Body trembling, ears twitching

Scrunched inside the woodshed

Through the hole, out of the corner of his eye…

Nervous, alert, startled, scared…

Sees the gray and white farmcat slink

Silently, cagey, concentrating…

The cat crouches. Has he caught the scent?

His tail tauntingly twitches from side to side

Like a pendulum

Out of the corner of the mouse's eye

Is the burrow buried beneath a mound of reeds

Lie still. Don't move. Safe in burrow…

Must get home…

Watching, waiting, wondering, worrying…

Hoping the cat will go away

The cat lifts up his paw and places it forward…

In the direction of the woodshed.

The mouse crouches and gets ready…

Like the string of a bow before an arrow is released

The cat quietly creeps closer.

NOW! RUN! The arrow is released!

Stretching, scattering, slipping, sliding, skidding…

Paws fly through the air, frozen for a few seconds.

Barely making contact with the soft grass on the hard ground

Claws extended…the hole seconds before him…

Paws and claws only a few feet from the fur on his back…

Only a few more feet…

Make it. Must make it…

Contact.