The Rat (Part II)

***A note on the pictures and some content in this post...they are a bit graphic and show a dead rat...my wife also gets the photo credits.

I knew it was only a matter of time before the rat had time to reconnoiter and plan a counter offensive.  For a week after our last encounter, I had been going over battle drills and preemptive strike scenarios until I ceased to see Kate's water bottle as only that, instead seeing a bludgeon that may be my only weapon in reach; instead of a shirt I saw a net to snare the beast in...my mind thought only of revenge.  This creature was the whale to my Ahab, the Roadrunner to my Coyote, and the french fries to my fat kid.  It was going to end one of two ways - with his gruesome death or my cowardly shrieking and asking for help from my host grandma.

Let me, once again, set the stage for what would prove to be our final encounter.  It was again dark, but this time it was also stormy.  The rain came down in sheets and Kate and I comfortably sat inside our home doing nothing in particular but otherwise enjoying a calm and romantic evening listening to the rain.  He chose this time, the bastard, when I was most off guard to launch his attack.

The rain had forced him to enter from the roof, which is not entirely connected to the walls of our house, but has room in between to allow for air flow and ventilation.  The rat seemed to repel down the wall with a quick and stealthy scamper.  Our only indication of his entry was when he landed on our metal trunk that is issued by the Peace Corps.  Kate and I sprung to our feet knowing that our outer defenses were penetrated.  The riot gear and tear gas canisters I had ordered off of Amazon.com would not arrive for a few more days, so I was forced to improvise.  Taking advantage of the rat's momentarily weariness from his rough landing near the trunk, I surveyed the surrounding landscape thinking of how I might vanquish him.

After a split second, I decided to try and trap him much as I had before, by pinning him with the trunk against the wall.  But this time, learning from my previous errors, I moved the other trunk into position to first cage him and then dole out the death blow.  As before, when I caged him against the wall using the trunks he tried to jump out of my trap - while he succeeded with ease last time, this time he could not make it and I knew that I had finally caught him.

A morale question quickly arose in my mind - could I actually do it?  Would I be able to destroy the creature?  After all, I am generally a pacifist and fairly easy going person and really don't ever wish to harm a thing.  After quickly weighing the pros and cons, I made my decision - he wasn't walking out of here again to eat my food, make scary noises at night, and poop on my floor.

***This next part is actually kind of gruesome...be warned***

I gave the rat a very small space to run along the wall being careful to not give him a full opening to freedom.  Once I saw that he took the bait and tried to escape, I ended the life of my greatest foe to date.

I quickly moved the trunk back flush against the wall, knowing that the rat was trapped between. As he tried to struggle out I waited until it was only his head left between the trunk and the wall (I did this out of mercy, I wanted it to be quick for him).  What came next was a quick shove of the trunk and a small squeak, as I carried out my opponent's sentence and saluted his spirit and ingenuity.

Of course, he was honored with a proper burial with full honors (I tossed him in our front yard and I think a wild dog got to him by morning...).  My sincerest hope is that this will stand as a warning to future rodents wanting to terrorize myself and my wife.

In all honesty, I have a dreadful fear of rats and while I may get a letter from PITA about this blog post, it took a lot for me to confront it (twice).  I am joking a lot but I really hate to kill anything - but this had to happen, and may again while in Cambodia.  Keeping our house pest free, whether they be snakes, lizards, bugs or rodents is something that is important for our general health and sanitation at home.  It is interesting to know that many of our live-in guests - like the small geckos on the walls or larger lizards - eat many of the other rodents and themselves are harmless to us.  I draw the line at rats though.