She looked down at the creature, struggling pathetically beneath her claws.
She had seen this mouse often enough, skittering around the back yard. Never walking, only ever running. It would however, occasionally stop dead, lift its ugly little nose and sniff. This, before scampering away again at great speed. However, this loathsome creature, loathsome but no doubt tasty, had made the mistake of coming around the corner of the house at such a rate of knots that coming face to face with she who was waiting, could do nothing but career strait into the soft fluff of her belly. She had simply been lazing, the way cats do, but on this particular morning, in the right place at the right time. Just because she could… she tightened her grip.
The mouse squeaked. “Oh! Not so hard. Please!”
“Hah! You’re in no…” whispered the cat.
“Position?” the mouse broke in.
“Yes. Position.” Said the cat. “You’re in no position to tell me what to do.”
“Yes, I am!” Came the indignant reply.
The cat moved its head from side to side. “You can believe that if you like, but you’re not.”
The mouse looked up into the cat‘s eyes with a resolute determination, and went on. “On the contrary, I would say that considering the circumstances in which I find myself at this very moment, my request is a perfectly reasonable one. Besides, I was not telling you what to do at all… I was only asking. Nothing more.
The cat relaxed its hold, just a little. “Well,” she purred, “aren’t we the feisty one.”
“I have to be, don’t I?”
“Oh! Really? Why is that?”
The mouse wriggled herself into a more comfortable position. “I have to be,” she repeated, “I’m a mother.”
“Ooh!” Said the cat. “How many?”
“Two.”
“Yuck! Two more horrible little creatures.”
The mouse’s eyes widened. “They’re not horrible, they’re both quite beautiful.”
The cat thought about that and asked, “Boys or girls?”
“One of each.”
“Husband?”
“Dead.”
“Traffic accident… cat?”
“Dog.”
The cat relaxed a little, but couldn’t think why. “No husband, now. It doesn’t work that way with us.” Her eyes clouded over. “Kittens; three. All gone. Given away.”
The mouse said, “Sorry.”
They both just lay there for a while. Neither fully understanding the thoughts that were running through the other’s mind.
Slowly, the cat lifted its paw.
The mouse rose up without hurry and shook itself off. It made its way along the wall of the house until it came to the crevice. It glanced back, then disappeared.
The cat went back to sleep.