Part One
Our father named us, The Animals!
Come here animals, he would call.
Nancy, the eldest was Rabbit.
I was Rat!
Rats have always fascinated me.
I would have loved to have a white one
but there was some resistance to this,
so I had to make do with another boy’s
It would enter a sleeve at the wrist
to pop out brightly at my neck,
Wow!
In India’s large cities, the Brahmins
would catch rats in wire cages.
Brahmins must not kill anything,
so they would carry the cages
into the street and let them go.
The rats would race back
into the houses again.
Perhaps this is where the term-
Rat Race, comes from?
Norwegian rats roam the world.
Big gray and fierce with long
scaly tails and twitching whiskers.
Some people fear them but they
can be friendly if you take the time
to understand them.
En mass they can be scary!
More later!
When I was on night shift, at a large
refinery on Bahrain Island, they would
come to visit me. They came
along the steel building beams.
They never challenged but
would cautiously share my sandwich.
Above the Club terrace fairy lights
hung from catenary wires.
At dusk, these lights would blink on
and then brave rats would tip toe
across the wires overhead.
Women would scream.
men would laugh,
rats would scamper
and occasionally a drunk would
fire an empty bottle at them.
With Gravity in mind,
this was not popular!
In the surrounding desert
there were many creatures
living out their important lives.
Among them and to me, most
importantly, wonderful, joyful,
beautiful Jerboa, Kangaroo rats!
Fleetingly racing along
head light lit roads. Jumping,
bounding, darting and then diving
into the shadows which bloomed
at the roads edge, disappearing
in a springing of legs,
into the friendly desert.
When Liz joined me on Bahrain,
I shared the desert and
its creatures with her.
We explored old favorites and
new places, gleaned from conversations
with other enthusiasts.
Our tiny Morgan sports car,
such fun; our magic carpet.
Liz does not like rats, that much!
I was still learning to curb my
male enthusiasm for adventures!
I had heard that the causeway
to the company’s oil docks was
worth a visit at dusk.
The little car hummed along
the cooling rock built causeway
as the sun dipped to the horizon.
Pipe lines running parallel to us,
occasionally made half loops,
expansion joints, along the way.
We arrived at the security gate,
just as the sun hissed into the sea!
I turned the car around and we waited!
Day light ebbed away, we heard
a squeak and then many squeaks!
Then we saw an unbelievable sight.
The rocky sides of the causeway undulated!
It was alive with large Norwegian rats!
Our little car was low to the ground.
It was open, being a sports car.
Liz yelled. “Lets get out of here.”
I did as I was told!
——————End of part one——————-
Of Rats and Other Animals – Part Two
Some years later we moved to Canada.
It was not as easy as it sounds
but is was the right thing to do.
Our eldest was showing signs of
the same learning disability that has
plagued my life, made it interesting,
caused all sort of problems but also
broadened my horizons, my view of life.
My understanding of people.
I started all over again
but I had expected that, I made progress.
Fort McMurray, Alberta, was exciting but raw.
When Liz and the children came we were
moved to Fort William, Ontario, at the Lake Head.
But that is, yet again, another story.
Nine months of Chlorine and Mercury!
Dead brown bears in the trunks of cars,
hunting rifles, snow, skiing and kind people.
We were recalled to Edmonton, a long car trip.
There, horror of horrors, chlorine and caustic again
but also oil refineries, gas and chemical plants.
Happily a return to rodents but not rats,
which are hunted down and exterminated.
Alberta is rat free but has all sorts of mice,
including Shrews, feisty little things!
Musk rats, who visit industry regularly.
Do not try to pick up these furry creatures,
sharp teeth cut through armored gloves!
Water voles abound, amongst other
interesting creatures; we lived in a zoo.
In the fall, before the snow came, you could
watch water rats swimming under the still clear ice.
The Musk rats were in the rushes and joy
of joys Beavers built a huge lodge on the lake,
topped with an active Canada Goose nest.
Bob cats were visitors, Porcupine were common
and flying squirrels lived in the trees of our
three acre paradise. Field mice and vowels
made nests in the hay bales, children flourished!
In time, on to British Columbia and back to rats.
Now we live on a small acreage. Humming birds,
Bald eagles, Wood peckers , Flickers and a
myriad of others birds and natural wonders.
Raccoons by the dozen, leaping squirrels,
grass snakes, deer, huge slugs, bugs, rabbits
and our pets, dog Shadow and cat Penny, the hunter!
Dear Penny regularly presents us with gifts
from the great outdoors. Birds on the wing,
snakes on the floor, mice on the run
and RATS on the loose in the house
to be shown the door.
Life is at it should be, multi faceted!
David Garlick, Sidney, March, 2008