As some may recall from the post regarding the super rats that have chosen my backyard as their homestead, there are some large and frightening rats in residence a little too close for comfort. They are also, as has been mentioned, so large that they fear no man, and openly travel through the trees and the ramble (and sometimes along the top of the fence!) in broad daylight.
This evening, while grilling in the backyard with friends (a completely civilized affair: swordfish steaks, caprese' salad, corn, hydrangeas on the table, cloth napkins, whole nine yards, etc.) we heard a sound from the direction of the wall. We turned to see what was agreed to be The Biggest Rat That I Have Ever Seen sitting placidly at the top of the wall. He disappeared into the bushes with what could only be described as a "sauntering bound" and, just as I was turning to head into the house.... there was a great rustling in the brush, shaking the branches -- reminiscent of a riveting and horrifying New Yorker article on Tigers-- and then a piercing scream. Followed by absolute silence. From silence death springs, receding back into silence; the air as still and charged as after a lightning strike
My friend Heather took a drag from her cigarette, and, nonplussed said "Yep. A Cat. They're lethal." All I could manage was a "That was awesome; thank God!" happy to see that not only were the neighborhood police on the job, but that the Natural Order Of Things was being restored. As I sit typing, I hear rustles and squeals from the other side of the fence, and I know that I can sleep a little easier tonight knowing that the first stone has been cast in a continuation of an age old war.
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