Rat Article * English

YOU LIVE ALONE BUT YOU’RE NOT ALONE
BY ASHLEE KALFAS

Living in the city is not easy these days. The problem isn’t only drugs and violence these days – it’s rats! People all over the city of Chicago have been finding rat holes, rat droppings and even rats all over their homes.

The first sighting of a rat was in a small apartment on Indiana Avenue. The boy, Bigger Thomas, who lives there with his mother, his sister and his brother, first saw a hole in the kitchen floor a few weeks ago. Since then he has saw six rats come out of that very hole. He tries to attack the rats and kill them but they just run right back into the hole. One time he was able to murder the rat with a skillet.

The rats aren’t too friendly either. They bite, they scratch and aren’t sanitary. People who are bitten should see medical help for a tetanus shot.

In another case, a woman was going to the bathroom on her toilet. She felt a tingle and then numbness is her rear end. When she got up, along with her droppings was a large black rat! After screaming, she flushed the toilet and the rat was flushed away.

Clean or dirty, everyone in this unprivileged neighborhood has had one or two rats before. Our mayor is trying to fix the problem but he says he don’t know where to start. When to asked why city clean up hasn’t been assigned he said, “With the Great Depression we have lost money. There is no money and there really never was! We just have to wait this epidemic out. There is no cure for rats in your house – clean it up! I don’t know what to tell the people. But if you have shed blood due to a rat experience visit your local hospital immediately. Our city has rats, we don’t need unhealthy people!”

Most of the rats are coming up from the overflowing sewers on most of the corners. City cleaners haven’t visited the streets or cleaned the pollution in months. The only way to stop the rodent infestation problem is to start with our selves. If you’re outside and you have trash, put it in a trash bag or hang on to it. It’s also not hard to grab a broom and sweep a little.
Things are going crazy with Chicago these days but we shouldn’t let it get in to our head. We can make our city better again! Help out and keep it clean.
Have fun and make new friends with your rodents!