Puck and Sam

We had a bit of a sad evening. Our rather old and very hateful mouse Agatha passed away this afternoon. We take comfort in knowing that wherever she is, she is happier than when she was with us. She even disliked other mice, when we had other mice. She spent her days brooding on the wheel, patrolling the walls of her cage, and avoiding us at all costs.

She enjoyed the company of only one creature in our home, and that was Puck.

Puck is like some kind of feline ambassador to the rodent kingdom. Either he has no idea he is supposed to dislike rats and mice, or he has no inclination. Agatha was the first animal friend Puck made in our apartment during the early days when Elvis didn't know what to make of a three legged kitten.

She would follow his paw and he would follow her, back and forth, very gently through the bars of her cage. When anyone else approached she'd duck into her green castle, but she always came out for Puck. Despite his missing limb, he quickly learned to climb the bookcase to sleep on her cage. He'd pass an entire afternoon this way, and for her part Agatha would usually climb as close as she could and lounge on the level beneath him.

Puck sleeping on Agatha's cage. She was the white puff on
the level below him, next to the water bottle.

Tonight we moved her empty cage from its usual spot on the bookcase. Puck settled into the space and laid with his head over the side, clearly not his usual spritely self. Ryan put on "Overboard" and when it was over and the credits were rolling I noticed our rat Sam had gone over to Puck. Puck had turned himself around, and the two were being very sweet. I snuck the camera over and shot this short video, with the Overboard credits still rolling in the background.

Later when we watched the video on the computer and heard the audio, Ryan and I couldn't believe how adorable the music from the Overboard credits made this scene!