Earning her keep...
A scene from The Godfather kept flashing through my mind and at times last night, while sleeping with one eye open, I was almost expecting the head of a newly departed rodent next to me on my pillow.
It was a long and rowdy night at our house. An old house occupied by a slightly less than young couple has a set of noises that might be irritating but are routine and one gets well versed in them. A creek here, a squeak there with the odd cough in between. Last night, a high pitched squeak followed a rumbustious heavy tread of Mausi trying to track every move a mouse was making. As elegant as she can be, once the scent of prey hits her nostrils, she morphs into a ferocious predator getting ready for the kill or in her case, the thrill of tormenting a tiny mouse all over our house.
Bob was almost asleep when the sound of the battle being played out got through to him. Like any husband would, he said;
" Can't you keep her quiet? Go and take the mouse from her. "
If an agile feline can't quite get her teeth stuck in a delicious mouse, how on earth could I ever run interference and take her toy from her? Good gracious me, next Bob will have me climb the walls to catch a spider...
Intermittently throughout the night I heard the squeak sometimes closer and sometimes further away from me. All I prepared myself for was the inevitable offering that might land on my head, pillow or chest. Believe me, I was ready to jump but eventually I drifted off into the pre dawn deep sleep and only awoke to the alarm clock annoyingly beeping away.
As Bob woke up I told him to be careful because there was a mouse on the loose. He who can sleep through thunder and lightning had of course rested extremely well and as he walked to the bathroom, he saw our princess sitting in front of a tiny lifeless body. Sensing a heavy parental tread she picked the tiny mouse up with her mouth, growled like crazy and was in the process of schlepping it under the bed to safety when both she and I were startled by the voice of reason and authority.
" Drop that mouse NOW ! "Unbelievably, the princess sat back, dropped the dead mouse and let Daddy take it away ( to dispose of out the front door ) and seemed stunned to say the least. Leave it to Mummy to praise her for keeping us safe from a mouse ( it had at least 3 cm in length ) and to ensure further feline protection in the future...
Mausi has been exhausted but somehow content and has been sleeping the day away not even bothering to eat...
Biggi
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