The Gopher Story

Caiaphas is quite the little hunter. To date I've had to get two lizards, a butterfly, three birds, two mice, and one rather hyperactive gopher.

Most times they are dead, or stunned when they are brought in. Cai was up for a challenge that night and brought in a live one. I heard the commotion and hurled myself out of bed, not bothering to search for my glasses, and dragged Cai off the rodent. That's the most dangerous part of the operation. I have a scar from the "robin incident".

It is very difficult to reason with a rodent. Persuasion and logic don't have much of an effect. As I tried to convince him that if he'd just let me pick him up, everything would be fine, he lunged at me and sunk his teeth into my finger. I tried to shake him off. I tried hitting him off. It had a deathgrip. That's when I figured out it was no ordinary mouse. Too fuzzy, and too big of teeth. Too big in general. Finally he was flung, and I dropped a towel over him. I ran outside, shook out the towel, and went to the sink to minister to my punctured finger. I cast one depracating look at Cai, who was licking himself quite happily. Wrapping the abused finger in the towel, I fell back into bed.

Darn gophers.