Kill number eleven. I will never forget this one for obvious reasons. I jumped into the garage and flipped on the lights. A blur of grey caught my eye and I followed it behind a box. By now I know that these rats will wait about fifty times longer than I am willing to so I walked over to the box and poked at it with the barrel of the rifle. After five or six pokes, the little trooper bolted, and just as fervently, so did I keeping the fleeing rodent in my peripheral all the way up the ladder. After getting situated, I aimed and fired. The little creature lost his grasp while trying to climb up to the rafters but not because it was hit, just scared. I couldn't believe I missed. I loaded up again just in time. The rat continued its ascent into the rafters and streaked across to a far corner of the garage. I suppose it thought it was safe because it stopped in the corner and waited. I fired into the corner. To my dismay and amazement the little bastard jumped away and repositioned itself in another dead-end corner while I reloaded. Now the rat had a choice. It thought about jumping three feet down to a shelf but changed its mind. Its only other option was to cross a beam towards me and my rifle. I waited as it bobbed up and down, thinking. Finally, the rat made its last and most detrimental decision of its life, it came towards me. I fired. Its rear end dropped to the side of the two-by-four while its front arms clung on. It slipped slowly in half inch increments until there was no more wood to hold on to. It dropped about three feet onto the top of a box which resonated like a drum. Ironically, my hapless little victim could have taken that drop voluntarily in order to further evade death about twenty seconds earlier. I sat at the top of the ladder and waited. The pounding of my heart drowned out the rats last few breaths. I figured the excitement was over as I picked up a plaster spatula and walked over to pick him up and inspect the wound. I couldn't have been more wrong. My discovery shocked me as much as it will shock you when you see the following picture. Don't ask me how it happened but it truly did.
This little guy truly earned my respect.
All I can say is... "YIKES"
Once again... "YIKES"