2:30 am. I wake to strange sounds. A bird in distress? A really large cicada? I don’t recognise the noise. I’m half asleep but can tell something’s wrong. Sounds like it’s coming from outside. I get up and pierce the dark with a flashlight. Maura and Beryl come running towards me from the fishtern. Do fish squeak?
6:20 am. I am at my desk, starting to work. Maura jumps off my lap and runs across the studio. I hear the squeak again as I see a dark shadow scurry along the edge of the room. It’s a little Japanese mole – fully alive and uninjured as far as I can tell. Wanting to keep him from becoming carnage, I discourage Maura from hunting him. It’s pretty clear I am not going to be able to catch the mole, so I let him hide in the storage space under a suitcase until I can figure out what to do.
6:55 am. Just before yoga starts, he dashes into an exposed corner. I cover him with a cloth and tuck a yoga bolster into the corner to keep Maura away. Hopefully the dark, confined place will calm him. Maybe I can catch him after class.
7:45 am. While lying in savasana at the end of class, I have an insight: I need to give him a place to dig into. So I get a bucket and some dirt, bring them up into the studio and try to create a safe space for him. I leave him to it and go back to my desk.
8:10 am. That didn’t work. He is running around the edge of the studio again, looking for an exit. Maura is following him. When he comes over to the corner by my desk, I set up him my slipper as a new hiding place. He keeps running. I return my attention to work.
9:03 am. I hear a scrabbling in the slipper. He’s in! I gently lift it up and carry him outside. He cautiously leaves, first making sure to get something to drink after a long night in the dry studio.
