If the paw print doesn’t fit…you must acquit!

Murder & Mayham in my garage!

Pooka and Cro`i for some time have been allowed to play both in the basement and garage as it gives them a change of scenery since they are not allowed outside. They also have a bevy of little toy mice: some felt, some rabbit fur covered, which they just adore. We have gone thru quit a bit of toy mice over the course of the years, their most prized one being a pink yarn one with fur tail on a string called Seymour Collin. (Because everyone, ok every red-blooded girl wants to see more Collin Farrell.)

So last night as I sat down to have a cup of tea with mom, the garage door was opened a crack as the cats were in the garage playing. Blaze was sitting near us gnawing on a baby carrot (one of her favorite treats), and we noticed Cro`i running in and out of the garage like a looneytoon. I finish my tea and go to try and get Pooka inside, as it was freezing and I wanted to close up for the night when I stumbled across a strange sight. A few feet in to the garage is Pooka sitting on the floor, looking down at a little gray object. So I start to approach to get him and his toy mouse when I stop. I stop because something about the toy mouse doesn’t site quite right with me. “Pooka…what is that?” I ask, as if he’s really going to answer me. Blaze then comes in to investigate, and Pooka runs out, with Cro`i taking place sitting watch over their ‘toy’. I can’t take my eyes off their mouse, as it seems to look longer than normal. Then I realize the mouse’s tail IS longer than normal!

That isn’t their toy mouse…I’ve stumbled upon a murdered field mice! My cats, after 4 years killed something to my knowledge. “Help! I need help!” I call, as I stare in horror, trying to decide which of my mckittens were the murdered, keep Blaze back from rushing the carcass and using it as a chew toy, and decide how the hell I was going to dispose of this dead, furry little thing. Mom finally comes in, and is asking me if it’s twitching, and if I am sure it’s a real mouse. So GREAT, now I have to somehow get close to examine this. (And a few months back, I was mocked for having a fear of the mckittens catching and putting dead crickets on me.) So as I stood over this dead mouse, start to blow at it, hoping the breeze would somehow revitalize it enough to let me know if it was all the way dead or not. But the poor little mouse victim was a total goner.

Still the question of who was going to remove the mouse remained and my mother went to get a broom and shovel as I went and got a bag and gloves. Double rubber gloves on my hands, (Hell, I don’t need any bubonic plague) on each hand, I use the plastic shopping bag to pick up the murdered mouse, and felt compelled to study him. Upon my visual inspection (‘visual autopsy’ as I wasn’t going to do anything else) note that there were NO teeth or claw marks on the little mousie. THANK GOD! But that still doesn’t exonerate Pooka and Cro`i from the mouse’s death. Because why were they sitting watch over him?

Like the late Johnny Cochran had said, ‘If the glove don’t fit….you must acquit.’ I have to wonder about the murder that took place in my house last night. Did the little mouse venture in to the garage, and die of natural causes or perhaps mouse poison from another house? Did Pooka and Cro`i scare the mouse to death or maybe just bat him to death? Mom thinks that Pooka and Cro`i were giving us the mouse as an ‘I love you’ gift, as cats are wont to do. No matter what, I still feel that my two mckittens are turning in to hunters.