The Gift

My cat, Natasha, brought me a gift this morning. At first, I couldn't tell what the gift was...it was running too fast. Ever since we moved here, about four years ago, she has been allowed to venture outside. We have a huge yard for her to explore and she usually doesn't stray much beyond the patio. After a few forays, Natasha showed herself to be a formidable hunter. I believe the first thing she captured was a bird. She was so proud of her conquest, she brought it inside to show Mommy. As you can imagine, pandemonium soon broke out in the living room. The bird escaped the cat's jaws and flew willy-nilly trying to escape. The cat took off in hot pursuit. I took off after the cat, knowing that with her in the room, the bird didn't stand a chance. Across the room, over the couch, up on the window sill, crash goes a lamp...the cat was determined. So was the bird. So was I. Eventually, I grabbed the cat and shut her in the bedroom. The bird by now was quivering in a corner. He must've been in shock because I was easily able to scoop him up and release him outside. Since that first capture, Natasha has brought in lots of prey. Birds, snakes, mice, moles, voles...pretty much anything she spots out there is fair game. The worst, by far, was a mouse she brought in once. It ran very quickly once Natasha dropped it on the rug. By the time I had put the cat into the bedroom for a time-out, the mouse was nowhere to be found. I searched along the floorboards, under the furniture and in all the corners. Finally, I located Mr. Mouse. The bad news was, he was running straight at me. At that moment, I honestly wanted to jump up on a chair and scream, "eek". That mouse lived in my apartment for about four days. I tried everything I could think of to capture him. I would catch sight of him every so often scuttling along the wall, but he would always duck behind a heavy piece of furniture or into some hidey hole. It's nerve wracking to have a rodent lurking about your home. I was even willing to try mouse traps but I really didn't want to cause the poor thing pain or death. Finally I was able to corner him behind a door in the spare room. He was paralyzed with fear which gave me time to run into the kitchen and get a plastic food container. What a relief it was when I got that little critter trapped under the bowl and slid the lid beneath him for transporting outside.

Back to today's adventure. As stated earlier, the creature Natasha brought in today was running too fast to identify. I knew by the fluffy tail that it was not a mouse...baby squirrel was my first thought. The frightened animal streaked into the corner behind the antique desk. The cat positioned herself right smack in front of said desk. Scooping up the cat, I hurried her off to the bedroom. Then I went back to the corner to determine if the tiny animal was still there...it was. So I went to the kitchen for a container, thank goodness I have lots of those, and returned to complete the mission. All the while, I had visions of another siege with a creature in my house. The poor little thing was so frozen with fear, it was incredibly easy to trap him under the bowl. It wasn't until I slid the lid beneath him and scooped him up that I realized what we had was a chipmunk. I wish I'd had time to grab the camera and snap a picture of him has he scampered off to the safety of the forsythia bush. He'll have tales to tell his family for a long time to come. Natasha is still pouting.