Chapter Five --- "Visiters in the Night"
We were learning a lot on the farm. The confusing myriad of details had settled into a nice daily routine. Most of the cows were looking familiar. It seemed that I might really learn to know each of them after all. It was a lot of hard work and long hours, but our family was thriving here. Our children were healthy and happy, and they were enjoying this new world of discovery.
Our old house, that had felt so much like home right from the beginning, was now like a familiar friend. Our children used the two large upstairs bedrooms. Betsy’s was at the top of the stairs to the left, and the boys had the one to the right. Ours was downstairs – next to the living room. The ancient one-story kitchen had obviously stood alone at one time, as the original cabin. Some time later a larger two-story section had been added on. The whole thing was well suited for raising our family. It didn’t bother us in the least that the sorrowful old dwelling was showing obvious signs of age. The windows were difficult to slide up and down, and time had found a way to insert cracks around some of the window frames. Several doors were difficult to close, and required a good slam. The aged metal roof had been painted silver at one time, but patches of rusty brown now accented the faded gray, giving it a rustic antique appearance. The white paint on the wood siding was flaking in places, allowing the old weathered cedar to peek through in many places. There were cracks in the ancient stone foundation, and it was beginning to crumble in several spots. The weary old house, nearly worn out by use and the progression of time, sighed and creaked. But it was perfect! It was home, and we felt almost like settlers in the wilderness.
Perhaps we were a little naïve, but it came as a surprise one night when we awoke to hear a rustling noise in our bedroom. Katy, our little miniature dachshund – who insisted on sharing our bed – heard it too. I was jerked fully awake when she launched herself rudely from my side, and hit the floor running. She raced across the bedroom to a corner where we still had some boxes stacked, and then we heard another – lighter – set of footsteps skipping rapidly out the door and through the living room, with Katy close behind. We lay there wide-eyed in the pitch darkness, not moving, straining to hear whatever it was.
“What was that!?” Juanita whispered.
“I don’t know.” I breathed back.
“Was it a rat?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, go look.”
“No. I’ll look around in the morning.”
“What if it comes back?” she shuddered at the thought.
“Shush ‘Nita, if it’s a rat, it’s more afraid of us than we are of it.”
The truth is, I wasn’t about to put my feet on the floor. Sudden visions of ruthless man-eating mutant rodents were dancing through my head, and I noticed my toes were curling up at the thought. Juanita moved over closer to me, and I could sense that her eyes were wide open in the dark. It was a comfort to have her there. Whatever it was, we’d die together.
Presently, Katy came back to bed, calmly lifted the covers with her pointy little snout, and slid back underneath them. And we all fell fast asleep again.
The next day Juanita decided to look around in the corner where we had heard the noise. She got down on her hands and knees, and peered under the desk that sat along the same wall. She moved a box when it happened.
I heard a blood-curdling scream and ran to bedroom just in time to meet her rushing out, white as a ghost - a look of sheer terror on her face.
“IT RAN ACROSS MY HAND!” She screamed.
I held onto her and asked, “What ran over your hand?”
“A HUGE RAT!!”
I looked at her face for a second before I could respond. Here was my chance to be the hero, or at least the comforting husband. But there was a giant bubble of laughter welling up inside me, pushing desperately at my throat, determined to escape my grip. Try as I might, there was no stopping it.
My poor wife stood looking disbelievingly at me. “It’s not funny! Kill it!”
“Okay ‘Nita, okay. Sorry, I just couldn’t help it.” The look on her face flitted across my mind once more, and I burst out again.
“I’ll set some traps for it. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt you.”
The fearful look that remained in her eyes told me she wasn’t convinced. Weak from all the excitement, she headed towards the kitchen.
“Where did it come from?’ she wondered.
“Well, this is a farm, and I guess there are just going to be rats around. I don’t know how we’ll be able to keep them out of the house, with all the cracks and holes.”
I was thinking out loud, and figured if I talked to Matt or Jim about it, they might have some ideas. After all, they owned the place. Maybe they could help us.
In the meantime, I searched the cupboards and found a mousetrap. I had my doubts if this would stop a rat, but until we could get to town, it would have to do. I didn’t really want the trap in our bedroom, but figured if I set it outside our doorway, the rat would have to run past it, and maybe stop for a sniff.
That night we crawled into bed as usual, tired from a full day of labor, and fell fast asleep. A couple hours later, the trap snapped shut, and woke us with a start. Katy heard it too and clawed her way to the surface. She leaped off the bed and ran for the door. We heard a little scuffle, and then the sound of something being violently shaken.
A little hesitant about putting our feet to the floor, Juanita and I slid out of bed, flipped on the light, and peeked out the door. And there stood Katy, grinning proudly at us, with a dead rat at her feet. The tiny mousetrap must have snapped the rat’s nose and stunned it until she got there.
“Eeeww, Dave, get it out of here!” Juanita begged.
Then she paused and looked closer at the rat, “That’s not the one that ran over my hand – the other one was a lot bigger.”
I believed her. This rat was medium sized. It could only mean one thing. We must have a whole family of them living here. It was an unsettling thought.
No doubt about it, we had to stop the invasion. We were expecting company for the weekend, and didn’t need rats rambling around the house, scaring everyone half to death.
So we bought a couple rat-traps and loaded them with cheese. Katy watched the proceedings with interest – too much I thought. Compared to a mousetrap, these were viciously huge. I glanced from the trap to the little wiener dog.
