1.13.2005

the past few days there was a horrible smell in the big room I share with the other girls in our house (our little rooms are like cubbies, with blankets as doors). I couldn't figure out what the smell was, exactly, or where it was coming from, and as the days went by, the stench grew. It reminded me of the smell of the rotting cattle we'd ride by on horses in Bahrain when I used to live there.... so I had a hunch it was a dead rat. After four days of not being able to find it, I called the contractors to see if maybe it was in a pipe or the vents. He looked around outside, on the roof (it's flat), and then we went back inside. I said, wandering around the room, "the smell hits you right here." Just as I said that, I lifted the blanket of the girl who's room is next to mine, and saw a tail...a furry bottom.... and I both screamed and jumped about three feet back. Then the contractor jumped a few feet. The rat had been there for several days, dead. I had to leave the room, it was so disgusting. The man took the dead rat away, I swept up what was left behind (gross), and then went to the gym. As I was falling asleep last night, I couldn't help but think of the dead rat, and of how many more rats must be running around at night.

Well that's about all the time I've got this morning.... ciao!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Morning,

So you are seeing what exactly I(RAT) looks like eh? lol I would have to say the dead rat isn't the gross thing about what you said.

What would be freaking me is it was under someones blanket(s) and they aren't shaking or checking the bedding etc.

Ummmm you all are residing in the desert at the present time. There are many creatures who are displaced.

I also can say with you not living in luxurious surroundings like San Diego etc, ummmm you are going to see things that you normally won't see in Calif and that is a culture shock in itself.

I will tell ya my 4 year old son came running in the living room three days ago telling me a lobster was in his bathroom sink and so dad (I) get up and saw it wasn't a lobster, but a baby scorpion.

Morale of the story is tell your roomies to check their bedding daily as I do here at home since we live in the desert now.

P.S. I don't know how long you are there for, but if you can get glass or metal bowls and put them under the feet of your beds or cots and keep the bedding off the floor, this is a way to keep the scorpions and spiders from getting in. Rats ummm you need to get that advice from some fellow New Yorkers serving with ya. ;-)

Hope your weekend is a good one. Stay safe and keep up the good work.

Peace Out. Ciao

Vince

me said...

Ewwww.

I once lived in a dive in Oakland. It was cheap. But I started hearing a mouse at night, & finding its tracks. I finally found where it was coming in, a crack by the doorframe, & put a mousetrap there.

One morning I was awakened by a SNAP! I started to doze off, happily thinking of the dead mouse, when I heard a horrible clatter. It was trying to get out of the trap.I dragged my ass out of bed & went out there to confront it. Understand, I'm a suburban kid; I just thought, That's a BIG f*cking mouse.

Of course it was NO MOUSE.

And they do have a distinctive reek.


beautifulatrocities

Anonymous said...

Under the blankets? Wow. What comes to mind is "How does someone not notice a dead rat under their own blankets?" What happened to this girl? Did she pass out at a club in Baghdad? Or maybe something not so funny. Since the thing to do is to tell gross stories, I'll share one of mine. When I was an engineering intern living in Port Wentworth (just outside of Savannah), my roomates and I heard something in the house but we couldn't make heads or tails of it. Two months later the AC unit stopped working. I managed to get a technician from the mill to come by the house. After testing this and that, he opened up the fan casing and found the skull of a small bird. Moral of the story: Never let birds in your AC system.

Anonymous said...

Holy petrified tree sap Batman! After reading your blog since its been up, I just *now* noticed the comments section appended to every post. This is going to make for many an interesting break from economics. You have so many more friends than I thought you did. Take care Ambiance.

-Option E