I don't know how she got that way when I just cleaned the apartment
yesterday, but she was absolutely FILTHY today! Her sleek black fur
was full of dust and grottiness and she didn't smell any too clean...
so she got her first bath in almost a year. She was VERY good about it
too. John held her in the shower and I washed her off with the
hand-held hose on warm, and rubbed her gently with baby shampoo and
rinsed her... I think she was horrified at what was happening because
she didn't even try to get away until it came time to rinse her clean
(but then it was far too late to abort proceedings and we HAD to
finish.) Since she was refusing to let John turn her over to rinse her
other side, I carried her over to the basin and stood her in there and
rinsed her by splashing lukewarm water over her rear. She was VERY
good about that too - as soon as her paws touched the porcelain she
felt safe and let me do what had to be done.

Next time we have to bathe her (which hopefully won't be for a LONG
time I'll sit in the bathtub with her so she can be on the floor
instead of dangling in mid-air, and John can do the washing.

Silver was extremely puzzled by the wet Tessie who emerged from the
bathroom... she kept sniffing her and trying to help her get dry, and
Tessie kept walking away from her because she did NOT want help! The
poor little mite still looks like a drowned rat, but she's determined
to take care of it by herself...