All Kinds of Rats!
John McGondel, 2003

 “Stab it! Stab it! What are you waiting for? It’s gonna get away for Chrissakes!”

“That’s it Kiddo. Stab what? What were they stabbing?”

“Three of us had it cornered between the back wall of the leather factory and one of the barrels of kerosene. The mutt that hunted with us kept it busy by rushing in and out at it. Once it grabbed the dog with its long sharp fangs and ripped a gash in the dog’s face. That’s when I jumped forward a foot or so and stuck my sharpened stick through its side. Everybody cheered as I waved the dirty, dying rat around on the end of my stick. Then I killed it fast, no sense letting the poor thing suffer. This was high sport for us, hunting down those huge leather company rats and killing them with our fire-sharpened sticks. If our mothers had known they would have crucified us all. That’s one of my earliest childhood memories, Doc. I think I was four years old at the time…

“Why do you think you were four years old at that time?”

“Because that was also the year that my next door neighbor died on the operating table while having his tonsils out. We were friends and I was scheduled to have mine out the following week, but my mother, Jesus my mother went hysterical and had to be sedated before my dad could bring me to the hospital. The operation went ok, I guess. I liked the sherbet ice cream they gave me.

“We lived in a housing project, and we were called “project kids.” Our project was made of wood, and it was for WW2 veterans and their families to stay in until they could get a leg up. Only thing is most of them never got that leg up. Across this great field which we called the “Petrified jungle” was another project. Only it was made of brick, and was called the “Brick Jungles.” The two projects hated each other and we had a lot of what I guess they would now call gang fights. We would each side fill our pockets and maybe a bag with hard, green apples, and chuck them at each other. Those little bastards hurt when they hit you. Then one day the kids from the brick jungles threw rocks back at us, and a friend of mine got his eye torn out of its socket. No more apple fights or any other fights. So, we would light the field between the two projects on fire and wait for the firemen to show up. Then we would help them to put out the fire.

“Always something to do in the projects. Those were the best memories of my younger years. Like the time we watched this war movie where they dug holes and covered them with grass so the enemy would fall into them. So we dug some holes and covered them. Then we got bored and went on to ride our bikes or something. Anyways, turns out this groundskeeper for the town fell in one and busted his leg and we all caught hell for that one. Not so much for the leg, but for how much we laughed when we heard what happened. The cops were all pissed off too, cause they knew we did it like they knew we lit the fields on fire. Called us “no-good, low life project kids.” I guess maybe we were. I don’t know Doc, what do you think?

“It would rain out in the Summer and we would all get our bathing suits on and hold hands, running up and down the street singing “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf.” Whoever it was it wasn’t us, we weren’t afraid of anything. Except perhaps our dads, those of us who had dads. And their big leather belts. God how we all hated leather… Pat Finn stole a wrench from a city truck and used to open the fire hydrant in front of his house on hot days. We called pt the Doctor, cause he always fixed us up. The city workers would show up and take their time about shutting it off. Then when their truck went around the corner out came Pat Finn to turn it right back on again. Pat Finn, the first kid I knew who listened to the Beatles’ White Album. Did I tell you he once spent the whole Summer living down at the local pond, in a tent and a van? Man he was cool. Sorry Doc I’m daydreaming again, only you was in it.

“It was one hot Summer’s night, when the sun went down late, and my dad came up to my room and told me to hurry up and follow him. We went outside and it was as bright as day. Someone had used the kerosene to torch the leather factory, which was about 200 yards from our houses. What a huge fire. Too hot to turn your face towards. It burned for three days. No more leather belts from that old place, eh Doc? Doc, you still there Doc?

“Yep, you bet I am. I’m right with you kiddo, just like I said I would be. Now I‘m going to snap my fingers, like before, Ok?”

“That’s good Doc, cause I don’t suddenly feel so good, you know?”

“Yes, I know, and like I promised you it’ll all be ok. Trust me right?”

“Trust you Doc? Course I trust you! You’re the only one I ever could trust. I mean, if I can’t trust you I can’t trust anybody right Doc?”

“That’s right kiddo. Now tell me so I’ll get it right: Right arm or left arm?”

“Either one, you pick it Doc, you were always the one with the brains. Remember when you showed us kids how to make a Tarzan swing in that big old Pine tree? Remember Doc? Frankie fell out of that tree and broke his neck, but he just didn’t listen to you tell him the right way to do it, right Doc?”

“I suppose kiddo. Now did that hurt?”

“Hurt! Like you would ever hurt one of us. What a comedian you turned out to be Doc.”

“Ok now, one last thing you gotta tell me kiddo.”

“Sure Doc, anything you want to know just ask, but you better ask pretty soon Doc, cause I‘m getting a little woozy here.”

“Good man. Now try to remember who it was that killed that old lady up in the abandoned house besides the Petrified Forest? Can you remember that kiddo? Can you tell me?”

“You mean old Bloody Mary? Nobody killed her Doc, you know that. She killed herself. We all saw it remember?”

