Pied Piper of the La Brea Tar Pits
Well...since we've been on the subject...I have another bad rat story. This one even freaked out Max, who was with me when it happened. I'm not going to pretend that you loyal readers (all four of you! half of whom are related to me!!!) are actually interested, but I'm going to post it anyway. You should be informed.
So one day, I dragged poor Max to the La Brea Tar Pits, just to walk around and get some exercise. If you've never been there before, don't bother because it is incredibly disappointing. The first time I went, I figured there'd be great big vats of tar and lots of fossils. No. There is a pond of tar, and some terribly unprofessional models of mammoths - made not to scale, so what's the point really? Anyway, it was late in the day, Max and I were walking along this small path that runs parallel to Wilshire Blvd, and had sort of just come around this little bend. Ahead of us, no more than 10 feet away, were these two bushes - one on either side of the path. There were also some trees, so this area was a little shady. Anyway, suddenly, I saw a couple squirrel-esque animals dart across this path, running back and forth between the bushes. And I realized in a matter of seconds, that they were RATS!!! Not squirrels. RATS!!! IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!!! But the freaky thing was, all of sudden, five or six more came running out the bushes. They paused, and then sat up on their hind legs, all in a row. Seriously - these rats stood up, and lined up next to each other on the pathway. Like soldiers or something. They sort of cocked their head from side to side. And then a few more came running out to join them. I, of course, screamed and ran straight to the car. For the record, Max was more or less right behind me.
Now for the why??? - Why did this happen??? Well, I have no idea why but there was a man who had bagpipes with him, in the park. Maybe there was some festival. Anyway, it was when he started playing the pipes that the rats came out. THE RATS WERE DRAWN TO THE SOUND OF THE BAGPIPES!!!
Freak-eee. There must be some truth to that whole pied piper story.
So anyway. Don't learn to play the bagpipes unless you want rats to come out and greet you.
So one day, I dragged poor Max to the La Brea Tar Pits, just to walk around and get some exercise. If you've never been there before, don't bother because it is incredibly disappointing. The first time I went, I figured there'd be great big vats of tar and lots of fossils. No. There is a pond of tar, and some terribly unprofessional models of mammoths - made not to scale, so what's the point really? Anyway, it was late in the day, Max and I were walking along this small path that runs parallel to Wilshire Blvd, and had sort of just come around this little bend. Ahead of us, no more than 10 feet away, were these two bushes - one on either side of the path. There were also some trees, so this area was a little shady. Anyway, suddenly, I saw a couple squirrel-esque animals dart across this path, running back and forth between the bushes. And I realized in a matter of seconds, that they were RATS!!! Not squirrels. RATS!!! IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!!! But the freaky thing was, all of sudden, five or six more came running out the bushes. They paused, and then sat up on their hind legs, all in a row. Seriously - these rats stood up, and lined up next to each other on the pathway. Like soldiers or something. They sort of cocked their head from side to side. And then a few more came running out to join them. I, of course, screamed and ran straight to the car. For the record, Max was more or less right behind me.
Now for the why??? - Why did this happen??? Well, I have no idea why but there was a man who had bagpipes with him, in the park. Maybe there was some festival. Anyway, it was when he started playing the pipes that the rats came out. THE RATS WERE DRAWN TO THE SOUND OF THE BAGPIPES!!!
Freak-eee. There must be some truth to that whole pied piper story.
So anyway. Don't learn to play the bagpipes unless you want rats to come out and greet you.
posted by S at 1:40 PM
2 Comments:
Hmm. Maybe you stumbled across the rats of NIMH. You know the rats of NIMH are not your average rats--they are super intelligent and know how to plug in christmas lights to light their village (come on, haven't you seen this movie?). Maybe their advanced intellect is what caused them to be drawn by the bagpipes. Poor rats, they were probably on their way to move Mrs. Brisby's house out of harm's way, when Nicodeamus heard the bagpipes and went to enjoy the music for a while. Naturally, all the other rats would follow him to make sure he is all right..... (this I guess is only interesting or understandable if you have either read or seen the movie, The Secret of NIMH)
LOL!!! I read the book years ago when I was little and actually enjoyed it, only because I had to mentally not think of them as rats. Plus the cover only had a cartoon rat so it wasn't so scary.
Actually, come to think of it, my teacher read it to our class, so I had no choice but to listen. But since I liked the story, I actually got past the rat thing and ended up re-reading it again on my own time.
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