The great mouse massacre of 2006

We have two cats, one who is smart but lazy, and one who is dumb but frantically active. The smart one rarely leaves the house, and if she does venture out the door she only heads to the nearest pool of sunlight and settles in for a little nap. The dumb on goes out in rain, sleet, and snow, and roams all around the neighborhood for hours on end. He has also turned out to be quite the hunter, and has brought down birds, chipmunks, and even a bunny once. We try to quickly dispose of his prey both to avoid the flies and the questions that are bound to arise from C and A about the fate of the poor woodland creatures.

Yesterday afternoon I looked out the window onto the back stoop, and there lay dumb cat in all his glory, surrounded by six very dead mice. I must have gasped, as C and A quickly arrived next to me and stared silently with hands pressed against the glass. Finally C spoke up.

"Mommy, those aren't real mice, are they?"

"Uh, they are sweetie. I think dumb cat got them."

"You mean killed them. He killed them."

"Yes, I think they are really, really dead."

Silence settled again as C processed this. Finally he spoke slowly.

"Mommy, none of them are Ralph, right? Dumb cat didn't get Ralph, right?"

"No, Ralph is just pretend C. He's a character in a book."

"Oh. OK. I think you should have a talk with dumb cat about his behavior. He can't go around killing mice and eating their tails. It's not very nice."

"I'll speak to him C."

"Thanks mom."

Last night as we were reading Runaway Ralph, C seemed to pay much more attention to Catso the cat then he had previously. And as Catso entered the craft shop to attempt to do in Ralph, C snuggled in closer and closer. When Casto was distracted by a watch, C visibly relaxed and gave a big sigh of relief.

"Mommy, I didn't understand what Catso was trying to do before. He wants to eat Ralph's tail so Ralph can't ride his motorcycle anymore."

"That's right C. Does that scare you?"

"No, because I know there is another Ralph book when we finish this one. But I'll be scared when we read that one."

I am always amazed at how his mind processes things.