Shanghai as a Mousetrap
I was a mouse, a measly little rodent making my way through the world. My tail had been caught in a mousetrap and I dragged it around in fear, knowing that my only means of escape would be to sever a part of myself. Otherwise someone would come destroy me.
I dragged myself around and noticed I wasn’t alone. Hundreds of mice surrounded me, also trapped by their tails in mouse traps. We tried to free each other to no avail.
A farmer came trundling along and we all cowered in fear, but he paid us no mind. As he walked away, we saw that he had sprouted a tail and it too was caught in an immense mousetrap.
I weaseled my way into my mouse-hole as far as I could and fell asleep thinking about who had planted all of these mousetraps and when he would come collect us.