If you've not read the first one, this one may not make much sense. Shit, it may not make any sense anyway. Find it here: https://steemit.com/story/@johnkingwriter/ratbastard
At two o’clock this morning my wee dog started howling. We keep them shut in the living room at night. I want them there for prowlers or burglars. They are my alarm.
Well, this hairy little alarm went off for around five minutes and then quietened down. The bigger one had not so much as woofed so we didn’t think there was any immediate problem. We went back to sleep until two thirty when she kicked off again. She howled and cried like she was being skinned and after a couple of minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore and went down to see what the hell was going on.
As soon as I opened the door, the wee one was all over me. I have never seen a dog that pleased to see anyone in my life. It took me several minutes to calm her down and while I was doing that I was scanning for what the problem was.
There was a wee pile of puke on the carpet. Dried dog food of the kibble variety. The kibbles were not that swollen and the vomit was cold. She had been so frightened, she’d thrown up.
Man, I felt like the biggest shit on the planet. She’s only 18 weeks old.
I picked Juno up and sat down on the couch. She was shaking in my lap and yet bouncing up to try and lick my face like I was her saviour and not the bastard that had left her in danger in the first place.
Aitken came over. Unusual for him. He sleeps with an enthusiasm that only teenagers and drunks can match. Yet here he was, tail between his legs. 40 kilos of hairy coward.
I took them both up the stairs and into our bedroom, letting Susy know what the score was. Apparently Juno frantically thanked Susy for saving her for a good five minutes before collapsing in a heap.
Back in the living room, I searched and searched but couldn’t find what was causing the dogs such concern.
Then I peered over the breakfast bar and into the kitchen.
The rat peered back at me from under the dishwasher. There’s an inch cut out of the valance under there to allow the integrated door to fold down. Its head was through this slit.
We regarded each other for a moment or two and then I lifted the pistol and shot twice. Both misfired, just bursts of air with no projectile. I stripped the revolving mechanism that the pellets sat in, reseated it and aimed again but the rat had gone.
I lay down on the floor so I could get a better angle and stayed there for an hour with no luck. So I went out the back for a roll-up. We have double patio doors in the kitchen and as I lit up, I turned to look back in.
The rat was staring right back at me from its hole in the valance.
Putting out the cigarette, I went back in and grabbed the gun, lay down, took aim at nothing and stayed there for another hour.
Rat!
Pop!
An inch down and to the left. I missed but I had my range now.
Another half hour went by before it appeared again. Just a shadow in the dark slit under the dishwasher, a couple of whiskers on the cream of the valance. I decided I may not get a better chance and fired.
I’m sure I hit it. I certainly didn’t hit anything this side of the wood. But it wasn’t there come morning.
Maybe I needed a bigger gun.
Checking on the trap within a trap was now part of my morning routine and I was used to losing the bait and the rat but there was something odd this time round. The neck breaker was twisted around and had been dragged into the gap between the two concrete blocks.
I figured the rat may have caught a foot in it and pulled it back into the building while trying to escape. If I was lucky, it would still be attached and I could drag it out. I went and got the pistol.
Removing the wire trap, I pulled the neck breaker out of the gap. There was certainly something in it. I couldn’t determine whether it was a big mouse or a small rat. Identifying it would be a lot easier if I had more than just a head and one arm. The rest had been chewed through.
I replaced the wire trap as I mulled this over.
The mouse that took the bait had undoubtedly been killed outright by the neck breaker. Therefore it couldn’t have twisted the trap through 90 degrees and reversed into the slit between the blocks.
So the rat had come out into the trap after the mouse had died and dragged it back in before eating it.
That’s just fucking nasty!
Image credit - All mine.