A rat's tale...

Some of the comments left on "Bug Motel" reminded me of this incident.... Mouse was telling of the rat traps with glue... which are the "humane" way of destroying these nasty creatures..... and well this came to mind:

Let me tell you of a Rat's tale. Well actually it is more like the story of Stripes, my cat, but let me proceed with the telling anyway and I shall make an addendum to this post to elaborate on old Stripes.

So regarding the rat.....
This was when I lived in Sana'a- Yemen. We somehow had a rather mean old rat take residence in our apartment on Sharah Jamal (Jamal Street....) one summer when it was just mom and I living there. Dad was in Uganda and Shahamat- my brother was in boarding school in Lawrence College, Murree. Anyway we were these two hapless women and rat living in that sweet little apartment. We did everything we could to survive it. I mean we were away from the hose all day long and at night would scurry into the house and jump into our beds and sleep.

The language barrier (Arabic) made it difficult to go to a store and ask for a wire mouse trap. There was no option of looking in the phonebook for a pest exterminator and most of the friends we spoke to never had pest trouble because Sana'a is a cold place and therefore there are hardly any pests. The said rodent was an exception to say the least.

Anyway, we did the best we could to manage him. One afternoon we walked into the store around the corner, and well.... I acted out a cat

"meowwww..." I said

Then I scurried around, and said meaowwww again and pounced to help the man understand mouse, but for some reason he kept thinking I was a cat!

Time for plan B.

Mom and I commiserated and came up with a two person skit. She was mouse. I was cat. I meaowed- she scurried and I pounced on her.... by now a crowd was beginning to gather. The said shopkeeper had waved over some more people and was looking at us rather bemused and perplexed. He even invited the the shawarma (gyro) guy from around the corner while mom and I enacted the skit over and over in hopes that someone would understand. Alas! No such luck.

Now, the said shopkeeper knew we were not kooks or batty! He was the corner store guy and therefore our twice a week friend for groceries and sundries. He knew we were in need of something (sigh.... we always were) and was always very patient and kind. It did however make for some rather interesting (read embarrassing) interactions (on more than one occasion).

Anyway, the whole cat and mouse deal was not working.
Plan C.

I pulled out paper and pencil and proceeded to draw some likeness of a rat. Then I meaoowed again. Then I pointed to rat and proceeded to demonstrate- Me cat. This drawing.... eaten by cat (ME!). This drawing rat!

BINGO! He understood the general gist of cat and mouse. Now, step too.
I acted out "scared".

"EEK!" I said and jumped on his chair. Then again. I pointed to the mouse. I said "EEK!" and I jumped on chair and all the while Mom was mimicking the same actions and we were in constant communication making eye contact and laughing at ourselves and our sorry predicament with that blasted rat and the poor shopkeeper (I shall, for clarity, in following posts refer to him as "Shopkeeper") (There will be other posts of more incidents involving him!)

Somehow the man understood rat. Understood we were afraid of a rat.
Step Three.

Mom and I commiserated again. How to explain we wanted the rat gone. Suddenly it hit me!
The universal gesture.
I made a very straight and serious face. And then very solemnly ran the first finger of my right hand across my throat in a slitting motion.... and then I nodded three times very slowly... and then I stopped.

Mom and I looked at each other. She nodded very slowly three times. And then we looked at the man expectantly. The crowd and he all understood. They all nodded very slowly three times. And then they burst into animated conversation and laughter. The man beckoned us to follow him. He led us to a shelf and picked out- you guessed it, the humane rat trap! We had never seen it before. I opened the box. Out fell a cardboard square and a tube of glue!

Mom and I exchanged troubled glances. Quite good actors by now, our skeptical expressions gave us away. He proceeded to convince us.

"It works. Wallahi, it works!" he says....

He proceeded to act out the steps:
1. After you pray salat isha put glue on cardboard.
2. Put a piece of cheese (he pointed to a can of cheese) on cardboard in center of glue.
3.Put cardboard in corner of room.
4. Go to bed and sleep.
5. Rat comes and sniffs.
6. Rat steps on glue to eat cheese.
7.Rat gets stuck in glue.
8. You wake up.
9. You see rat.
10.You smile, clap and toss him outside.

