Other Worlds

Darwin, Amaretto and the Mouse

Evolution doesn't move forward. It just switches things up.

Once we had the dinosaurs roaming and roaring everywhere. Now they're little pictures frozen in rock.

Then we had the humans with their cars and their cell phones. Good-bye to them too.

But no matter what happens, there will always be a top dog.

Not literally. Without the humans around to put leashes around their necks, the dogs celebrated their newfound freedom by just sitting there.

But others welcomed this new age. One particular cat named Amaretto was very excited about being part of the new regime.

Amaretto wasn't her real name, but the two bipeds that claimed to own her would always say 'Amaretto' when she was in their presence. The biped 'owners' thought they were really smart taking advantage of Amaretto's lack of opposable thumbs by trapping her behind a doorknob she couldn't turn. They were at least considerate enough to forget to close the door before they died.

Amaretto ran out the door and slinked through the green stuff that covered the yard. She hated the cold wet feeling on her belly as it rubbed against the morning dew, so she decided to sprint over to the nearby tree.

The flock of birds congregating by the oak took off once they saw the approaching feline. This wasn't fair! When Amaretto had been behind the glass windows salivating over the creatures, they just stood there. Now that she finally had her chance to eat one, they flew away.

Amaretto meowed up the tree to express her displeasure. Food was supposed to come to her, or at least to her dish. If the prey was going to be so impolite as to flee, Amaretto was afraid she might grow very hungry.

Her attention was quickly distracted by a small little mammal zipping through the lawn. Every instinct in Amaretto's brain told her that she must hunt it.

As the tiny thing foraged for food, Amaretto jumped up on a stone bench overlooking the creature. Looking down from higher ground, she observed it without alerting it to her presence.

It looked a little bit like a mouse, but that was crazy. Mice were toys made of cloth and filled with catnip. They didn't move on their own. Still, things out here in the wild were quite different than back home.

Thousands of years of hunting instinct whirled around in Amaretto's little kitty brain. Even if this strange mouse wasn't filled with catnip, it sure smelled tasty. She wondered why they never made mouse flavored cat food.

Still something held Amaretto back. Things had changed. Life had evolved. She had plenty of food left in her bowl. Perhaps she could become friends with this strange little morsel.

Her whiskers twitched and her ears went back wondering what the best course of action was. She mewed softly to get the mouse's attention, but it ignored her. It was more interested in whatever inedible piece of garbage it was attempting to devour.

How rude! Amaretto wasn't sure this 'mouse' was worthy of her friendship. She'd try one more time and, if it still ignored her, then it would be a tasty little snack.

Amaretto leaned down from the bench so her nose was close enough that the mouse could feel her breath. The mouse's body tensed up and its back paws were primed to charge full speed away from the curious cat.

Amaretto's whiskers gently brushed the mouse's back and the cat made a purring sound to indicate she meant no harm. She wasn't sure if that was necessarily true or not. The mouse did seem pretty tasty, but since the death of the bipeds, she was starting to feel lonely.

Instead of running, the mouse swung around to stare the feline directly in the eyes. Although the mouse's brain was small, it recognized the age old dance of death that its kind shared with the feline's. Normally it would turn and flee, but something had changed. Both animals had evolved.

Amaretto purred softly assuring the mouse it had nothing to fear.

The mouse growled. It's tail spun and tiny spikes shot out towards the cat. Its mouth stretched open wide enough to chomp Amaretto's head with its rows of razor sharp teeth. Most terrifying of all was the deathly mousy bellow informing the cat that things were no longer the same anymore.

The mouse chomped and Amaretto barely escaped with her tail intact. She scampered home, jumped through the window and slid under the bed where she hid all day.

No matter how the wheel of evolution spun, there would always be someone at the top of the food chain. If you've got less than nine lives, you'd do well to know exactly who that is.