Muffy Tails: All Moved In
I've been living with the humans for a few weeks now. The sky stopped leaking, and I tried to find the others, but they seemed to have moved to another street corner. I could not contact them, so instead of fending for myself in the big city, I crawled back through the vent and adapted to apartment life.
Human two is called Caroline. She wakes up early in the morning and puts on special shoes that clip onto a bike that doesn't go anywhere. The screen on the gadget plays music, and Lily gets annoyed when Caroline doesn't plug plastic in her ears to make it silent. I watch from underneath as Caroline's legs move around in a circle.
At the beginning of each day, Lily opens the cold compartment where they store food, pulls out chunks of cold, hard fruit, and then puts them into a cup with powders and ice. She presses a button, and the cup whirrs loudly, blending the contents into a thick, creamy substance she drinks in the morning. Lily is what humans call vegan, which means she doesn't eat meat. Or dairy. I wonder how a human could voluntarily live without cheese. Where I come from, we argue over who gets to eat the cheese whenever we are lucky enough to find it.
I prefer Caroline's food preferences. Her breakfasts are different than Lilly's. She cracks eggs onto the hot surface, which I learned is called a stove. At nighttime, she orders from a place called "Seamless." Seamless has everything. I've tried food from all over the world! Chinese sesame chicken, Pad thai noodles, sushi, and more. I climb into the trash can at night to nibble at the leftovers. One time, Caroline left the green stuff in the sushi box, which I decided was too spicy.
My favorite thing is Joe's, a special kind of pizza. That's what Caroline calls it. It's better than all the pizza slices I've tried on the street. Sometimes, on the weekends, Caroline orders a whole box for herself. The other night she forgot to put the leftovers in the food storing unit. I felt brave as I climbed up the legs of the place where they sit and have their meals and onto the wooden surface to sniff around. The world looks so much different from up here. I peered outside the glass and watched as the cars drove on the road above the water as I picked at the remaining pizza slices.
The humans spend lots of time in the living room watching movies. Curious and courageous, I move along the vent and perch myself underneath the couch. I'm learning a lot about their habits - I have never spent this much time so close to humans. The other night they watched a cartoon called Ratatouille. I like cartoons. They are more colorful and less dramatic than the other things the girls watch. In this movie, Remy, the rat, is a cook. He risks his life to live in a restaurant and eat human food rather than stay with his family and continue to eat garbage. Although he is initially feared by other humans, in the end, Remy becomes the head chef at his restaurant. Like Remy, I prefer the indoors. I am getting spoiled by the decedent crumbs the humans are unknowingly feeding me. I think my mother was wrong about people. Maybe Lily and Caroline could learn to like me, too.
I felt inspired by the film and decided to try to cook myself, but the humans keep their uncooked food tightly sealed. I sigh and think I'll try again another time when the humans and I become friends. I am courteous not to go to the bathroom where they eat, so I hop down from the counter and do my business out in the open before burrowing inside Lily's foot-covering for a good night's sleep. I like how roomy, and cushion-y it feels. I doze off and slip into a dream-filled slumber. I imagine the three of us cooking breakfast together.
That morning, Lily enters the kitchen earlier than usual. I burrow myself deeper into her foot-covering and perk my ears. I am startled by her loud screech. She bends down low by the stove. I watch as she examines my droppings. I guess pooping in the middle of their home wasn't the best way to announce my presence.
"CAROLINE!" She yelled. "We have a big problem."
Caroline stumbles into the kitchen, half-asleep. "What's going on? Are you okay?
"Muffy's back."
"That's impossible…."
"Look! I found her shit all over the floor."
Who is Muffy? I wondered. Am I Muffy? Surely they must like me if they gave me a name. Perhaps, I am getting too comfortable here. Or, maybe I thought they wouldn't notice since they always leave food around. I freeze and try not to move a muscle.
"Don't worry. I will call the Exterminator ASAP."
I'm not too fond of the sound of that word, Exterminator. If only they knew me, they would learn to love me like they love the rat on TV. I panicked and ran back underneath the vent the second the humans left, my tiny heart thumping against my chest, rattling my bones. Maybe mother was right. No, she can’t be. Lily and Caroline are nice humans. Nice humans can be friends with mice, can’t they? I don’t know what I believe anymore, but I think I need to be careful of whatever this Exterminator is….