Revenge by the cat

The night before the dissertation presentations would start, the cat had a mouse. I could tell from her excited meowing. It is not uncommon that she catches one and lets it go by the front door, upon which the mouse then climbs the curtain there. That throws her! And when I walked past I spotted the mouse. She clearly didn't think she could reach it. And normally I just let her do her thing with mice. I don't enjoy watching her kill, but that's just how nature works. But this time I figured I should be capable of grabbing and releasing it, pretty much before she would clock what was going on.

It wasn't quite as easy as I thought! I dropped the mouse before I had quite lifted it out of the window. A bit of a scramble followed, but in the end I managed to get it out. And I had a bit of an agitated cat on my hands, who could smell mouse, but couldn't find one.

Soon after that I went to bed and tried to sleep. The cat had other plans. Soon she went outside again, and I had visions of her making a point of catching that very same mouse again, to teach me a lesson. I would have no way of knowing if she would, of course! All mice look the same to me, especially in the dark and from a distance. But lo and behold, she came back with one. And noisily played with it all over the bedroom. And it wasn't even the last. After she had eaten it, she just went out again, and got another one.

I am probably reading too much into this! But I do feel like she was making a point. Maybe I should just leave her mice to her, even if they are hiding in the curtain. It's nature’s way!