They ran him down that’s what they did right in front of my very eyes this morning they just drove right over him without a thought or a pause and they just ran the little guy down.
No, he wasn’t big, as rats go, and might’ve been difficult to see in the pouring rain if your weren’t driving cautiously.
He was quick, too, but not quick enough. He must’ve scurried only inches past my feet as I approached the curb where I catch the morning bus, when I saw it coming. I gasped out loud, “Oh no, oh no!” But it was no use. No one was slowing down. No one seemed to notice or to care.
He dodged one car. He dodged a second. Then he and his luck expired with the third. It was horrible.
It was obvious the little fella was only trying to get someplace dry. The rain was coming down furiously and he was running from an open parking lot with no shelter of any kind. He only wanted to get out of the wet and find a dry spot, so he made a mad dash. Instinct told him to go, but he never stood a prayer of a chance. And he lost his life, just trying to find a dry place.
That wasn’t much to ask, it was nothing at all, but it was more than anyone was willing to give him.
* * *
We make it hard on animals at every turn, we do. Every activity of our rat race lifestyle seems designed to doom the rodents and any other helpless creature in our paths to the point where we won’t even let them get out of the rain without killing them.
I hope, one day, there’s payback. We deserve it. This is one rat race we deserve to lose.
