We arrived home last night to find Earl Grey staring under the washing machine. This seemed abnormal enough that I got down with a flashlight and looked under there too. I narrowly avoided a pack of dust bunnies leaping for my forehead, but saw nothing amiss. Apparently it was one of those things that only cats can see.

A little while later we found Nimitz there too, staring along with Earl. And then sparky wandered by and stuck her nose down there with some interest. Shelley started poking around and moving the dryer out from the wall, then shrieked a little when she found Mr. Rat back behind it.

She called me over, gave me the broom and took her bare feet out of the area, closing all the doors behind her. That left me and the pets to help Mr. Rat to the afterlife, however despite much broom-swatting and close attention from all the pets, Mr. Rat had other ideas.

He scurried around the bathroom, trying to hide here and there, then leapt onto the toilet back, climbed up a towel, and leapt onto the shower door's top edge. Rats definitely have bragging rights for agility. The pets didn't seem too intent on killing Mr. Rat. This surprised me quite a bit, especailly from Sparky, otherwise known as Gopher's Bane.

Mr. Rat's cuteness overcame our desire to do him in, so we removed the pets to other rooms, opened the door to the outside, and prodded and poked him until he exited the house and ran across the yard.

The End.