30/04/2021
When I first got him, we has completely blind, covered with dirt and starving to death. He's from a good friend who picked him up from being toyed by kids in the alleyway near my home. And because I couldn't just leave him, and I knew I could do better, I decided to get him. Three rides away from the place, I skipped not only my breakfast but also my job training and hurriedly traveled early in the morning to get the poor rat.
After I took him home, I watched him for a moment. He sniffed through the open space for food, struggled to stand and mistook my hand for his mommy rat. I laid him gently on a comfy place I just made, and sung a lullaby from a 1989 movie, The Little Mermaid. With a few lines of "You are my world my darling, what a wonderful world I see, you are the song I'm singing, you're my beautiful melody", he slept comfortably while I sat beside him, thought that I never imagined this was the first job or responsibility I did after graduating that year; to be a rat parent. After seeing his safe condition at home, I decided to name him Lucky.
Lucky was just a helpless baby rat, who needed a lot more attention with his case. I fed him not only with milk, but also fed him my unconditional love. I called my training supervisor that I had to leave job training for one week, and explained that I took home an orphaned rat who needed constant care that I had to focus on to. With the first two weeks of sleepless nights and groggy days, I kept on going on as I saw that a little spirit within him was still holding on. I couldn't stop my responsibility as rat parent, I had to supply him milk every two hours all throughout the day and made him p*e or poo by rubbing his ge****ls with a warm tissue, only mother rats will understand.
As he gained strength over the following weeks, I couldn't help by celebrating Lucky's tiny milestones; The moment he opened his eyes on my palm, the day he decided to chase my scared little cat, the night I saw how his eyes sparked as he was about to jump on my dog's back and give him a not so comfortable piggy back ride. Lucky began to make himself at home, hoarding sunflower seeds, hiding dog biscuits under his bed. And it was clear to me that he intended to stay for a long span of time.
With his charms, he'd begun to train me in his care, he made it clear that most of the ingredient in his food mix was inedible except for mini dog treats. That he'd only eat bananas if it was cut it circles, will only eat the yellow part of the boiled egg and most vegetables are fine especially carrots but a big no no to cabbage! His favorite foods were watermelon, chicken bones with tiny meats all over and a bunch of cooked unflavored plain macaroni. A few drops of baby food were always accepted. Diet was not on his vocabulary!
As Lucky pawed his way into my heart, I identified myself, for many times in my life, as a parent. I could be a generous and cuddly father but also a fussy and anxious mom. I felt my world conforming to his needs, and I loved it. I stopped going out for snack as often and instead spend the evening cuddling with him.
Talked with close friends how he dragged a chicken bone and kept it under his blanket and his latest fascinations. And all in a while, we grappled with the fact that Lucky didn't have much time. On an average, most wild rats would die before their first birthday. And I was not wrong, his ball of energy subsided and his rapid pace turned into slow little movements. Yesterday, in the late afternoon, he passed away.
He was a street rat, no more than a few days old when I first got him. His life had begun in the grimy alley near our house and to most people, he would have embodied filth and disease. But I saw instead a fragile, unknowable life, and in the year that followed, I came to see him as no average soul.
Many people, even family or friends would not understand how it is possible for me to love a rat, a wild street rat. If they just had a pleasure meeting him. I will end this by writing a few lines from Michael Jackson's song called Ben; They don't see you as I do, I wish they would try to, I'm sure they'd think again if they had a friend like Lucky. He may have left me too soon, but the paw print he left within my heart will always stay, he'll always be remembered.
