Adventures in the Wild Kingdom

The mouse looks at me from across the room. I look at him; we stare without blinking as the tension builds. I’m not sure when in my life I stopped screaming when I saw a mouse in my general vicinity. I think it might have something to do with working around mice and hamsters for the last 6 months at Petsmart. That must be why I am suddenly very uninterested in the mouse that is about the size of half my thumb. I could have much worse things living in my dresser. I could have one of those giant spiders named after the town I live in. I could have some kind of lizard like the ones the guide books say can kill you if given enough time; instead I have only tiny geckos living in the shower. Since I have not yet been to the game parks my experience with local wildlife is only the tiny mouse that I have named Will, the occasional gecko, the goats, chickens, and cows who seem to like spending time in the street by my office building. The goats tend to give me my space but the cows on the other hand seem to think the narrow allies belong to them. One day at work I was sitting, minding my own bussiness when a chicken walked in. He had wandered in through the open door and looked for all the world to see like he knew where he was going.. far be it for me to say any different. He quickly realized that this was not the place he was thinking of and hurried out the door... perhaps to try the place across the street. Along with these animals there are about a thousand crows everywhere. They are like seagulls and pigeons combined in their annoyance and filth. They are also about three times as big. There are also the local gangs of hoodlum street cats who are really pretty terrifying. More than one person here has told me that these cats are the “gangster kind of cat” During the day they aren’t so bad at night you keep your distance and watch your pockets. God help all those who get on their bad side. If these are the animals that a domestic city life has to offer, i'm looking forward to the actual game parks.