It was storming when I went to sleep, so my cat, Miss Moneypenny, was a bit out of sorts. A few hours later, she woke me, running across the bed. Thinking she was making a play for mid-night attention, I tried to tip her over and make her snuggle - a move she usually goes with. This time, however, I was met with fierce resistance.
She was sitting near my head, and I could feel the twitch of her tail whipping my face. I nudged her, thinking she'd jump off the bed. No luck. Instead, she made a weird little chirping noise that I've only ever heard when she sees a bird out my window.
I turned on the light so I could assess the situation. It was 1am and she was staring fixedly at my bedroom curtains. I followed her gaze and spotted it: high on the curtain rod, her grey toy mouse.
"Miss Moneypenny," I said. "You just now decided you needed to play with your mousie?" I stood on my bed so I could get high enough to knock it down - and then realized it was NOT her toy mouse. It was a real one, with huge ears and frightened eyes.
What was a mouse doing IN MY HOME? And how did it get up on top of a curtain rod, 8-feet in the air - at 1am?!
Miss Moneypenny was riveted. I considered knocking the mouse down so she could play with it, but decided: a) That would be cruel to the mouse, and b) There was a strong possibility I would lose sight of the mouse.
Decision made, I got an empty trash can and slid it up under the mouse. The mouse must have been wondering how it was going to get down from its high perch, because it (literally) jumped at the opportunity I'd presented. I slid a notebook over the top of the trashcan to makes sure I only had to do this ONCE. Dressed in my hot pink plaid pajamas - slid my flipflops on and headed out to the DC street to release it.
Job done, when I came back to my bedroom, Miss Moneypenny was in the same spot, tail twitching, pacing to get a better view of a now non-existent mouse. Her obsession alarmed me - was there ANOTHER mouse I hadn't found? Fortunately not, because after 45 minutes, she finally relaxed and we were both able to go back to sleep.
Who knew I had a mouse(r) in the house? She just covered her rent check for the next year.
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