little rat

little dying rat
finds solace in the box
and me... plum tree

that was my haiku for today... it's a sad little story about a little rat i found at the bottom of the stairs in my apartment complex. he was just sitting there out in the open, which i knew meant he had problems since rats don't like to be in the open, they like to walk along walls and such (speaks years of experience owning pet rats). we (rusty and i) left him behind and started to go get the mail but when we came back people were walking over him and i thought maybe some mean kid would kick him or someone would throw him away in the dumpster. so i got a box from home and the little guy jumped in the box and we went walking to the railroad tracks where there is a lot of woods and sat for a while with the little rat while he came out of the box. it was obvious he was dying; there was blood at the bottom of the box and coming out of his nose. we sat for a while and he came up to me and hung out for a while. i was under a plum tree so i opened up a plum for him to eat and he started licking it a bit. after a while of sitting and thinking and trying to be there for the little rat before he died, it became very hot and rusty was getting tired. the little rat was walking into the bushes anyway and i thought it was ok to leave it there. i left him a couple of open plums and the box and wished i could do more for him. i hope he dies peacefully there.