On Sunday afternoon, I was in the basement gathering some laundry I had hung to dry when a noise in the other room caught my attention. Spice was on the bookshelf behind the drum kit, knocking books onto the floor. “That’s weird”, I thought. “Spice doesn’t read.”
And then in a flash a reddish coloured chipmunk flew out from behind the books with Spice literally on his tail. They zoomed past me into the laundry room. I followed and stepped around the corner just in time to have the panicked chipmunk run over my foot followed immediately by Spice. I was impressed. Spice is 14. That chipmunk was nothing more than a blur and Spice was very close to catching him. Unfortunately, the game of tag ended when the chipmunk dove under the sauna where Spice couldn’t reach. No matter. Spice laid on the carpet and waited, tail flicking back and forth. He had nothing but time.
I summoned Derek who used a broom handle to jostle the chipmunk’s environment enough to get him back into the laundry room. Derek set up an elaborate corral so that once the rodent came out of hiding, he would have no choice but to head into manland and then up the stairs and out the door to freedom. The barriers were too high for Spice to jump and the escape hole was too small for anything bigger than Mr. Chip. I left Spice on guard and went about my day, but not before leaving tantalizing bits of cracker with peanut butter in a trail toward the door. The little guy was frantic, but he was likely hungry too.
About 40 minutes later, Spice came upstairs looking for dinner. If he left his post that meant our little scheme probably worked. I went downstairs. The barriers were all still standing and the crackers were gone. So, we assume, was Mr. Chip.
On two previous occasions, Spice has presented us with mouse carcasses and we marvelled at how he would have caught them. Now we know. He is fast and determined. Sure, he’s a senior, but he takes his responsibilities seriously. I was so proud of him – no front claws, only four teeth and he gave it his all! And then he slept the deep sleep of a guy who put in a good day’s work.
My thoughts on Mr. Chip are two-fold. How did he get in? And did his buddies believe him when he told them what he’d been through?