“Nope kiddo, I wasn’t there, it was just you and Kiethie and Jay Blaze. Remember?”

“Oh yeah, sorry Doc. Yeah, Kiethie told us to go downstairs and mind our own business.”

“Why did he do that do you think?”

“I dunno Doc, Kiethie was always, you know, a little bit whacko.”

“And what happened when he was upstairs kiddo?”

“Oh. Ahh, Doc. Kiethie was being bad. He was hurtin that old lady Doc. She didn’t need to get hurt like that.”

“And what happened then?”

“Oh boy, I feel sick to my stomach Doc, like I’m gonna throw up.”

“That’s ok kiddo, you toss if you have to, they’ll clean it up later. What happened up there?”

“Ouch Doc that pinches like hell! You oughta warn a feller when you’re gonna stick another needle in him.”

“I will warn you next time kiddo. So what happened up there?”

“I saw Kiethie with old Bloody Mary, and he was hurting her in her private areas. I told him to stop but he pushed me away. He was acting crazy like he did sometimes you remember don’t you Doc?”

“Yes, go on kiddo.”

“Well, Kiethie wouldn’t stop hurting her so I told him no. He turned around and pushed me, laughing at me. His eyes looked just like one of them leather factory rats, remember them Doc?”

“Yes I do, now continue before you get too tired.”

“Well, I didn’t like being pushed like that, so I lifted my rat-stick and told him to leave her alone. He had tied a rope or something around her neck and she was turning all kinds of wrong colors.” (“What are you gonna do about it punk? You gonna stick me with that toy?”)

“Then he turned back, Doc, to the old woman.”

“And what did you do then?”

“Well, he was leaning over Bloody Mary and making weird noises, and so I grabbed him, and he turned on me like a cornered rat, you know?”

“Yes, then what?”

“Well Doc, I don’t remember exactly what happened and when, but he came at me like he was gonna do to me what he had been doing to Old Bloody Mary, so I stopped him, right there Doc.”

“How did you stop him, kiddo?”

“How else Doc? Jesus, I stuck that sharp stick right into his mouth, all the way to the back of his head. Yes sir. He won’t be doing that any more, no sir.”

“Doing what kiddo?”

“Calling my rat stick a toy. Nope, that got me mad Doc.”

“Do you feel better now kiddo?”

“Yeah Doc I do, I always feel better after talking to you. Will I be going to sleep now?”

“Yes, you will be going to sleep in just a few moments.”

“You gonna be here when I wake up Doc, right? Just like always right?”

“I will be here while you sleep kiddo.”

“That’s good Doc, cause them nightmares are terribly bad. They scare me every night.”

“I know, now lie back down, one more needle and you’re all done.”

“Just one Doc? Great, cause I think I’ve had enough of his whole thing. Chrissakes Doc, I’m only eight years old.”

“I know son, now you just let your mind drift off to sleep, and dream nice things for the rest of your life kiddo.”

“Ok Doc, wow..I can hardly move. Did I do alright Doc, did…I…do..al…”

“Yeah, Jackie, you did just fine. Ok everybody, got the time of death logged in right?”

“Yes Doctor Finn. Did you use the full syringe?”

“Yes, nurse I did. I wanted it to be absolutely painless. Those camera crews still outside?”

“The vultures? Yes Doctor Finn they are.”

“Well tell them the state’s first lethal injection went fine.”

“Ok, they want to know his correct age for the record.”

“He was thirty seven years old, one year younger than myself.”

“Doctor Finn, why did he act younger?”

“His father use to whip him with a two inch wide leather belt, then leave him outside at night, where the rats could come up to sniff him. He never really progressed beyond the age of thirteen, emotionally.”

“And about his father?”

“Oh, Jackie here killed his father last year up at the old abandoned barn at the edge of the projects.”

“You mean Bloody Mary’s house?”

“Well at one time it was but she’s been dead for fifteen years now.”

“Then what…?”

“Jackie here saw his dad beating up on Jackie’s Mother, and he flashed to Bloody Mary and what Kiethie had done then.”

“But how…”

“Oh. Jackie’s father was Kiethie. He was a genetic defective. The gene got passed on to Jackie, except for one thing.”

“Which was?”

“Jackie knew right from wrong.”

“And?” “ He felt it was right to kill his father, cause he cross-referenced Bloody Mary with his mother.” “So he killed …Kiethie?’

“Yes”

“And Kiethie was his father?”

“Yes again.”

“And who was he protecting, Bloody Mary or his mother?”

“He was protecting them both.”

“But how could that be, Doctor Finn?”

“Because, child, to Jackie here Bloody Mary was his mother. And Kiethie was both his older brother and his father.”

“But how,… why,… what..?”

“All we know right now is that that particular set of genes have been permanently eliminated from our collective gene pool. Shame too, cause we had two or three great childhoods together. And I‘ll say this for him, he sure loved killing rats. Come to think of it, he died over killing a rat.”
 

John McGondel
Dialogue Story c. 2003