I found Louis Catorze’s mouse on the afternoon of that incident. Luckily I didn’t have to search under the bed because, erm, the flies very helpfully guided me to where I needed to look. And it had no head, which either means that he has a taste for them (ugh) or I need to start shaking out every single under-bed item (much worse).
Two nights later, there was a further altercation: a squirrel (I think?) was scrabbling around in the wisteria outside my bedroom window, making the most infernal chattering racket. Sa Maj, perched atop my feet in bed, was deep in conversation with it.
And, yesterday afternoon, another mouse. Good grief.
So I’m not too happy with the animals of TW8. However, at least I don’t have to deal with live rat visitors, like my friend in India who has named her most recent house guest MonsterRat Caballé. She is quite the behemoth (the rat, I mean, not my friend).
In very slightly less awful news, hay fever season is upon us and, because I’ve been a bit useless at remembering to take my daily dose of local honey from Hen Corner, I haven’t fully escaped the symptoms. And I’ve had it with the “Can’t you take antihistamines?” brigade. Wow, I never thought to try antihistamines! Thank you for your insightful help!
Cat Daddy: “You get all the ailments, don’t you? You must be a little runt, like Louis.”
Me: “Sorry, what?”
Him: “Not that that’s a bad thing. I mean, I took him in, didn’t I? I took you in, too.”
Me: “SORRY, WHAT?”
[Silence, tumbleweed, crickets.]
Anyway, Le Roi does not approve of my symptoms.
If he is on my lap when I sneeze, he swiftly departs. In fact, even when he feels me do the deep intake of breath that leads to a sneeze, he’s off, doing the bird-chatter noise as he goes. (Yes, I know this is weird beyond belief, but, y’know, Catorze an’ all.)
The last time I sneezed, the little sod took off, muttering obscenities under his breath. He returned but, when I sneezed again, he decided that enough was enough and went to sit on another sofa, glaring balefully at me.
Now, it may not sound surprising for a cat to dislike sudden noises such as sneezes. However, Cat Daddy has a a sneeze so monstrous that it sonic-booms birds from trees several miles away. He even apologises when he can feel one coming because it’s THAT offensive. And, would you believe, when Catorze is on his papa’s lap, he doesn’t even flinch during this absolute beast of a sneeze. Not so much as an ear-flick.
Clearly boys can do no wrong in Catorze’s eyes. But then we knew this already, didn’t we?
louiscatorze.com 
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