Ms. Eyeshine’s relationship with the mouse ran off the road when he discovered that his parents had become prey several years ago during a Caliban Academy hunting match in which her brother Sam was the coach.
One can hardly blame him. It was a tragic episode, but legal under the rules of our society. The action was anonymous, and the field of play was clearly marked. Within its boundaries, anything is fair game. That doesn’t make it any less painful for the families of the victims, of course.
Still, I would hope that the mouse would find some forgiveness in his heart. Aby didn’t kill them, nor did her brother. He was the coach; not the actual predator. (Who was? It’s possible, of course, that it was Rudy. Or Fiona. I don’t have that information and I don’t want to ask.)
Last night Dad went to the mouse’s residence with a plan. I’ll report next week on how that went.
Meanwhile, here at Beige University the sad news was made official that our poisoned oak trees will not survive and will have to be replaced. The plan is to replant new trees. As part of that process, we were visited by university representatives this week, who know that we had recently replanted a living tree in the area, with success. They just wanted to know how the process went, and if there were any unexpected details that arose. We were able to answer everything to their satisfaction and they left feeling upbeat.
