The cat is suddenly sitting up next to me quite alert.  The cat begins to quiver.  The sound in the kitchen gets louder.  Scratching.  Some kind of whining.

It is not cute.  No.  AUGHHHHHH!!!!!!  Give me snakes any day.  The sound of mice scurrying makes me crazy.  It’s genetic.  My theory is this: historically speaking, women who hated mice lived longer and had more children.  Therefore, most of us are descendents of women who have spent some good part of their maternal energy chasing small furry creatures out of the precious food set aside for the family.