Tom and the field mice.

Hello! I'm Tom a handsome black cat with golden eyes. My family say I"m magnificent and why should I not believe them? I have a very high IQ, I measured it myself and don't trust anyone else to get it right I have a sister, Jenny, smaller than me and very beautiful. She sleeps 21 hours every day as she says that it is the only way to preserve her beauty. We sometimes go out together at night. We have a great friend, a dog Dolynette, who is a darling. We share the sofa and beds with her. Our family consists of 2 humans, mother and son, whose names are Sophie and Bastien. They look after us with devotion and love us to bits.

We live in a nice house in the country, surrounded by fields of wheat and sunflowers, with wonderful paths full of trees and vegetation. My own favourite is the area near a stream, which has large rocks and bushes, useful when I am on observation. It is a pretty place where I spend a lot of time

Who says fields says field mice and do we have field mice!! There are hundreds of them as they all have large families, grand-parents, parents, aunties and uncles and more cousins than you can count. I know them all well as I spend my days chasing them. They rush in every direction then disappear down their burrows where they will wait until I've had enough and have gone home, when they all come out again.

This idyllic life was shattered early one morning when we all heard gunfire,hunters invading our fields and firing in every direction. I waited until there was a lull and slunk home using the vegetation along my favoutite path as cover. Once home I had a good meal and curled up on my favourite chair, shut my eyes and started thinking and I thought long and hard. This situation could not go on!! It was spoiling our fun.

I thought of a plan and the next day I discussed it with the senior field mouse. He thought about it for a while then agreed that it could work.

The next time the hunters invaded our fields I hid behind the large rock by the stream and waited to see my plan in action. Suddenly the fields were alive with field mice running through the corn and the stalks of the sunflowers, it was like watching the waves in a stormy sea. The hunters were baffled and started firing at everything, but as field mice are tiny and low to the ground they were safe enough.The hunters wore themselves out with their efforts, so much so that they went home early. The mice came out of the fields and I emerged from behind my rock. I had not participated in all the activity as I had my safety to consider; for many people depend on my company. I trotted home to a good meal then stretched out on my favourite pillow to have a rest, exhausted by my busy day! But the next time those hunters appear we'll start all over again!!