Theatre-goers in Vallejo got a furry surprise along with their movie tickets last week.
Two patrons at the Century 14 Vallejo Movie Theater tell the Times Herald they were more than halfway through Johnny Depp's latest flick, Public Enemies, when they heard the scampering of tiny feet in the aisles.
That's when they saw the tiny tails and bodies of what appeared to be rats. Linda Webb says her teenage daughter was the first to spot the rodents and yelped, "Put your feet up!"
Solano County Health inspectors searched the premises yesterday. The good news? There are no signs of rats at the theater. The bad news? The critters Webb and her daughter saw were probably mice.
Officials told the paper they found rodent droppings behind a screen and a dead mouse on a glueboard. However, they found no signs of an infestation. In fact, inspectors say the theater keeps its food areas clean and has pest control sweeps twice a month.
Inspector Joyce Benifield told the paper, "They're doing what they have to do. They're doing a pretty good job of keeping it clean. We're recommending continued pest control, checking all exterior doors for intact door sweeps, removing potential hiding places like unused tarps and sealing all gaps in the walls."
But what's the threat of a mouse stampede compared to Johnny Depp's megawatt star appeal? Mom and daughter say they stayed to watch the end of the movie -- with their purses in their laps and their feet off the floor.
