The Rats
By
Andrew Soliday
Western Michigan University
Spring 2007

The rats covered the town. Laying and scouring. They feel that this is their territory and no one has the ability to rob them of this area that they refer to as home.

Often times they are scattered amongst the town staying in smaller packs and hardly ever coming together in one unified cluster. Some lay under a house, some in the house, others hidden in the long grass.

Harm was one thing that they never cause. Harm was something that came their way in the form of swatting arms and sharp knives. Why would the townspeople have such a problem with them looking over the town? Where did this anger towards the rats come from?

Ever since the creation of these creatures they have never been received with open arms, but rather, as I just mentioned, usually arms coming towards them with violent intent. Their burning lamp eyes seem to create fear in the most bold of men. Gray soot fur and burning lamp eyes, what is not attractive about that? Many rats felt like outcasts of the town, never being able to fully understand the warmth that man gives to another. What must they do to overcome this?

Their leisure time is often spent watching the locals and their everyday routines. They often think about what great things are offered to those who have two arms and two legs. People telling jokes to the other, gathering around the bonfire telling jokes and talking of old folk lore, sitting around the dinner table feasting on a grandiose meal that they will never be able to savor save for some tiny crumbs that haphazardly fall to the ground and only sit in the tiny stomach for a short while until it is fully digested. Oh how envy the townspeople, never completely understanding what it means to be alive, but merely seen as deathly creatures that only salvage what is not theirs. They may as well be considered a rodent version of a gypsy.

One day the rats all gathered at the high point of the town for a meeting. The discussion was called to inform all of the rats that they need to become fellow citizens of the town, and no longer seen as a danger or just flat out filthy and disturbing creatures.

Rats took turns discussing how the townspeople spend their time and ways that they could possibly fit into these daily activities that took place. The meeting lasted the whole night debating what they would do to finally be realized and brought into the town that has rejected them for so long.

When the meeting was adjourned the group decided to join the community at the next bonfire and explain to all of the people who they were in the grand scheme of things. Their voices would be heard and they would be accepted and they would be taken seriously.

Next morning the rats looked over the town to see what kind of mood everyone was in and it appeared that the town was in very high spirits. People were laughing and dancing throughout town to celebrate its annual celebration of the lights. The rats knew that once night fell and the gathering around the fire took place they would make their appearance.

Some rats were feeling optimistic about the events that are going to unfold, while others were filled with dread, fearing that they will once again be greeted by flailing arms and loud gasps of horror.

Night began to set in and the fire began to be constructed. Anxiety began to fill they gray fur as the cold wind brushed their backsides as they overlooked on the top of the hill.

Down by the fire the faint sound of singing voices was heard, and they knew that now was the time to make their move.

The group of rats began scampering down the hill towards the townspeople sitting in their circle of unity. Words were being exchanged amongst the group of rats. Some were talking about how excited they are to finally talk and meet some of the people in the town, while others were saying that this was a bad idea. The group resembled that of a large soot cloud from a far.

The rats began to inch closer and closer to the fire, the orange color burning and radiating on top of their backs. One rat took charge and began to approach the crowd. He let out a soft squeak, a lump in his throat. He tried again, but this time he got more of his throat into the squeak and a loud hissing sound erupted from him. A man in the crowd turned around and saw the large crowd of rats that stood behind him. Their orange and yellow eyes burning against the fire. Their lips curled over their teeth trying to smile but coming off as more of a scowl. The man tapped a woman next to him and she immediately turned around to gaze upon the group. Her mouth began to shake violently as she took step after step away from the rats. The group of rats began to sense that something terrible was about to happen. The woman finally let out a large shriek that made even the fire cringe. Instantly the rest of the townspeople turned around and took on the same gaze that the other two had plastered on their faces.

The rats began to squeak louder and louder, and the townspeople began to scream louder and louder. Men began to run towards the group swatting the rats with their arms and kicking their feet at the rats. The rats hurried back up the hill with some of the men chasing right behind them until they reached the plateau where they normally hung out.


Sun rose up the next morning letting out a warning cry through its bloody rays. The rats were still trying to recover from their shattered confidence, and just before they knew it a loud high pitched droning sound began to move up the hill. The rats were trying to cover their ears to shield from the shrill noise. They began screaming in pain from the horrible drone.

They began to move further and further away from the town, but the sound just seemed to follow. It hovered above and none of the rats could figure out where the source of sound was. All they knew is that they had to escape the noise.

One rat slipped away from the group and moved closer to the town. As he moved closer to town, the sound was moving behind him and the sound became much more tolerable. He looked behind him and saw his family getting pushed far away from him by this strange noise. Once night fell the sound finally turned off and the sole rat in town finally had the ability to go to bed.

When he awoke he heard a soft and delightful sound coming from nearby. He opened up his eyes and gazed upon what he was hearing. Off in the distance he saw a man holding some sort of flute dancing in a strange hop being followed by a long line of children.

The children were holding their heads in some sort of hypnotic trance. It looked almost as if a metal rod had been replaced as their spine. Stiff as one could be. The line was never ending, it kept moving on with child after child.

The man leading the pack had a dark face. His eyes were like two slits cut in fire. The man was holding his flute and playing note after note that was so pleasing to every child. The children streamed in a line pushing and pushing into the sunrise and streamed right past the town which had rejected the rats so harshly the night before.

The rat looked all around him to see if anyone noticed what was happening. He began to shriek louder and louder, knowing that something was not right in this picture, but the sound of the playing began to grow in loudness to block out his shrieks. The rat ran to one of the marching children and bit him in the leg. The child ceased to make any movements while the blood from the bite dripped passively down his leg. This lone child stood with the rat as the other children pushed forward toward the flute. It was then the rat knew that nothing could help the children as they marched in their trance farther and farther out of the town.

Art note: the image is borrowed from http://www.weymouth.gov.uk/Health/Images/pest-rats.jpg