Country Living

I was in deep study mode this afternoon when I noticed a call from my mother. I figured it was just her returning my call from earlier in the day, but would understand that I was studying when I didn't answer. About 10 minutes later she called again, which is unusual for my mom to do when she knows I'm studying all day. I sent her a text to tell her I was in the middle of a lecture and she responded: "I have something to tell you."

This sounded very important and I began to worry. It must be serious if my mom needed to contact me while I am studying. I called her the second my lecture ended and she said, "You'll never believe what happened..."

My mother started telling me about how recently there had been a rather terrible smell evolving in her car. She thought that perhaps a perishable grocery item had rolled out of sight and was fermenting somewhere in the vehicle. She even entertained the idea that the seat cover that the dogs sit on in the back seat might be a tad ripe. My dad decided to clean the car and get to the bottom of the situation. 

What my father found was shocking. Underneath the passenger seat he found the rotting corpse of a field rat. That's not the worst part. Apparently this incident is common in this type of vehicle. It has happened to other people we know.

This type of vehicle is quite popular in the US. I know a ton of my friends own this type of vehicle. In fact, my mother's next door neighbor was the first to tell us about this phenomenon. She had brought her car to the shop and a rat jumped out of the car, scaring a passerby and causing her to knock over a tower of tires. Not only are these rats disgusting, but they're also dangerous.

Apparently, these rats have figured out how to enter the cars through the air vents. My parents live in a rural area right near a field which surely houses mice, rats and a variety of other creatures. I suppose the rats prefer the quarters of a popular mid-sized sedan complete with sunroof, automatic locks and XM radio.