A question on Quora asked for our best "one time my dad" stories. I couldn't resist sharing the following:

One time my dad was outsmarted by a mouse.

The poor creature had somehow gotten trapped in the microwave vent, which opened into the attic. If something wasn’t done, it would eventually die — and that possibility nearly broke my sensitive, animal-loving teenage heart.

Besides, there’s nothing my mom hates more than the smell of a decaying, dead mouse. Something had to be done, so my dad came up with (what he thought was) a clever idea to scoop the critter out of the vent and remove it from our home.

He took an empty tin can and taped a ruler to it. The plan was to go up into the attic, lower the can into the microwave vent, scoop up the mouse, and cover the can — making it easy to escort Mickey from the premises.

I was totally on board. I even volunteered to hold the flashlight. To this day, I vividly remember crouching next to the microwave vent — carefully balancing on two studs. There were no floors in the attic. Just studs and insulation. One wrong move, and we would be making a quick, unexpected trip to the bedroom below.

My dad inserted the make-shift scoop into the microwave vent to snag the mouse. However, the little creature had different ideas. Seizing its one shot at freedom, it ran up the can… up the ruler… up my dad’s arm… and leaped off his shoulder into the darkness of the attic.

Dad jumped up with a yell and frantically brushed at his arm. I’m pretty sure I was screaming. Abandoning the mouse-scooper, we both rushed for the opening and fought to be the first one down the ladder. It was a miracle neither one of us fell through the ceiling.

As for the mouse, I imagine it felt it had a new lease on life — and spent the rest of its days traveling to exotic lands (the neighbors’ houses) and eating a lot of cheese.