tue 25 dec 2012 01:59:37 — witte de withstraat
mouse fear
kitty nikita has been staking out a spot next to the stove in the kitchen for the whole week she's been here.
at around 02.00 i was doing google street view on lower east side of manhattan, looking at a tall apartment complex at the corner of catherine street and cherry street, when ...
i heard a loud snap-scuffle in the kitchen, and a second later kitty nikita ran in with a mouse in her mouth. she ran around in circles of joy. then dropped him near my feet, and started chasing him again. picking him up and dropping him again and chasing him again. her preferred place to drop the mouse was right under my desk near my feet — presumably so she'd have a witness. i did applaud her very much, but i blithely assumed this was about pest control, not pest frolicking.
update ... 02.21 u. i read somewhere that the reason cats bring you a mouse is because they think you need hunting lessons. totally makes sense now. i became a participant. whenever the mouse went under something where nikita couldn't reach, i would lift or move that thing so she could move in for the kill.
but when the mouse finally stopped living, she seemed a bit disappointed that her playmate was gone so quick. maybe she would have preferred the play to go on for a few more hours. which makes sense, cuz life around here is pretty boring for a cat and that must have been the most exciting thing that happened in the week she has been here. so she tossed him around the room a few more times. then i'm pretty sure she ate half of him (cuz only half a mouse corpse is visible).
i gave her a bunch more praise about the whole affair, because in fact i would prefer my guest cat to catch mice than not to.
i could also smell mouse fear in the air. it smells a little bit like that place on 96th street and second av in manhattan, six floors up. creeping me out. all is quiet now. nikita may be waiting by the stove for another victim.
you know they send the dumbest mice out first, right?