There are no wolves, only mice
Eileen“There are no wolves, only mice” is Eileen Dunlop’s reply to her father’s report of a wild animal behind the house on a cold Christmas morning in X-ville. The line turns his fearful speculation into a compact denial, and its contrast between wolf and mouse makes the exchange both corrective and quietly unsettling.
Wording and Immediate Context
Eileen’s father, already drunk, says that something has been staking out the house and breathing in the snow. He rules out a hoodlum and suggests that it may be a wolf. Eileen tells him, “There are no wolves,” I told him, “only mice.” Her answer does not explain what he heard or establish that an animal was there; it replaces his alarming possibility with a smaller, less threatening one.
The Exchange on the Stairs
The line comes as Eileen sits beside her father at the top of the stairs and hands him the bottle he has dropped. He drinks while she watches his milky eyes and trembling hands. After he finishes the gin, she helps him into her mother’s bedroom, lays him down, and kisses his swollen hand. The words belong to this intimate farewell as much as to his account of the animal: Eileen responds to his fear, then cares for him as he becomes sleepy and confused.
Function and Resonance
The exchange leaves a gap between the father’s conviction that something is outside and Eileen’s flat refusal of the wolf. His vision of a possible predator is never confirmed, while her answer offers no account of what he heard. The phrase’s force lies in that unresolved contrast: it diminishes the imagined threat without dispelling the unease of the scene. Eileen then says good night and closes the door, making the exchange part of her final leave-taking from her father and the house.
