Followers

Sunday 19 August 2012

The Smell

Nera and Tabby


It was a hot day, the hottest in the Summerand Mrs. Human decided to rest on the porch with the sun shade down. She wasbusy on her computer and gradually did not feel so comfortable. An unpleasantscent seemed to be in the air. Her first thought was that it was probablybecause throughout the Summer meals had been served on the terrace and now theweather was so hot and stifling, the crumbs and residue between the pavingtiles were making themselves noticeable. She also noticed that a congregationof flies had began to assemble, buzzing around as if it was the annualattraction of the year.That could not be, something must be wrong somewhere.Mrs. Human always cleaned after a meal and now and again the tiles were evenwashed down with the hose. So what could it be?

It was then that Mr. Human came out on the terrace.

“Mr. Human, come and sit where I am sitting and sniff around. Somethin smells,no, it just plain stinks.”

Mr. Human sat on the chair previously occupied by Mrs. Human and began tosearch, noticing that something in the air was not right.

“No wonder” he said, “there is a dead mouse in the corner, didn’t you see it?”

“Of course I didn’t” answered Mrs. Human. In the meanwhile the flies haddecided to appoint the mouse as a prospective maternity ward.

“Tabby, Nera, Fluffy” and three cats appeared.

“What’s the fuss Mrs. Human?” asked Nera, the leader of the pack.

“Who deposited that dead mouse in the corner. It has started to decompose andstinks.”

“Of course, it is decomposing, that is a natural process of nature. Whether itstinks or not, is a matter of interpretation. It might stink for a human nose,for a cat nose, it smells appetising. Anyhow, I did not kill it, must have beenFluffy.”

“Nera, Fluffy has been blind for nine years, she might be able to smell amouse, but certainly cannot catch one.” was Mrs. Human’s answer.

“OK, don’t get worked up Mrs. Human, then it was probably Tabby. She is thebest mouse catcher here.”

“I don’t remember catching any mice” said Tabby.

“So now you have your answer Mrs. Human” said Nera “it wasn’t one of us, musthave been the cat next door.”

“Nera the cat next door moved away with her family a week ago. She doesn’t livehere any more. So which one was it? I warn you, your monthly ration of tunafish depends on it.”

The three cats looked at each other and if Mrs. Human could read telepathy shewould have noticed who did what.

“OK Mrs. Human, it was probably me” said Tabby “but it must have been yesterdayso I just cannot remember. We felines have short term memories, carry nogrudges and what has happened has happened. We just wipe it out from ourmemory. Anyhow one way or the other, this discussion about who did what is notgoing to bring the mouse back to life, make it disappear to mouse heaven orwhever they go, so let’s just forget the whole thing.”

“Tabby is right” said Nera. “What is the point wasting valuable time discussingthe departure of a mouse. There must be hundreds still here somewhere.”

“The point is Nera, that the mouse has been laying in the corner quietlystinking away for a day, which is not hygenic or pleasant.”

“Then clear it away Mrs. Human. We are not a waste disposal unit, we are cats.We catch the mice, assist with the reduction of vermin in the neighbourhood andall the thanks we get is a tuna fish ban. You should be thankful for ourhunting instinct. Come cats, let’s go back to sleep. Again we have beendisturbed by a human panic. I will never understand those humans.”

So Mrs. Human was left to a cleaning and scrubbing session on the tiles whilstMr. Human picked up the mouse with tissue paper in an inverted plastic bag. YesMr. and Mrs. Human
had experience in disposing of unwanted decomposing mice.The plastic bag was knotted and then placed in a larger garbage bag and Mr.Human then took the garbage bag to the container at the end of the street. Thethree cats were sleeping although watching the burial process with one eye. Theywere sure their tuna fish ration would not suffer. Humans have short memoriesas well.

1 comment:

  1. LOL....luv it.And they do stink!!
    Pointing their fingers...ahhhh toes, at each other for blame...typical KIDS LOL

    ReplyDelete