Escape!

One thing I know about babies is that they are impatient, and this one was.
He came out from under that china hutch like a shot- and went right to the
kitchen and disappeared under the stove. A flash of gray and that was it. We
stood in the kitchen and asked each other what to do. The only possible answers
were to move the stove or to wait. We opted for more waiting. I figured that
either curiosity or hunger would get to him, he would come out of hiding, and I
would have him He must have fallen asleep because I did not see or hear him for
the rest of that evening.

The first problem presented itself the next morning. We have a tradition of
Sunday breakfast together and that morning's menu included freshly baked
biscuits. If the little fellow were somehow trapped in the stove and the oven
was turned on, well, the implications are obvious. Hungry family vs. barbecued
rat. I gritted my teeth and turned it on. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be
cooking but the biscuits.

The second issue was that of an insurrection from some other family members.
The first of these  were of the race Mustela putorius furo, which
translates into "Smelly mouse killing thief"- what better name for the
ferret? I have two of them and they were becoming very pissed. Two pairs of eyes
glared at me accusingly from behind their bars. They knew it was the weekend and
that it was supposed to be out of the cage playtime because the people
were around. Why were they being unjustly confined? Of course it was because
they would hunt the little rat down and kill it. It's what they do. In
order  to adhere to my strict "No Killing" policy among family
members, I had no choice but to incarcerate the innocent. However I could not do
so forever. I had to set a deadline in my head- Rand had one more day to show
himself or else.

I carefully monitored the house for rat sign for the rest of the day-
nothing. I stayed up late, after everyone had gone to bed, in order to sit in
the silence, hoping the quiet would coax him out and listening for any sign of
movement. Finally the hour grew late and I grew weary and I had to go to bed. On
the way, I paused at the rat cage. A little white muzzle poked up at me. Zaphod,
a youngster himself, was clearly confused by what had happened. Where was the
little rat? Did I lose another friend?

As I left the house the next morning, I knew what I had to do. I could not
have a little rat running loose in the house and becoming a big rat. I would
have to let the ferrets out that evening and, unless he was very lucky, Rand was
going to be lunch

In an eleventh hour move, the suspect surrendered himself. Coming home from
work, my wife opened the coat closet to find Rand sitting on the rows of
hangers, right at eye level. He submitted without a fight and was reportedly
relieved when he was returned to his cage. He was FREE ( as far as he knew) why
would he just suddenly come back? It could have been hunger and thirst. Those
have returned more than one wannabe runaway. 

I don't know though. If I was Rand I would have felt suddenly very small and
insignificant. In one leap he went form the coddled, warm, well fed pet to an
outcast. From his view of the world, it was if he had ceased to exist and life
went on around him without noticing the loss. No one talked to him, no one fed
him, no one acknowledged his existence. I really think that  Rand deciding
to climb up the coats and place himself at eye-level was his tiny way of saying
"Please notice me."

Brer rat is no dimwit.