Rat + Killer

There is a rat in the basement ceiling. I’ve stared at it face to face, the rodent perched a top the water heater. I laid traps, big traps, with a lightning fast Kill Bar. I think fortunate we, people, are. That all of life’s traps are not equipped with Kills Bars. Everything is designed only to wound. Then I hear from the warmth of the living room a quiet knocking. A tell take heart of an unchecked trap. I’ve heard rodents will chew off their own arm if caught, if the Kill Bar is subpar. There are only a few situations I can recall in my life that if given that option I would have brandished a smile. There are many many more situations I would trade a limb to return to. How fortunate to day dream, even while wounded, ignoring the possibility of a Kill Bar snap.

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Owning a home requires you to be equipped for mass murder. One million blades of grass, nest after nest of hornets and wasps, the snapping spine of a rodent pinched in a trap. The less violent patching of dents, erasing the signs of life. The replacement of appliances 50 years my senior. Owning a home is struggle for survival that requires bloodshed.