Beautiful Brown Eyes

Oh, he was so cute. I was a goner from the beginning. His silky brown hair just begging to be stroked. The beautiful brown, "please don't hurt me" eyes. His calm demeanor in the face of danger.

I don't know how he found his way into my bedroom. It just...happened. One minute, I'm lying there with my eyes closed and the baby asleep, the next he's staring at me from the corner of my window swag. Obviously a great climber. With a pretty good mouser behind him, I'm sure that was the safest way.

Sure, I freaked. I mean, how often do you find a wood mouse in your curtains? I left the room. I left the cat. I gave her very specific instructions in that I was not to find a live mouse when I came back. We finished our nap on the couch. I dreamed of evolving mice.

I went back an hour later to find him washing his ears atop the curtain pole and both cats extremely uninterested (although Jinx was only pretending to be uninterested to lull it into a false sense of security. I know this because she was doing that stiff-legged lope like the big game cats on the Discovery channel) My husband called. I vilified him for moving me into this damn piece of [bleep]. I then took his favorite (and, I think, purloined) hefty solid glass beer pitcher and caught the mouse. Actually, I think the mouse guessed my intentions and voluntarily jumped into the pitcher. I wouldn't swear on a Bible, but I would on my mother's grave.

I did scream quite a bit while running the pitcher outside. I cover that by telling you that I considered it the signal for my daughter to open the doors so that my progress would not be hampered. I deposited my furry friend into the brush, hopeful that his journey would be safe and his destination toward the church next door.

I am Spartacus.