This had made Auntie Ganimed feel better.
"So the mouse likes my acids.
Well, we'll see how it likes my mousetrap."
Auntie Ganimed stood by the door of the workshop with the mousetrap in her hand.
It was very early in the morning.
Through the open window she could see the dew glistening on the grass.
The wind that carried off the balloon man that day didn't begin until later.
There were sounds coming from behind the door.
"Poor man," Auntie Ganimed thought. "Didn't he go to bed at all?"
She knocked.
The doctor said something, but she couldn't make out the words.
The door opened.
Doctor Caspar stood on the threshold.
There was a smell of burnt cork in the room.
The small flame of a spirit lamp was burning in the corner.
Doctor Caspar had probably been doing some kind of scientific experiments.
"Good morning!" the doctor said cheerfully.
Auntie Ganimed held up the mousetrap for him to see.
The mouse was sniffing, and its nose wiggled as it sniffed.
"I've caught the mouse!"
"Ah!" the doctor sounded very pleased. "Let's see it!"
Auntie Ganimed hurried to the window.
"Here it is!"
She held the mousetrap out towards him.
And suddenly she saw a Negro.
There, sitting near the window on a box marked "HANDLE WITH CARE", was a very handsome Negro.
The Negro had nothing on but a pair of red shorts.
The Negro was black, purple and brown and his skin shone.
He was smoking a pipe.
Auntie Ganimed shrieked so loudly she nearly burst.
She spun around and flapped her arms wildly, like a scarecrow.
In all the commotion she somehow unhooked the mousetrap. The cage popped open, the mouse jumped out and disappeared.
That's how frightened Auntie Ganimed was.
The Negro laughed loudly. The red shoes on his long brown legs looked like huge dried red peppers.
The pipe stem jiggled up and down in his mouth.
The doctor was also laughing and the new spectacles perched on his nose went up and down, too.
Auntie Ganimed flew out of the room.
"The mouse!" she screamed. "The mouse!
The Turkish delight!
The Negro!"
Doctor Caspar rushed out after her.
"Auntie Ganimed," he pleaded, "there's no need to be upset.
I forgot to tell you about my new experiment.
But you could have expected. ...
After all, I'm a scientist, a doctor of many sciences, I have so many strange things in my workshop.
I'm always experimenting.
And you should expect to see not only a Negro there, but even an elephant.
Auntie Ganimed....
Auntie Ganimed!
The Negro's one thing, but scrambled eggs are something else again.