There was some trouble. How do we toss him outside. I had to go eek! and jump on the chair to explain.

"Ahhh..." says he in understanding...
He fetches a plastic bin with a lid. He proceeds to open the bin and place lid upside down on counter. Then he places cardboard on the lid. Then he places the tin of cheese (to symbolize the rat) on the cardboard. Then (to my mortification....) he delivers an "EEK!" (identical to mine.... ) and proceeds to slam the bin into the lid until it snaps and-

Voila! He turns the bin over, and hands it to me. I shuddered involuntarily. He laughs. We pay him and we leave.

At home.

We stay out as long as we can. After dark, mom and I sneak back home, quiet as a mouse and scuttle on into her room. We say our isha namaz... we squeeze the glue out of the tube onto the cardboard. We place the cardboard onto the lid and in the corner. We put the bin on the nightstand in readiness for the capture. And we go to bed.

How it unfolds.

In the middle of the night, I hear blood curdling screams from my moms room. I rush in and turn on the light (I had forgotten all about the blasted rat!) There is a commotion going on. My mom is standing on her bed in her nightie. RAT is animatedly jumping around the room carrying the cardboard with him in an effort to free himself. (Now how could we not have figured that out? It's a piece of cardboard! It's light enough for the rat to lift!!!!). I scream and jump on the bed too. Mom picks up the bin and in a rather pathetically gallant gesture, embraces me with one arm in protection, and with the other throws the bin at the athletic rat- she misses... and the rat makes another leap at attempted freedom. More screams..... In one final leap Rat is loose and scurries out of sight. Another set of screams....I shudder... mom shudders... I shudder some more, and then mom shudders some more. We survey our surroundings. In one corner is the lid- still sitting neatly where we placed it last night. In the middle of the room is the bin which mom had heroically flung at the enemy (and missed!). In the far corner is the sorry little piece of cardboard lying overturned, glue side down, on the carpet. Of RAT there is no trace!

The doorbell rings. We look at each other. It rings again. We are afraid to get off the bed. It rings a third time... and then the phone rings. Still standing on the bed, mom answers. It is Nabeela.... from next door. She wants to know if we are okay? She heard screams and then, when Muhammed rang the doorbell no one answered. They are Egyptian- the sweetest people ever. Mom drops her composure and bawls into the phone narrating the tale of the stupid rat.

Yes we are safe. We did not answer because we are afraid to step onto the floor. We are in her bedroom. No we are standing on her bed. Yes I am okay. I am standing on her bed with her also. No we cannot come and open the front door. Because we are afraid to step on the floor. Yes it is okay for Muhammed to use our spare key to come in.

In a couple of minutes we hear the door open. We hear Muhammed. He comes in. So does Nabeela. And Amr.... and Amira (their kids>>).

We look at them. They look at us. We are on the bed. Mom in her nightie. Me in my nickers and tank. They are in their night gowns. Our faces are tear streaked and we are TRAUMATIZED! They just woke up from sleep and they are concerned and somewhat bemused but in a kind way. They look at us. And we look at them....

Nabeela helps my mom down. And Muhhamed carries me off the bed. They offer us their guest room. Muhhamed gets the broom and goes in search of RAT. We follow the rest of the ElSayyed's to their place. We sit at their kitchen table and we all drink hot Ovaltine and nibble on stuffed grape leaves and laugh (and cry a little) over the whole stupid RAT situation. Shortly, Muhammed returns to inform us that the elusive RAT has evaded capture and/or death... AGAIN.

We sleep in their guest room that night. And in the morning we return, only to pack a suitcase each, with Muhammed to supervise and protect from any further RAT attacks. And we move in with them for a week. Muhammed sets up several wire rat traps in the house for us.

RAT was not captured by a wire trap either.

Tune in soon to learn what happened next.

PS: Those dratted glue traps suck!



PPS: Bug Motel Update-
There doesn't seem to be much going on in the bug motels... I picked them up and shook them a little but nothing happens. No site of the ants either. Dunno if they die in the Bug motel.... or if they go back to the colony to die. Perhaps back to the colony.... even an ant needs familiar surroundings to say farewell to life. Plus it is better that way. Death in the Bug motel would not be good for business!

Stay posted for more in Life a la Shahnaz>