RATS II: CHRISTMAS DAY

John's Christmas Loot

Dearest Friends,

John never did manage to catch up with our elusive rat that evening, but he was certain it was not in our bedroom anywhere, so we shut the door, and crawled into bed.

We were both sound asleep, dreaming of sugarplums, no doubt, when something jerked me awake, causing me to sit straight up in bed.  "Wha?" John mumbled, from beneath his cocoon of covers.  I tried to assess what had jolted me.  Was it a sound, or something else?  "Uh, John?  Something's wrong.  Turn on the lights!"

Gradually, I had become conscious of a stinging sensation, and when the lights came on, we found blood on the tip of one finger.  At first, I couldn't imagine what on earth? Then... I remembered.  Slowly I leaned over, to scan the floor next to my bed.  Nothing.  I leaned down a little further, just far enough to glimpse under the bed, and... there they were..two beady red eyes, staring me straight in the face.  Sheeeyyuutt!

Miss Becky's Christmas Loot

Needless to say, Christmas morning wasn't quite as festive as we'd anticipated.  As you may recall, I don't like needles, and the whole time we were opening our gifts, I was imagining myself undergoing those thirteen excruciating injections in my abdomen that I'd always heard about.

Once we had finished, we went to pay a visit to the medic.  His verdict?  "We'll give her a tetanus shot and she'll be good as new."  Was I relieved?  Not really.  I was pretty sure that tetanus wasn't the only disease rats carried.  What about rabies?  What about The Plague?

Fortunately, we had a Christmas feast to go to that afternoon, and that helped to distract me a bit.  It's terribly hard to worry about The Plague, when D. is playing Scottish Christmas carols on his accordion.

Although, every so often, I would find myself wondering, "Didn't I read somewhere that rabies doesn't always show up right away?  Can't it pop up as much as seven years after a bite?"