Stories
Tail of a Rat
"What's for dinner?" It was Ben's standard greeting, as he burst in through
the doorway and littered the floor with his schoolbag, sports clothes and
shoes.
"Sausages." His mother quickly snatched the plate as the cat reached for it.
"Get down, Smokey! Here, Ben, put this thieving cat outside."
"Ugh! Not sausages again!" As Ben pushed the clamouring cat out the back
door, two more cats rushed inside.
"If you don't like the food here, " his mother said equably. "you can go
along to Grandma's."
"Yeah," Ben grinned. He had fallen for that one before. "I'll bet she's
having sausages."
"What did you let those cats in for? Now Kitty wants to go out the front
door."
Ben opened the door. "She didn't want to come in," he explained. "She just
wanted to go through."
"It's like being on Central Station!"
"Guess what!" Ben bit the end off a sausage and dipped it in tomato sauce. "
I'm getting a rat tomorrow."
"Oh, no you're not!" His mother was emphatic.
"He could live in my room," Ben continued confidently, "and sit on my desk
when I do my homework. I'd carry him around in my pocket. He'd be my
friend."
"I'm not having a rat in the house."
That's what she said when I wanted mice thought Ben. "A white rat, with a
pink nose and twitchy whiskers," he coaxed. "You'd love him.'
"So would the cats."
"He'd be alright out in the shed. That's where we kept the mice."
"Yes, and who looked after those blasted mice?"
He shrugged. "Oh, I was just a kid, then. I'd feed him every day."
"They stink. It took years to get the smell out of the shed."
Ben slipped a piece of sausage to the cat purring in anticipation under the
table. "Rats don't smell like mice."
"No, they smell like rats, and rats stink, too. They make a filthy mess."
"I'd clean the cage every week."
"Every week!" his mother snorted. "I had to clean the mouse cage every day -
dirty, stinking things!"
"Well, I'll clean it every day."
"You didn't even make your bed this morning!"
He looked sheepish. "I didn't have time."
"How would you find time to clean a rat's cage?"
"I'll get up early."
"Hah! Do you know any more jokes? Look, when you have your own house you can
keep all the rats you want, but I'm not having one here."
Ben offered his greasy fingers for the cat to clean. "I'll just keep it for
the weekend, then."
"What's the use of that?"
"It's my science assignment. I have to have a rat so I can study animal
behaviour."
"You mean the whole class has to get a rat?"
"No, just me."
"Why you?"
"I volunteered."
His mother sighed in exasperation. "What did you do that for?"
"All the other kids have mean mothers who won't let them keep rats."
"Well, tomorrow you can tell them that your mother is the meanest of all."
"I told them you wouldn't mind because you used to keep mice."
His mother gritted her teeth. "That is precisely why I won't have a rat."
"Just for the weekend," he pleaded. " I'll take it back on Monday."
"Uh, uh!" she shook her head vehemently.
"Why not?"
"It wouldn't work. By Monday, the darn thing would be part of the family and
we'd be stuck with it for the rest of its life. Do you know how long rats
live? Five years! How would you like to clean a rat cage every day for five
years?"
Ben carefully considered the question. 'Well, I still have to do the
assignment."
"But why a rat? Can't you study some other animal? Why can't you do an
assignment about our cats?"
"They're too dumb to run through a maze."
"Surely it doesn't have to be a maze. Just write about the way they behave."
"They don't behave."
"I mean the way they act. Oh, look, Huckle wants to go out now. Those cats
think we were put on earth just to open and close doors for them!"
She got up and opened the door. A large cat rushed in with something in its
mouth. "No, Smokey, no! Get out! Don't bring it in here!"
"What's he got?" Ben jumped up excitedly. "Look, it's a mouse ... no, it's a
rat… a baby rat!"
"Take it out Smokey. No, no, don't drop it there, you stupid cat!"
"It's still alive!" shouted Ben. "Oh, thankyou Smokey, it's just what I
wanted."
"Quick catch it! Look out! Oh no, it's gone under the fridge! We'll never
get it now."
"I'll coax it out later with some cheese." Ben's eyes were shining. I'll
hide it in my room, he thought. I can carry it around in my pocket. It will
sit on my desk when I do my homework. It will be my friend…..
COMMENTS
The assignment was to write a dialogue in which one person tries to persuade the other.
This was easy - I just took an incident from our chaotic family life.
MAMALADE
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