Last night, my wife came to bed and asked if I'd seen Mittens. She had not gotten all uppity and loud around feeding time which is very unusual for her. My wife surmised that she was laying in an open window doing the cat thing of watching everything that moves.
This morning, we didn't get the 5:00AM wakeup call which was also very unusual. I got up to make coffee and there was also none of the "Trill loudly and try to trip John while he makes coffee because he's not feeding me fast enough" activity. She eventually came when I called her but she had ZERO interest in food and disappeared soon after I started getting it ready.
I checked around the house and couldn't find her anywhere which led me to the basement where she came happily bounding to my feet. It was then that I discovered the reason for her sudden disappearance and lack of interest in where we were or what we were doing.
Mittens had found a friend. By friend, I mean one very plump mouse. Her new friend was unharmed but obviously quite shaken at having been a play toy for Mittens for the last several hours. I swear the mouse was looking at me with an expression of "Please make it stop!!!"
So, mister or misses mouse was put into a small tub and released outside where they sat for quite a while before scurrying away. Mittens seemed none the worse for the wear at the loss of a real live toy and headed upstairs to gobble down her food and take up a perch in a window somewhere.
All this means is that I will pay for it tomorrow morning for sure.