JOIN USCats and mice are sworn enemies. They can’t stand each other. Yet this particular cat and the mouse in question got along quite well, until my brother found out how chummy the two had got, and put an unceremonious end to it.
A cat jumped in through an open window without a soul being aware of its presence. It tiptoed upstairs and seated itself comfortably on a chair in front of a table. Daintily seated on the chair, the cat began playing with the mouse — the one attached to my brother’s computer.
The cat toyed with the mouse pushing it here and there, and had a great time teasing it. It pressed the mouse to the left and the right. Suddenly, to its utter delight, it probably discovered that it could manipulate the keyboard as well. It mewed with satisfaction.
“Was that a cat mewing?” I asked my brother. He didn’t pay attention. “You have a fertile imagination,” he answered, when I heard the mew again and asked him. “I’m sure I heard a cat,” I repeated.
“How could a cat have come in without our knowledge?” he countered. And with an irritated expression, he responded, “I had better go and check. Otherwise, I’ll be nagged till I go crazy.”
He got up and searched downstairs, like a detective examining the crime scene. “I can’t see anything,” he declared. “I have even looked in the bathroom.”
I told him the noise came from the upstairs. “I might as well check there if I am to have any peace,” he grumbled, and proceeded upstairs.
There was utter silence for a few seconds followed by a long whistle. And I heard my brother exclaim, “What do you think you are doing?” I thought it was time I went up to investigate what exactly was happening.
Imagine my amazement when I saw the feline seated on the chair, handling the mouse with expertise! I looked at my brother. He still stood transfixed. The cat, very cool and poised, continued to move the mouse up and down, left and right. It completely ignored our presence.
I have seldom seen such single-minded devotion to work by humans! There was something hugely ironic about the situation — a cat in complete command of the situation and two of us watching helplessly.
It took my brother a few minutes to recover. Meanwhile, the cat was growing more and more confident.
My brother, without much ado, picked up the cat. It snarled at him and scratched him. But he held it in a tight grip and literally threw it out!