Curly, Leather and I were at the vet last week (guess who caught Schwartz's sneezes?) As usual, the cage attracted a bit of attention in the waiting room, including that of a little boy. He shyly peeked in the cage, then asked "Are those mice?"
"No, they're rats."
"Did you catch them?"
"No, they're pets. Curly [pointing him out] used to be a lab rat at a university."
The kid sat down with his mother. A minute later I heard her say "No, you have a dog, two cats, and a hamster. You may not have a rat too."
(She smiled at me, though, so I knew she didn't think I was trying to corrupt her kid.)
The boy came back and started asking questions. He was particularly intrigued by how they both stuffed themselves into the tissue box I had in the carry cage. I told him how they love all types of boxes, chewing their own doors and windows, stashing their treasures and making their nests. All of a sudden the mother says "You don't need a rat, Zack, you are a rat!"
Apparently the little boy has a habbit of taking big boxes (like the one his neighbor's tv came in) and making forts in his room. He even likes to sleep in his box, and hide his toys there.
I was quite tickled by the story, and when I told Victor he decided that our next rat gets named "Zack."
Posted by Abita at October 28, 2003 09:15 PM