Something the Cat Brought In

Last night, Toulouse (the neighbors' cat who spends most of her day time at my house) caught a teeny tiny mouse and took it into one of my visiting neighbors' hut. They threw it out the window, and this afternoon, Flannel decided to bring it to my house to show me. But in the process, she disected it, sort of, so after I had properly disposed of the body (i.e. tossed it down the pit latrine), I found two mouse fetuses in my house, each the size of, well, tiny mouse fetuses. (That is, hardly more than an eighth of an inch long.)

It it weren't for the fact that they were mice and potentially carrying terrible diseases, and if it weren't for the fact that they were dead rodents, I would've been amazed at how perfectly these little things were formed. So little, yet they had complete tails and all. OK, I was mezmerized for a moment. Then I went to dispose of them, too. And scrubbed my hands, though I hadn't touched them, of course.

Earlier in the day, I had seen a truly gorgeous little creation: a baby boy who was just hours old, the newest member of the Ilula Children's Home. Jonah and Mary Jepsat had a baby boy, Joshua Kibet. I'll post a photo tomorrow, when I've transferred it from the camera of one of the visitors. I was in town with a group of 7 guests when I got the call that Joshua had been delivered by C-section. Both mom and baby are doing well. And the dad, Jonah, couldn't stop beaming.

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As I'm writing this, it's raining rather hard. We've had some downpours the past few days. It helps to settle all the dust we've had now that it's the dry season.

And so I'm going to fall asleep tonight to the sound of the rain on my roof. It's one of my favorite sounds to doze off to. It's almost as amazing as the silence of snow falling.