Bella is persistent and very fast. For days now she's been throwing shoes around from where they're lined up by the door. I figured she was chasing waterbugs. Not the case, as I discovered last night. There is, however, a problem. She has the instinct to hunt, as all cats do, and the physical talent for it, which not all cats do. But cats need to be taught to kill, and no one ever taught her that. Fugazy came here fully educated. All Bella knows is how to pounce. She swats her paw down on the mouse, and then lifts it up to see what's going on. The mouse runs, Bella leaps on it. That was the situation when I got up to see what was going on. She had the mouse cornered but she didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do about the whole situation but my being there distracted Bella enough that the mouse snuck under the closet door. Now I had a cat scrabbling at the door and a mouse in the closet. I stood there a minute, thinking if the mouse was smart it wouldn't come out. Of course, if the mouse was smart it would be a miracle. I decided to choose to believe it wasn't coming out, and I went back to bed. Bella came in a couple of times to suggest that I open the closet door, until finally she gave up, too. I'd like to live in peace with the mice, as long as they stay off the counters. It would be good, though, if they were to at least stop racing along the hallway right under Bella's nose.