A MOUSE IN THE MORNING

 

Nothing like a mouse to start your day off.  There I was sitting in the bathroom doing – well, what you do in the bathroom first thing in the morning (I know, tmi), when Prettypurr raced past my feet and jumped into the bathtub. From the scrabbling noises I figured she had a mouse, and looked to confirm my suspicions, just as the mouse (which was quite large and agile) scampered up the side of the tub and first hid behind the bottle of shampoo on the ledge of the tub and then in my bath scrubby (which is now in the trash, thank you Mr./Ms. Mouse).  So I went to get something to trap it with and then let it go outside, with strict warnings to never darken our door or bathtub again.  Except that by the time I got back, the mouse had disappeared.  Prettypurr was searching diligently all around the bathroom, to no avail.  Ok, the mouse got away, that’s the breaks, better luck next time, Prettypurr.  I did mention that perhaps were she not quite so stout she might be a bit quicker and thus have better mouse luck, but she just glared at me and let me know it was my fault that the mouse got away.  So I had my tea, and did a few things and went to take my shower.  Got into the usual shower-taking attire, and reached up to pull the curtain back to get in, and there was the mouse, on top of the curtain rod.  Saying ‘don’t give me away!’  Ha!  I shook the curtain a couple of times, dislodged the mouse, and it fell into the tub.   Grabbed the jar again and tried to trap it, but that was one fast mouse, let me tell you.  It dodged the jar numerous times and then decided it was time to retreat, so it jumped up, ran across the hand I was bracing myself on the edge of the tub with and headed for the bedroom, with Prettypurr right behind.  I can still feel those little feet running across my hand.  It went behind a little stand next to my bed, and then under it when I moved the stand, with Prettypurr being ever vigilant for it to move within range, and when I moved the stand again the mouse ran under the bed, with the cat hot on its tail, and it sounded like they were doing laps around and around and around. 

So I did the only thing a person could do under those circumstances.  I took my shower and got dressed and went to the diner and had a ‘Hot Mess’ for breakfast. 

PS, I don’t know if Prettypurr ever got the mouse but when I went to the house a few hours later to close the windows against the rain, I stepped on her lying under the chair at the end of the bed.