Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Breakfast in bed.

It was a small scene of domestic bliss. Waking to the early morning light shining through the last few ash tree leaves, dappling the wall, I got up, made coffee and went back to bed. Reading A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb I sipped coffee. Soon I was joined on the bed by Floss, who is always first to spot the open bedroom door, then Bella and Martha and Pixie and Elmo. A blanket of gingercats purred me a song in praise of morning.
I heard Rosie stir upstairs in Hannah's room and prepared for puppy chaos to disturb our calm, but she jumped on the bed and came around the ginger island and snuggled in to my pillow beside my head, saying a quiet good morning. With her came Maurice, looking pleased with himself. He jumped over the others and pushed himself between my eyes and the words on the page, purred and smiled and then went. More snuffling from Rosie. Then she pulled out a fresh, dead mouse.
Needless to say chaos ensued.
After dead mouse removal we went for a walk in the field of hay bails. Breakfast in bed. Yum.
As I walked I wondered how long mouse had been there. Was he sleeping there all night with me, tucked up in bed with his little mouse head on my pillow? Had he died of fright at the sheer weight of tooth and claw that had come to rest with him? Did he die of outrage that so many others assumed they could just climb into bed with him? Or was he a gift, and if so from who?

16 comments:

Griffin said...

Hmm, methinks Maurice as he was looking pleased with himself. Pleased at having caught you breakfast and having placed it for you to find it...!! Coffee and mouse... lucky you!

Our first cat used to leave half a wild rabbit or the occasional mouse for my mum too... tho' admittedly she had to find it on the doorstep. Possum was not going to drag it all the way upstairs for anyone!

Anonymous said...

How funny,, my opinion is the mouse was a gift.I have been presented with many such gifts from a lovely calico.She wouldn't want me to go hungry of course and oh how proud she was.Now thats a very full bed.best wishes from canada

Paula Bowles said...

Haha! Oh, the thought of it being there all night on/under the pillow next to you.. eek! Poor mousey!

At least all I have to worry about with my rat, is the occassional sock or bank statement going missing from my floor into the depths of her nest...

ChrisJ said...

Oh dear! The penalty of living with cats! I got a different kind of penalty from Bailey yesterday. I stepped quite heavily on his tail by accident yesterday. He gave a great shriek and bit me, before he even knew what he was doing. Poor boy. I don't know which upset him more, me stepping on his tail or him biting me. He is a large but sweet, gentle, kind and without a mean-bone-in-his-body kind of cat. But I've got two, big, deep puncture wounds (I may post a photo tomorrow -- just what everybody wants to see, right?) Now I have to be on penicillin for a week as it already has infection. My doctor tells me there is only one thing worse than a cat bite and that's a human bite.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Gee, it was all going along so nicely, very Snow White and the seven furry dwarves. Until. I would choose to believe he had not been there all night.

Anonymous said...

there's a great book out by biologist Stacey O'Brien, called Wesley the Barn Owl. Stacey raises Wesley from a tiny chick, and they live together for 19 years. She fed him mice, and in a grateful return of favor, he dropped a dead mouse into her open mouth as she slept one night.

I'm thinking that you're lucky the little mousie was only sharing your pillow. :)

Karen said...

I would say most definitely a gift.

At least you found it! It could have been pushed under the pillow and stayed a few days!
I have experinced putting my foot into shoes,and feeling the dreaded soft lump beneath my toes. Some poor shrew or mouse that escaped from claws, and ran away to die, probably days or so earlier!
Another horrid one, coming downstairs barefoot in the early hours and oh yuck... squidge between your toes! :)

Jasper and Willow send purrs!

Shammickite said...

I love Katie's comment!

Anonymous said...

haha- my vote is for Maurice! I bet he dropped Mousie off when you were in that bliss of half reading/half snoozing!

Sorry your comfy morning was ruined... but it sure makes a good story!

sparrow said...

Wonderful! I was right there with you experiencing it all.

I would love to have a clutch of gingers, but two babies at a time is what I'm allowed by my better half.........maybe one day.

Estorbo said...

Why chaos? I woul' be happy to waghe weeth a mouse een my bed! Dream corm true...

Southbaygirl said...

Our mom would die if we brought a mouse in and it died on her bed!! But she does like all of us snuggling with her!!

Kdaok, Winton, 3 Perf, Blossom and velcro

PurrPrints said...

Wow...I think I'd freak out a bit if I was having a nice morning in bed only to discover I was sharing my space with a dead mouse! LoL...

Blackfeatherfarm said...

With cats you get mice, with dogs you get rabbit, with horses you get slobber. Life is good !

Blackfeatherfarm said...

Now, I thought I'd better follow up on my comment. I don't let my dogs kill any rabbits if I can help it at all. I don't want anyone thinking I do, I was just being silly, as usual. All life on my small farm is respected and loved, even the bugs. Well, most of the bugs.

Katie's comment is hysterical by the way !

Kitikata-san said...

Nice! Who brought you the nice mouse for your breakfast in bed? That was a nice gesture for sure from one of the cats.