Filed by Steve Barrett
I was trying to fall asleep when I heard an incessant scratching from the adjoining bathroom.
“Shut up, Maxi,” I advised the cat, who makes great sport of many species of bugs.
The scratch-scratch-scratch, paw-paw-paw sounds continued, however, and I at last heaved out of bed and lumbered to the bathroom, intending to discipline the cat.
There she sat on her stomach, paw curling under the decorative towel hamper, whiskers twitching.
“Leave the bug alone,” I demanded. She studiously ignored me.
Then, to something other than my delight, a dark-furred mouse scampered out from under the hamper.
I’m not sure, exactly, where it went then. A quarter-second after I spotted it, my mind sent the following messages:
1. Leap, Steve! Leap as you have never leapt before!
2. And shriek, Steve! Shriek as if you were Kelly Clarkson on an “American Idol” rerun!
I obeyed, making it out of the bathroom and to the farthest corner of the house in record time, the pitch of my voice shattering a window or two in the process.
It has been a few days and I haven’t yet smelled the fetid odor of dead rodent, so I assume neither Maxi nor the exterminator who came a couple days later managed to nail the pest.
But it’s good to know I’m still in Olympic high-jumping form and ready for my “Idol” tryout.
E-mail Steve Barrett at sbarrett@timesfreepress.com
