"How's my ratman?" To Jasmine.
"Oh, hi." To the rest of us.
He was not, however, able to sing enough praises to convince his very skeptical brother of the rat fancy.
He wanted to share his new found enthusiasm with him...
his brother didn't want it shared.
One night my brother-in-law unexpectedly showed up at our door.
Noticing the opened door of the cage on the living room floor he backed toward the entrance he had come in through.
"You have IT out of IT'S cage??" he asked in astonishment.
Then looking toward his shoes he wondered aloud, "Where is it?"
Looking up from my station next to the cage on the floor I answered.
"SHE," I emphatically stated, "is having her free range time."
Having said this I saw my husband enter the room to greet his brother.
My brother-in-law eyed him up and down and suggested they go to the garage to visit since I had "rats running all over the house".
I had already begun trying to coax Jasmine out from under her home away from home...
an antique wash stand that occupies a corner next to a chair in our living room.
The wash stand, slightly raised in the back, was the perfect place for a rat girl to hide under.
"I'm trying to get her," I said, endeavoring not to sound irritated. "I didn't know we were having company and this is her normal time out of her cage."
"And besides," I added, "I do not have 'rats' running around the house but a 'rat'."
"That's one too many for me," my brother-in-law replied and began going into the discourse of the rats he had encountered in the city when he was younger.
My husband moved over to the wash stand and spoke in Jasmine's defense,
trying once again to explain to his brother that Jazz was not like the "Chicago rats" they had known when they were younger...
and that there was nothing to be afraid of.
My brother-in-law drew closer but was still clearly unsure of his brother's new found love.
Then...suddenly...the mood changed.
I didn't see Jasmine come running out from under the wash stand to the safety of my husband's pant leg. I only saw the results.So did my brother-in-law.
My husband started jumping up and down and shaking his leg.
I surmised what had happened and tried to rescue who I knew to be a terrified Jasmine from the bouncing pant leg, but wasn't having much success.
The cat had come into the room to inspect what all the commontion was about and the bunny ran from his hiding place under the chair in fearful flight.
"You have a ZOO in here!" exclaimed my brother-in-law. "I'm going to the garage!" And with that he tripped over the darting rabbit and stormed out the door.
My husband, still shaking his leg, went after him.
By this time I had rescued Jazz who was very upset by her ordeal. I held her close and then returned her to the safety of her cage.
Then I began to laugh.
I have never laughed that hard!
One of those side splitting laughs!
And that is the story of the "Rat In My Husband's Pantleg"!
And no. My brother-in-law never did become a fancier!
Life At The Bridge"