Act IV

It happened today, although not on purpose. I'd had her out since about 7:30 this morning until just before 4:00 this afternoon. (There was a lot of melodrama, but no actual drama, if you know what I mean.) Anyway I was going out, and wasn't quite ready to leave them totally unsupervised, but when my friend Michael came in, I "showed her off". (Did he say she was "striking"? or "attractive"??) Anyway she totally escaped into the basement and my magic laser beam did not draw her up the stairs... So for something like 5 hours they were all together all on their own and they came through it seemingly unscathed. I am amazed at how calmly the original 7 have taken all this. If she's being obnoxious they'll avoid her or - if absolutely necessary - stand up to her, but other than that it's business as usual - i.e., lots of snoozing, some birding, crunching, munching, and the occasional battle with some hapless toy or other. (She loves playing with her mousies!) At one point this morning she was 1 of 6 just hanging in the bedroom with Mom (she was the one growling and hissing, but other than that, totally normal.)