The Rat Room

Rats are sneaky. You best keep an eye on them or they’ll disappear and get in all kinds of trouble. I’m used to rats like that. I’ve always had one or two in a colony that I have to keep a watchful eye on. Come to think of it… all girls. Coincidence?
So today, I was doing my out time with the Gera/Rory group. Things were going well, everyone was having fun and after about an hour the rats start their naptime. They usually just plop where they are and have a snooze. The young ones not so much. And the girls… not so much either. So about this time, I do another head count. 1. 2. 3. 4…. 9. I do a recount, cause it really should be 10. My heart starts to race but I don’t panic. I start making noise, calling them, not using their names cause I’m not sure which one went AWOL. Another count, 9. I panic. It’s been 15 minutes with 9. I start calling them by name and it feels like they all came to me one by one from one corner or another but I’m still at 9. That’s it. I take out the big guns. I know that if I stand up and grab the veggie container and start to dispense, all of them will come running, no matter where they are. I stand up on my wobbly legs cause I’m in mid panic at this point and what do I see? Little Miss Chu. What a surprise. On the table. Serving herself. Now I know where to look first.
My heart hasn’t yet recovered… but I fear, I better get used to that. lol

Gera, taking his ratnap.