My object is about 2 inches long and 1.5 inches high. It is a mouse cast in concrete. Her face is molded over by concrete algae or patina or whatever grows on concrete. And her casting must have been a botched job because her features are sliding and blurry at best. She is small and cold and hunkered down. She sits, without a pun intended, near my mouse pad on the cluttered table that sits at the center of my house. In other words, I keep her near.
To speak of her singly is awkward because she has a sister. I bought two of these mice in a little downtown store. One for me and one for my own sister and as it was months before her birthday or Yuletide the two mice girls sat together near my mouse pad for quite awhile. There was some deliberation as to which one I would give to my sister. I feel the mouse I ended up keeping was a bit cuter, if only because she is so homely. I have a category in my mind that combines sad and cute and she fits this to a tee. My sister too, highly values things of a sad/cute nature and thus would appreciate this sweet little hump of a mouse. The only problem was that without the sister mouse in attendance with clear, un-algaed, mouselike qualities there was no way to determine what animal the little homely mouse actually was. In the end my sister received the bright eyed attractive mouse sister.
I look at my mouse and think of her sister and my sister and the arrangement seems fine but I have recently heard an update that makes me wonder. The little attractive mouse joined a household of many small animal figurines as my sister had recently acquired, by various avenues, ceramic chickens, dogs, pot bellied pigs, and even a wax swan. And as the activities of the day scatter these animals to and fro; the table is cleared for a meal, some are scooted over to make room for something else etc., the mouse ends up alone. Every time, alone. The pigs end up in conversation, the dog joins the chickens, and the mouse is alone.
With this news scenes from my own home flash across my mind, scenes that I saw but quickly dismissed from thought. The homely mouse sister sprawled on her side underneath some scattered papers, another time appearing to try and nurse on a ceramic hippo twice her size, and another time with her head tucked between some potted plants, only her solemn backside showing. So now I'm worried.