Thanksgiving Visitor

By Maryanna Gabriel

     There has been a scrabbling of late high up in the walls and the sound is turning my blood to ice. A rat. A happy relay across the ceiling in broad daylight has given me to understand that something has to be done. Everyday now I have been out checking the trap lines. One trap was broken and

Holly Before Thanksgiving

although the other was wired to the porch it has completely vanished. I peer through the darkness beyond the porch lattice and notice the poison I had laid down is nibbled into. I wire a new trap to the collection with hope in my heart. Last night did the scrabbling sound fainter possibly less enthusiastic I wondered? I have to be ruthless. Damage can be done to wiring. My neighbour once had to replace the piping for his washing machine which involved ripping open a wall. For now the birds have to look elsewhere for their treats.

     The season has turned a sharp cold as nights have been below zero. The holly is blooming which is a little strange as it is before Thanksgiving. I have picked some and brought it into the house feeling a dissonance with the season. Merry Christmas I say to myself. I am  wondering if this is going to be a cold winter and have been grateful for the crackling fire in the evenings. Reading at night is new for me. I am taking a Children's Writing course and am into a book called "Zellig" by British author, Adam Pullman, written for middle readers. It is tons of fun. It is about a boy who finds a strange creature in an old abandoned garage where rats dwell.