trapped like a rat

By anders pearson 12 Jan 2003

i have a better understanding of where that phrase came from and what it really means.

since about thursday, there’s been some kind of rodent trapped in the wall in my apartment. from the amount of noise it creates, i’d guess it’s a rat. naturally, the wall it’s gotten itself trapped in is the one that my bed’s headboard is up against. thursday night, i was kept awake all night with a constant barrage of scratching, pitter-pattering, and squeaking coming from the wall inches from my head. friday night and last night, the noise was still there but getting much less frequent. tonight, i’m still hearing the occasional scratch but very infrequently.

i wish there were something i could do to get it out of the wall. it’s not my idea of a fun time being kept awake at night thinking about some animal that’s trapped in a small, dark place, slowly starving to death.

it’ll probably stop making noise in the next day or two. then i get to hope that whatever material my walls are made out of (probably drywall or sheetrock; pretty hard stuff: it’s difficult to drive tacks into) contains odors well.