There I was, watching The Little Nyonya in my house in Malaysia. No story can be more tragic than that. I was wondering who came up with the tragic tale. Then, it was time for the advertisements. I got up from the sofa and went to drink water. On my way to my water bottle, I saw something run into the utility room. Initially, I thought it was a monkey or something. Then, I thought that it might be a monkey, rat or a cat. I told my siblings who shouted to my mother the minute I told them about it. My mother came. She said that it was most probably a rat. I agree, because it does make more sense. My mother tried to look for it to chase it out. She took out some stuff from the room make the search easier. After a few minutes, my mother could not find anything. I started to think that I was seeing things. Maybe my eyes were playing a trick on me. My siblings and I went back to watch The Little Nyonya.
A few more minutes passed and we heard our mother scream. She said she saw it---the rat. The next thing to do was to chase the rat out of our house. My mother told me to get a bamboo pole. I obediently obeyed. After a while, my mother gave up. She took out some more things from the room and shut the door. Then, she went to shut the window that was facing the wet kitchen too. Next, my mother called my father to tell him about the uninvited guest. Within seconds, my father arrived home. (My mother called when my father was arriving) My father got into the room for a while and got out. Then, my mother came out from the wet kitchen and said that there were 2 different cats (came at different time) which came to the window, most probably to find that rat. My mother said that we should have just left that window open so the cat can deal with the rat. But we didn’t open it.
My mother called the pest control (comes every 2 months to spray something) and checked if getting rid of rats is included apart from the spraying. It wasn’t included but they do help get rid of rats, of course with extra cost. My mother said that they would use glue or something to get that rat stuck in order to get rid of it.
My mother said that the rat must have been chased by the cats and that’s why it ran so fast to escape from death. But it chose the wrong place to go. I started to think that I was the one who cause the rat its death.
The next morning, my mother said that the people from pest control will come tomorrow. My mother was worried and thought that the rat would have cause a lot of mess by tomorrow.
My mother called us to take a look at the rat from the window in the wet kitchen. The rat was kinda cute. I felt sorry for it. Its fate is sealed. It’s gonna be dead. My mother said it was disgusting because she was already frustrated and complained that the room will be in a total mess.
My mother went out to find a rat cage. She wanted to catch the rat. She could not wait till tomorrow. In the end, she came back empty-handed. She needed to decide if she should really buy the cage which cost RM12. The person who sold it recommended the glue.
But still, I hope that the rat will be released back to the wild. I don’t want it killed…
After lunch, my mother and my younger sister went out to get the cage. They came back with a holey cage (of course the holes are not so big for the rat to escape). My mother put a piece of salted fish on the trap in the cage. After checking that the rat is nowhere near the door, she put the cage inside. Within minutes, we heard some noise coming from the room. I went to the window to check whether the rat was trapped. Indeed it was. My mother took it out from the room, which is now smelly and filled with the rat’s poo. The rat was struggling to get out. My mother put it on the grass in the backyard.
A few minutes later, my siblings and I went to look at the rat. It looked depressed and tired. It only had a piece of salted fish and no water. We studied so hard for PSLE and I expect all of you know what this means… A rat receives only air and food. It does not have food. It’s doomed. My siblings and I sympathised it. We wanted to give it water. But our mother hates that rat. She doesn’t want us to give it water. She thinks it’s silly to give water to a pest that made a mess in our house. So, we didn’t provide the rat with water. I hope it can still survive. If the pest control comes tomorrow to collect the rat, I hope they don’t kill it.
My brother said, “Bye bye, Mousey. I named it Mousey.” My younger sister said, “Bye bye! I will see you again in heaven next time.”
The mouse is dying now and only my mother is happy. My younger sister is hopping around shouting, “Rain! Rain! Rain!” I think I will secretly give the rat some water. I hope my mother won’t find out if not I will have to clear the rat poo in the utility room.
I just came back from giving the rat water. My mother spotted me. She is asking me to pick the poo from the utility room. I am not gonna do it. The rat was simply delighted when I spilled the water for it. My younger siblings were begging my mother to let us keep hamsters. My mother said that we will also have to pick up the poo in the cage. My mother also said that it will be stinky. My younger sister objected and said that the smell is nicer than my mother’s perfume.
Lastly, I hope that the rat wouldn’t be killed. If it dies, I hope the reason is because of old age.
Approx. 3.45p.m, 05/12/08
The rat is dead.
