This first one tells the very harrowing moment when my very favorite catnip mouse fell in the water bowl. I can barely look back on this without shuddering.
Enjoy, Mr. Pinkerton
Mr. Pinkerton and The Drowned Mouse
Mr. Pinkerton realized his mistake nearly the same instant
he made it. He had been reluctant to abandon the new catnip mouse that Miss
Butterwith had gotten for him at the Village Fete Sunday last so when he went
to get a drink of water of course he brought it with him. He meant to drop it
beside the bowl, but instead in it went. It wasn’t really his fault, the bowl
was too large.
Mr.
Pinkerton wondered briefly if this was how Lassie felt when Timmy went in the
well. But no, boys pulled cats tails or chased them or threw rocks, so
definitely no. This was a completely different situation. One that he didn’t quite know how to get out
of.
Maybe
he should just yowl until Miss Butterwith came in to investigate. Miss
Butterwith always liked to investigate things.
But Miss Butterwith was in the garden, and she very often sang to
herself while she worked in the garden.
Perhaps
he should go out to the garden himself and tell Miss Butterwith that his mouse
fell in the water bowl. But what if she didn’t understand what it was he was
trying to tell her? The number of times Mr. Pinkerton had gone to tell Miss
Butterwith something only to have her exclaim, “Dear me Mr. Pinkerton! You are
a genius!” Then she would go ring Inspector Appleby. Meanwhile Mr. Pinkerton’s needs
would go unaddressed.
Another
option, of course was for him to reach in and grab it himself. But the mouse
was wet, it would drip, maybe even on his paws. If there was one thing Mr.
Pinkerton did not like was getting his paws wet. So this option was not really
an option at all.
Mr. Pinkerton sat down on his
haunches and contemplated his dilemma.
The door to the garden opened and
Miss Butterwith came in singing “Love in Bloom”, removing her garden hat and
gloves.
“Mew” said Mr. Pinkerton, with all
the hopelessness and despair he was feeling instilled in that one plaintive
plea.
“Oh, bless”, said Miss Butterwith.
“Poor dear, what has happened?” She came closer, peering into the water bowl
beside which M. Pinkerton sat. She then reached down and plucked the little
mouse out of the water. “There, there Mr. Pinkerton, we’ll just lay it out to
dry.” She suited action to words by pulling a tea towel out of a drawer and
placing the sodden mouse atop it. She also
had also removed something else from that same drawer.
“Well, it’s a good thing I got you more than
one”, smiled Miss Butterwith as she leaned down and ran a hand from the top of
Mr. Pinkerton’s head all the way down his back to that wonderful place at the
base of his tail.
Mr. Pinkerton could not stop the
purr that started from his throat as he arched up into Miss Butterwith’s hand while taking the mouse she offered. He
knew he would never, ever put it down.
The End

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