Bell related her sensations and her fears of a stroke, the neighbor told her to remove her coat. My sister stood up, trembling, and the coat came off. The neighbor shook it and a little frightened mouse ran out of the lining.

Her fears, Bell realized with a laugh, had been nothing compared to those of the poor mouse on his hasty journey through town.