Hiding User-drawn Graphics

I'm creating a game called Mouse Trap and I'm having an issue with a graphic drawn using AWT. Basically, when the mouse collides with the cheese, I want the cheese to disappear, or call (cheese[i].hide()). However, the cheese does not appear. hide() works for all other objects that inherit from PFigure, but the cheese will not. It's created a major issue in my game, and basically the only task left to accomplish.I believe my problem lies within Cheese.java, method draw(). For example, if I replace it with an example drawing, this problem goes away!:

public void draw() {
Graphics g = panel.getGraphics();
g.setColor(Color.blue);
g.drawOval(x + width / 4 , y + 1, width / 2, height / 2);

[Code] ....

I have three classes below that most likely involve the problem, feel free to ask if you need the others.PFigure.java (This class cannot be changed as a requirement to my project)

import java.awt.*;
 public abstract class PFigure implements Comparable {
protected int x, y; // Current position of the figure
protected int width, height; // Drawn (displayed) this size
protected int priority; // Can use to determine "winner"
protected Panel panel; // Panel the figure lives on

[code]....