Rats and Potatoes. Reminiscing IV.

When I was about 5 or 6 we were living in the downstairs floor of a converted two story house. Somebody else lived upstairs, I think it was the owner. One day, dad brought home a 50 pound sack of potatoes and set it down beside the couch in the living/dining room area. For some reason I slept on the couch that night, I think it was because we had company, and they were using my bed. Anyway, I was awakened in the middle of the night by something running over my body and face, I started screaming when I realized it was rats. My dad came out of the bedroom and saw what was happening. He shook my blanket, knocking the rats off of me. The rats were after the potatoes, it was too good of a treat to turn down. Dad then went after the rats with a broom and killed at least a couple of them. Dad set out traps the next day, and also moved the potatoes away from the couch and put them in the kitchen. We caught rats for at least two weeks. It may have been longer.

The rat incident took place in November, because I now remember it was around Thanksgiving. It had already snowed outside by this time, and everything was frozen over. It kept snowing all the way through Christmas and into the next year. Anyway, my brother and I were outside playing one day, and we were down by the creek, which was frozen over. I went skating along on the creek, like kids will do. Bob was following me. All of a sudden Bob started screaming, as he fell through the ice. Fortunately the creek was not too deep or too wide, so I was able to go back and pull him out. I had to help my brother run back to the house as his pants were freezing on him. When we got in the house, Mom, quickly took Bob’s clothes off and wrapped him in blankets. She set him next to the heater to allow him to warm up. Luckily he wasn’t too badly hurt. Needless to say, we stayed away from the ice after that. The reason Bob fell in and I didn’t is because I didn’t step on the air bubble in the middle of the ice, but Bob did. Neither one of us saw it until it was too late.
"(C) Copyright by Victor Winebrenner"