The Rat

A close match to what "the Rat" looked like. 

My last semester of college I lived in a dump of a house; it was a rental in a college town. The roof leaked, there was water damage, and was in disrepair. But it was cheap, and I was only going to be living there for a few months.

One problem though, there was a rat. This wasn’t just any rat either. He was a monster; the biggest rat I have ever seen. I would guess that he was the size of a small opossum. I don’t know what he was eating but damn.

We couldn’t catch him either. The cage didn’t work; he managed to eat all the food without tripping it. The spring-loaded traps didn’t work, glue traps didn’t work, and the steel snare didn’t work! He ripped it off the wall! An exterminator set poisonous food out, that failed too.

One of my roommates battled with the rat just about every night. He would get home in the evening, would start cooking dinner, and the rat would come out for the food. He would chase the rat with a broom handle, but the rat stood his ground trying to get the food. When in the house, I stayed in my room with the door closed, but I could hear him cussing and swearing and the banging of the broom handle against the floor and cupboards at dinner time lol. I was too grossed out to cook; I kept all my food in the refrigerator.

I only saw the rat on one occasion. I had just walked in the back door one night and there he was. I was terrified and jumped up onto the counter. He didn’t seem to be too worried about me as he nonchalantly scampered off.  I couldn’t wait to get out of that house.

I did move out of the house prematurely, but it wasn’t because of the rat. The leaking roof allowed black mold to start growing, and I developed epiglottitis. I’m lucky it didn’t kill me.

I don’t know what happened to the rat, but I suspect that he’s doing well wherever he is.