After hours waiting to fall asleep, I finally dropped off. I was suddenly
startled out of a sound slumber by a loud
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
I huddled there in bed under the covers, trying to bring my
mind out of the fog of sleep.
There was the sound again.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
“What in the world is THAT?” I wondered.
Slowly, the sleep fog lifted, and I could finally identify
the sound. (story continued below)
***************************
Way back at the end of September, I came up with an idea of
once in a while doing a story about one of the variety of creatures that share
my home here in Bali. I call this series The
Critters I Live With.These stories probably won't have any deep spiritual application. But they will give you a taste of my life here in Indonesia.
For the first post, I introduced you to Greg the Gecko, the
twelve inch long barking lizard that eats mosquitoes and makes me jump out of
my skin whenever he sounds off. You can read about him in the post entitled
“Not Your Average Geico Gecko”.
I’m finally back today with #2. This will be a three-part story as it is kind of long...and because this month, I am spending most of my writing time on a first draft of a book for children about the parables of Jesus.
Anyway, for this story, I have to go
back more than a decade to a period of time when rodents made life miserable. Other rats may be bigger. Others may be more threatening. But
my tale is about Ralph the Rat, a particularly persistent rodent.
******************************
Rat Tales, Part 1- A Thump in the Night
The Critters I Live With #2
It was sometime in the late 1990’s. I had been in the United
States for about six months to visit family and supporters. As I recall, I had
done a semester of study at Columbia International University on this trip.
This meant that I needed to find someone to house sit my home in Bali while I
was away.
A young Indonesian couple agreed to take care of my home.
They were newly married and were expecting their first child about the time I
expected to return. It seemed that the timing was exactly right. I’d be back in
Bali about the time my friend would want to go stay with her mother during the
last weeks of her pregnancy.
Unfortunately, she decided she needed her mother earlier
than expected, and the young couple moved out. This left my house empty for a
month before my return.
Here in Bali, an empty house does not remain empty very
long. At least, if there are no human inhabitants, the local rodents are happy
to move in. That is what happened.
For weeks following my return, every morning I would find
evidence of rats in the kitchen. Sizable droppings left here and there,
including in the lower cupboards where pots and pans were kept. Bits of garbage
drug out of the small trash can under the sink. Even deep tooth marks in a cake
of soap by the kitchen sink. (I have no idea what kind of nutritional need soap
supplied for a rat.)
I had an extremely heightened awareness that there was rat
activity going on in my kitchen. Sleep was often slow in coming, as I lay there
in bed imagining I heard rustling sounds in the kitchen. In light of all this
potential rat activity, I took precautions.
I had bought a strong metal rat trap, but didn’t have the
nerve to set it. I figured the likelihood of the trap catching my fingers was
much greater than the chances of catching a rodent. So the metal trap lay there
unused in the corner of the kitchen.
Since my offense was weak, I bolstered my defenses.
The lower cupboards in the kitchen didn’t have any latches,
so I took to securing them at night by pushing something up against them so no
rats could get in. The gas can for my table-top stove sealed off one pair of
doors. The trash can took care of another pair. A strategically-placed brick
closed off the final set. It was part of my nightime routine to secure the
kitchen cabinets, and was rarely forgotten.
With the way my house was laid out, I had to go through the
kitchen to get to the bathroom. Thankfully, there was a door that I could close
at night to keep the kitchen rats from getting into the rest of the
house…especially my bedroom. During this time, I always left a trusty broom by
the kitchen door, so I could arm myself if I needed to use the toilet in the
middle of the night. I never actually had to use the broom to fend off a rat
attack, but it made me feel good to have it there anyway.
One night in particular stands out in my mind more than ten
years later. After hours waiting to fall asleep, I finally dropped off. I was suddenly
startled out of a sound slumber by a loud
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
I huddled there in bed under the covers, trying to bring my
mind out of the fog of sleep.
There was the sound again.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
“What in the world is THAT?” I wondered.
Slowly, the sleep fog lifted, and I could finally identify
the sound. (to be
continued)
******************************
Click below for the rest of the story.
