Rat

[summer_jackel]

So background: I work in the middle of downtown Santa Rosa...a nice bit of a pretty clean, mellow, smallish city. My office faces the "town square/park" kind of place, and I park my car in the mall in front of Sears and walk the few blocks in when I arrive in the morning.

This morning, I was a bit surprised to see a rat running quickly across the parking lot, into one of the landscaped islands in the middle. Surprised because you don't usually see rats in the open...it's in their nature to keep to well-traveled, hidden routes...or, rats being crepuscular critters, by day. Not surprised at her existence, of course. Because rats, really, are everywhere. I've even glimpsed 'em in Santa Rosa before. Not at the mall 'til now, though.

She was large but slender, her fur a pleasant honey-brown in hue, with a very long, dark tail. A pretty rat. What? Our urban coyotes have to eat something, after all.

Comments

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

Well, they're wildlife. I sort of think of them as the mammalian equivalent of starlings; ubiquitous, unloved, sometimes obnoxious, but interesting to watch.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I find them interesting. Urban wildlife is neat. :) I take a perverse pleasure in them, knowing that they bother so many people, too.

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

Heh. I assume you've seen Ratatouille? The whole *movie* was based on how much rats bother people. :>

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

yep. Loved it.