Annoyed, she rushed over, bent down, and grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck. She dragged it out and tossed it a good distance away, muttering, "Lazy cat! All you know how to do is sleep. You never catch any mice, just a waste of food to keep you around. Look, you've gotten my shoe inserts all dirty."
The stove-side alcove was a small, foot-square space left in the wall directly in front of the stove. It was perfect for using the residual heat from the pots to dry things like shoe inserts, and this cat loved sleeping in it during the winter—it was warm, after all.
