Rat Hunting in the Neighborhood|Bonding with the extended family

Before the divorce, My parents and my brother and I lived in a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment above two single car garages.

It was a really old apartment, well really more like a room.

I think I was about 10 when this happened.

One day while getting some no brand cereal that we bought at Best Buy at Soto and Cesar Chavez.

I took the box out of the kitchen cabinet and all the cereal fell out the back.

We had Rats.

Shortly thereafter my mom saw one...HUGE

So when we told my dad , he and his brothers and my older cousins went rat hunting.

We got bats and sticks and told my mom to stay at our aunts while the men did the hunting.

What we would do is poke the bottom of the cabinets for rats and if none were found then we would move on to under the sofa or under the bed or under the clothes.

When we found one...we would all make it come out in the open and then we would all bash it to death.

Pretty cruel, but my dad and most of the cousins were Ranch folk so they did not have any issues with killing and animal especial if it was messing up clothes and food.

Funny how I remember this as one of the few bonding moments I had with my Dads family.

After that we started buying rat poison and I had the awesome duty of picking up the rats and throwing them in the trash can.

When our neighbor saw me doing this she said that if I picked up a rat for her she would give me a dollar....so I did it...everytime a rat was found the kids would come to me and I would pick up the rat...I never touched it....I would always use a plastic bag to pick it up.

I would collect my dollar and go down to the store and buy myself some Chee-tos :) ahh what great memories.

Evilchavo Out.