Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse, unable to use the keyboard shift keys and unschooled in the art of punctuation. boss in case you re wondering why there s kool-aid and coffee stains all over this week s column it s because marcellus that mangy malevolent cat has been running amuck lately he s been a holy terror - well maybe not so holy - more like an ungodly plague by night life hasn t been easy under the church pews these last couple of weeks boss in fact i m still pretty strung up by it all here s what happened i crossed marcellus path a few days ago to check out the cheese supply in the church kitchen refrigerator all of a sudden marcellus came whirling around a dark corner with his claws clacking on the linoleum tile - to a mouse boss it s a sound worse than fingernails on a chalkboard the nearest possible escape for me was to slide under the storage closet door - i oughta know better by now boss because that closet is still filled with a cherry kool-aid flavored tangled-up church volleyball net - and i landed smack dab in the middle of it the more i tried to get away the worse it got - there i was dangling like a mousy pretzel wrapped up five different ways in kool-aid flavored volleyball string connie cricket hopped by and asked me what game i was playing and that she liked my new after shave but it was a little too strong go away and leave me alone says me not feeling very friendly okay but you ll want me to play with you one day then we ll see mister smarty mouse says she after that freddy flea passed by whatcha doing says he help me freddy help me says me how d you get to be like that says he i don t think a mouse like you can possibly hang like that never mind says me get me outa here boss we tried and we tried but it went from bad to worse finally freddy had to leave so there i was upside down with my tail hanging in front of my face the more i sat like that the less it seemed like a netty prison and the more it became a secret meditation place - a place to meet with god heart to heart soul to soul and spirit to spirit you know what boss the more i communed with the lord and rested in him the more relaxed i became and soon - plop - out of the net i dropped sometimes like the writer of ecclesiastes says better is a handful of quietness than much striving after wind amos