A Game of…

Cat and Mouse.

I was six when I moved to Santa Fe, and I hated it. My Aunt Lupe had taken me in – for reasons unknown to me – and my mother and two older brothers remained in Mexico. I missed them terribly.

It was hard for me to make friends, due to my shyness, but between Aunt Lupe and my three cousins (and our neighbors on both sides who were a family of seven and a family of five), I was never really alone.

Still, it took me years to become fully acclimated. It wasn’t until my last year of college that I realized I’d fallen in love with my new home. And now it was time to leave.

It was a thrill to accept a job in California, right after graduation, but my heart was hurting. So much so that I was sure I couldn’t do it. Aunt Lupe spent weeks on the Internet, and on the phone with a realtor, helping me look for a place to live, and she found me this adorable apartment in NoHo.

Her reasons were twofold. She has the heart of a servant – so ‘helping’ comes naturally to her – but she is also strong and wise. She knew that as much as I hated to leave her – I was afraid of being on my own.

She had watched me blossom – from that shy little girl who arrived fourteen years ago, to the woman I became – and she would not allow me to shrink back from this opportunity because of fear.

After driving me to California, to help me settle into my new place, Aunt Lupe flew back to Santa Fe, leaving her Kia with me. It was a surprise gift – my graduation present – but it was so like her, that it didn’t surprise me at all.

Once she left, I had two weeks to myself before my job would start. I cleaned, unpacked, and then I bought a bed. I had no furniture whatsoever – other than an old stool I’d found in the garage – and sleeping was one thing that I loved. As long as my bed was comfortable, and I could get a good night’s sleep, everything else would fall into place.

It was my first night with my brand new bed, and I dove in – head first. I was still uneasy about being alone, but the bed felt so luxurious that I settled in quite nicely. I turned out the lights, and picked up my phone to text Aunt Lupe… and then the trouble started.

The sound of little footsteps, running to-and-fro above my head, kept me awake nearly all night long – so the next morning I was on edge. I assumed that the noises I had heard were from a small animal who had taken refuge on the roof, but as I sipped my Starbucks and mentally planned my day, I heard the squeak. And it wasn’t coming from the roof, it was coming from inside.

That’s when I saw it. A big, fat, ugly rodent… poking its head out of a small hole in the wall… looking at me like I was dinner. I jumped, and then perched myself onto the stool.

“No, no, no!” I cried. “This is NOT happening.”

My phone was hanging from my skirt pocket, so I called Aunt Lupe and screamed for help.

“Oh Mija,” she laughed, “just call your landlord. And get a cat.”

It took all the courage I could muster to get down from that stool, but I finally did it. I grabbed my shoes from the closet, took my keys off of the hook by the door, and I sprinted to the Kia. Once I was safely inside the car, I Google searched the nearest animal shelter, and off I went.

And so here we are. Jasper and I, back at home. She is the most adorable cat I have ever seen, and we are ready for war.

TO BE CONTINUED

I’m finally back! So, ok. This might not be my finest hour, but I need to finish what I started here! I was a bit stumped as to how the story of the woman and the mouse would go, hence… Jasper has arrived on scene!

The elements I mentioned before, that I’ll be working on through this story, are as follows:

The Beginning (Exposition): Establishes characters and setting.
The Inciting Incident: an event that puts the main character(s) into a challenging situation – where the movement of the story begins.
Rising Action: Where most of the conflict takes place, which is a major part of the story.
The Dilemma: This is where things get harder. It can be a twist in the story, an additional challenge, or the time when an important decision must be made.
The Climax: The big moment… where most of the tension is contained.
The End (Resolution): Where things get resolved and all goes back to normal, or to the next level… a new normal.

Since Q talked in the first part (The World According to Q) I had to catch us up on Rosa (also my letter “R” in the alphabet game). I believe I’ve accomplished #2, the inciting incident, which is Rosa’s discovery of the mouse. And now Rosa and Jasper are ready for battle with Q – our cute little mouse.

I think it’s going to be fun (even though I’ve been procrastinating for nearly two weeks) because it’s hard to know who the hero will turn out to be. Is it Rosa? Q the mouse? Or maybe Jasper? We will find out soon enough!

Anyway, like I said, it’s a little sloppy but the idea is out there and this is all about “learning to write.”

I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far, and that you’re finding a little entertainment or maybe some learning here (just as I am), and I’ll see you again soon!

Thanks for reading!

-Janet