Quakes and Shakes

I've had a couple stressful days with Barbossa. On Monday, my parents got him three mice on the way back from work. They were three perfectly good, honest mice. But one of them decided it did not want to be pinned down while Barbossa took his time sniffing it, and it bit him on the nose. There was no blood, no gashing wound visible, but Barbossa was having non of it. He swung his head back, think soap-opera melodrama, and refused to even look at the mouse. Or any of the other mice. When I offered him any he would turn around and flee (well, slither quickly) in the opposite direction. I put the mice away in a plastic container with holes, gave them some food and water, and kept them to try again yesterday.
Well, apparently the humiliation and the pain was just too great, because Barbossa was still in a trembly quake. I tried a few more times unsuccessfully and then released two of the mice, keeping the third one for Coral, which she gladly ate.
Oy vey.

In other news, an online magazine has published two of my poems so if you are at all interested please head over to http://www.exercisebowler.site90.net/Issue3.htm, scroll down to the bottom, and the last two poems, "The territories" and "Trojan Horse", are mine.