“Uh, ‘Nita, what if Katy goes after the cheese in the trap? It’ll break her nose.”
So we decided to set them in places that she couldn’t reach, hoping to rid the house of the wretched vermin before our guests arrived.
But it wasn’t to be. It was as if the rats had suddenly become educated. We could still hear them scuttling around at night, but they wouldn’t take the bait. Then, it was Friday evening, and our friends arrived with their three children. We enjoyed a pleasant evening with Irvin and Lydia - showing them the farm operation, and going for a little drive around our neighborhood, while our children played on the steep hillside just below the house.
It was nearly bedtime before we could broach the subject. Embarrassing as it was, we felt compelled to explain that there were rats in our house, and we were doing our best to remove them. I noticed they gave each other a little sideways glance at our announcement, but they smiled kindly.
“Oh, it’s okay, we’ll be fine,” they said.
We turned in for the night then, and hoped the rats would be quiet. Morning came uneventfully, and since it was my weekend off, Juanita and I got up and prepared a good old country breakfast. We all sat down around the crowded table, and I asked Irvin to say the blessing. He proceeded to give thanks for the beautiful morning and the delicious food that was setting before us. He was working his way towards the end of the prayer when I heard a scuffle by the stove, and raised my head just in time to see a large rat running towards the table. Apparently it was hungry too.
“Here comes a rat!” I shouted, and leaped from my chair to see where it was headed. Everyone else started jumping at the announcement, and the startled rat, confused by all the commotion, leaped towards the tangle of dancing legs. I quickly stooped over to watch its progress, when I saw it run across a lady’s bare foot, using it for a stepping stone. Then it continued rapidly through the kitchen and disappeared into the laundry.
I stood up and looked around the table at all the bugged-eyed faces. Some were standing, and others were half-crouching, not sure if they should sit back down or run out the door.
“It ran across my foot!” cried Lydia, with horror in her eyes.
Irvin, a man with nerves of steel, sat calmly in his chair - a wide grin appearing on his face.
“Amen!” he said, “There now, let’s eat!”
We had just sent the children up to bed, and as was my practice before turning in for the night, I walked over to the barn to check the thermometer on the bulk tank, and see if any cows were in labor. I had barely reached the barn when I heard the phone in the milk-house ringing. I picked it up, wondering who could be calling this time of the day.
“Hello?”
“DAVE!!” It was Juanita, her voice shaking with fright. “THERE’S A HUGE SNAKE IN BETSY’S ROOM!”
“No way!”
“PLEASE, COME HOME NOW!”
“Okay!” I threw a quick glance at the thermometer on the bulk-tank to make sure the milk was properly chilled, ran out the door, and back across the pasture.
I reached the house, completely out of breath, and entered to see Betsy and Juanita standing in the kitchen staring almost accusingly at me, both trying to talk at once.
“Where is it?” I asked, trying to remain calm.
“It’s hanging on my curtain rod!” said Betsy, as she rushed forward and clung to me.
The boys stood at the top landing, staring intently into her room, and I ran up the stairs two-at-a-time to join them.
Sure enough! A very large snake draped the full length of her curtain rod, with its head hanging down on one side, and it’s tail down the other. No wonder she was terrified!
I knew I wasn’t going to grab the reptile barehanded and figured I’d need something with a long handle.
“Mike,” I said, “Go out to the shed and get me the garden rake.”
He took off lickety-split and came back carrying the rake a few seconds later.
Now, I thought, with a little bit of luck I can pick the snake up and carefully take it outside for disposal. And sure enough, the plan worked. The docile snake must have been half-asleep. As I began lifting it, it wound lazily around the rake, letting me carry it out of the house. I took it out a little ways, and without knowing if it was dangerous, dispatched it. Then I got the yardstick. My goodness, the snake was all of six feet long!
It took quite a while for our house to settle down that night. The scare had brought an adrenaline rush to everyone, and most of all to poor Betsy.
After the children finally went to bed for the night, Juanita and I looked at each other and shook our heads.
“That’s one for the book,” she said.
“Yeah,” I chuckled, “What have I gotten my family into? First the rats, now this. I wonder what will be next.”
“Dave,” she was laughing now, “you should have seen those kids. I heard Betsy screaming like bloody murder, and all three of them came racing and sliding down the steps. I went up to look, and couldn’t believe my eyes. I still can’t! That thing was huge!”
She laughed again, “The boys didn’t even know what the screaming was about, but they sure weren’t going to be left up there with whatever it was!”
The following day I walked over to the barn after lunch. Matt was already there, getting ready to grind the cow feed. So I told him about our experience the night before. He listened intently, and then asked, “What color was the snake?”
“It was dark brown, almost black.”
“Hmmm, must’ve been a cow snake.”
“Are they poisonous?”
“Nah, completely harmless. Whadya do with it?”
“I took it out and killed it,” I replied.
He stared hard at me for a moment, “You should NOT’VE killed it!”
“Huh?” I searched his face for a hint of a smile, hoping he was kidding.
“Are you serious?”
“Shore am, Dave.” He shook his head ever-so-sadly. “Serious as cancer. Don’t you know? That snake was there to get the rats!”
Next week's chapter: "How to Swing a Calf"
Next week's chapter: "How to Swing a Calf"
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