Old Cat was relaxing, Young Cat by his side.
When suddenly a big Mouse scurried on by.
"What was that I just saw?" Old Cat had cried.
Young Cat just sat there, mouth agape and
eyes wide.
"A Mouse?" said Young Cat with disbelief,
"Although the moment I saw was very brief.
Whatever it was, it ran very fast,
And before I could think, it already had passed."
Old Cat yelled, "A Mouse! Our house is afflicted!
Without a doubt, he must be evicted!
It's up to us, our responsibility-
A job that we've handled throughout history!"
"We must get this done, not a minute to waste!
Come with me now, we can't be disgraced.
Everyone will know," Old Cat had frowned,
"That's how fast word of Mouse gets around!"
Old Cat got up, with Young Cat behind,
Devoted to the task he was newly assigned.
At the basement door, Young Cat looked with awe,
As Old Cat, to a scanner, raised his right paw.
"This is my lab, the scanner keeps others out,"
Old Cat explained, but Young Cat had doubt.
He said, "But the scanner's just for the Cat door-
Can't they open the People one to get to that floor?"
Old Cat gave a look and Young Cat stopped talking,
And, down the stairs, they continued walking.
At the back of the room, Young Cat did see
A lab fully equipped, from A to Z!
Bunsen burners and vials, all sorts of mixtures,
Liquids bubbling and boiling within the fixtures.
Young Cat asked, "Why all this? What does it mean?
As Cats, catching Mice should just be in our genes!"
Old Cat scoffed, "So old fashioned! Your ideas need a check!
Why chase and pant when we have all this tech?
Days of running around and mess we'll now scrap!
It's finally time to build a better mousetrap!"
"Who better than Cats to figure this out?
We know more than others!" Old Cat did shout.
Young Cat knew better than to interrupt.
Old Cat and his speech, he dared not disrupt.
When Old Cat was done, he put on his lab coat.
He started to work, Young Cat taking notes.
After trial and error, a breakthrough was had!
There never was anything that smelled this bad.
Old Cat said the solution will gross out the Mouse,
And so the small beast will then leave their house.
So they placed the liquid on sofas, in drawers,
In the kitchen, on pillows, behind all of the doors.
But shortly thereafter, they saw Mouse give a tug,
While he put on and tightened tiny nose plugs.
The only thing from this effort that did result
Was a full house cleaning by their
human adult.
Old Cat said, "Like TV, let's use CSI!
Cat Scientific Intuition, we will apply!"
Young Cat said, "Obviously you've not seen
the show..."
Old Cat sneered, "Don't have to, I already know!"
Young Cat shrugged, and back to the Cat Lab
they went,
To see what else they could create and invent.
"Aha! I've got it!" Old Cat loudly screamed,
And described to Young Cat his new
Anti-Mouse scheme.
"Nothing's better at catching a Mouse than a Cat,
So a robotic Cat must be better than that!"
With pen in his paw, he drew an ideal
Mouse catching Kitty made out of steel.
Welding and wiring, using stuff from the house,
Old Cat built his robot to expel the Mouse.
Firing him up, the red eyes aglow,
Old Cat cheered, "Yes! Our plan is a go!"
Old Cat let the steel Cat out of confinement
So he could take care of his
programmed assignment.
The Mouse reacted with eyes of confusion
To this unnatural, unexpected intrusion.
But then Mouse had a moment when he
thought, "Aha!"
And he raised his small paw with a "hurrah!"
For as the wheeled robot started to roll,
The Mouse pushed over the Cats' water bowl.
Water splished and it splashed all over the bot
And with a "zzz" and a "pfft", its power gave out.
The steel Kitty a dud, Old Cat's anger grew,
Because the score now was Cats zero, Mouse two.
"Going old school is what we really needed.
I have an idea which entails hard work and sweat,
But passing it on to the other house pet."
"We will enlist Dog to help our crusade-
We have taught him to sit, to serve and to stay.
Why not equip him with Anti Mouse gear-
And let him do the work to make it disappear?"
Though Young Cat liked Dog, he was unsure
about that.
Dog wasn't too smart. At least, not like a Cat.
But Old Cat was excited about his new plan,
So Young Cat said nothing as Old Cat began.
The Cats made attempts to teach and to school,
But Dog simply sat there, licked them and drooled.
They gave him Cat pointers and trained him
for days,
So he could learn all of their Mouse catching ways.
After a week, Dog seemed to catch on.
He was finally ready, they'd release him at dawn!
Old Cat rubbed his paws, and squealed with delight,
"Our hard work will pay off-we'll sleep while
he fights!"
The next morning, Dog set off on his task,
While the Cats found some sunlight in which
to bask.
After a while, Old Cat went to check Dog's progress,
But what he saw left him unimpressed.
A disappointed yowl brought Young Cat to his side,
Who, after seeing the scene, just simply sighed.
The Mouse and Dog somehow became chummy,
With Dog on his back and Mouse rubbing
his tummy.
Old Cat exhaled and looked down at his feet,
Smart enough to know when he was beat.
He shook Mouse's paw when he was done,
Saying, "Congrats to you, the better beast won."
Mouse said, "You did well! You did all that you can!
I'm sorry to say, I knew all of your plans.
Soon after I came, Dog waved the white flag,
And, so to speak, let the Cat out of the bag."
