Chipmunks, Death & Presents

This morning, while opening the blinds, I watched the cat chase something in the bushes. She looked up at me as to say, "Hi! Look at what I am doing!" And then, all of a sudden, she pounced deeper into the terrain and pushed out what I thought was a bird. It ran along the wall and up towards the porch with the cat following it. I went to the back door to see if the bird got away when I saw the cat coming up the steps... with a chipmunk in her mouth. I rushed over and closed the screen door - - I really did not want another dead chipmunk in the house - - and screamed for the boyfriend. There was an emergency and I really needed him to come downstairs IMMEDIATELY. He came down, sans clothes (it gets hot here at night), and sleepily stumbled to the back door. He's like, "The cat better not be doing something cute and that's why you woke me." Just as he said that, she turned her head towards us and displayed her kill - still in her mouth. The boyfriend chuckled, "Good girl, now you're mama's going to clean it up." No way. I did it once when he was bed ridden, that was more than enough. I don't do dead things. She eventually dropped the chipmunk and the boyfriend was able to pick it up to throw it away. Poor Alvin. Afterward, we thanked the cat for her present, as the polite thing to do, and went to make the coffee. What a start to the day.