The Death of Benjie the Mole-Rat (second part)

II.

Benjie was quite content. Far luckier than any other rodent of his particular subspecies, he has enjoyed a rather comfortable and blessed life. All his life, he never had to scavenge for food, and his clean and caring environment was a far cry from the dank dark sewers that other rats had to endure. Yet, there was something missing which he just couldn’t understand.

He had his own yard, where he mingled with cats, dogs and chickens. Every once in a while, he would scamper off to the dog’s den to have a snack and they would make room for him and leave him be. When the kittens arrived, he was free to play with them and chase them around while the mother merely looked on. His human was a gentle giant, coaxing him up to his shoulders where he would see other humans regard him as he would them. Yet, with all this freedom he sensed that he did not belong to this world. Yet, where did he belong then?

One day, as he was as usual looking down on the fishes in the fishpond, attempting to catch some fingerling with his paws, he smelled something different in the air. He turned around and from the shadows of the woodshed, he vaguely saw something move. Then he heard the barking of the dogs and the scent had slowly faded further into the shadows. He wondered what it was, and ran as fast as his little legs would carry him into the woodshed. Just as he picked up the scent once again, the human called out to him, with his usual lunch. He stopped a split second to think and then found himself running to the human.

That night, Benjie couldn’t sleep. He still remembered the scent from that morning and he was eyeing the woodshed from the corner of his eye. What mystery did it hold? He had enough and went to investigate in the middle of the night, lit only by the moonlight. The woodshed stank of rotting wood and cockroaches infested it in the cool night. He had always loathed these insects as they would usually dirty up his food and water, he hissed at each one that came in his way and they obligingly made way. The woodshed was darker than he imagined. Several times he had meant to explore this area but all these months, he found no reason to seek out its mysteries until now. He crawled as low as he could through the spaces in between the wooden planks and boards, careful not to make even the slightest sound. The air here was heavier, and with each gentle breeze, the boards moved a little, making creaking sounds that left him uneasy.

About four feet into the woodshed, he caught a distinctly strong and pungent scent. It was a part of that which he encountered in the morning, he must be getting close. He followed the scent trail until he came upon a hole on the concrete floor. This was where the scent came from! He peered into the darkness and found nothing. All he found was the gentle trickle of water echoing through the hole. He made up his mind and went carefully down into the hole. Getting into the hole required all of his concentration as the slippery concrete made his footing suspect and the moisture was making his fur wet and heavy. Then he found what seemed like a canal, water streaming down to an even bigger one. By now, his eyesight had adjusted to the dark and he was able to make faster through the tunnels. Only a few moments after he made it to what seemed like the main canal, he caught the same scent he was nosing around for. He ran to where it was, his tiny little heart beating so hard that he had difficulty hearing himself think.

Turning a corner, he stopped to find what he was looking for, there she was. Their beady eyes locked onto each other, it was a creature that was just like him, the first that he had seen in his life. He did not know what to do, this was farthest from what he was expecting to find. Apparently he did not have to do anything, as it was she who came to him. Benjie stood there frozen, he had meant to run back but found his legs stiff and his knees rigid. She was crawling towards him ever so slowly and by the time she had reached him, he had turn pale and fainted.

Benjie woke up to a strange world that was dark and reeked of everything rotten. He found himself on the very same spot where he last remembered, and after realizing this, suddenly found himself panicking again and looking where she could be. She was where he found him, staring at him with curiosity. He finally found the courage to take a step towards her when he picked up another scent, a different one. Then he heard a tweet and behind her, he saw a much smaller version of her. He stared at the little one but no sooner that he was about to take another step forward than he heard her shrill cry and saw her charging him. He stopped head in his tracks and felt all of his muscles tense up. She too stopped in her tracks and savagely screamed at him. Benjie ran back, unmindful this time of his paws slipping and soon found himself back in the woodshed with his heart pounding. It was almost morning, the first gentle rays of light shone through the little spaces between the boards and he rushed to get back to his little nest.

All day long, he thought about her. He could not understand why she was not as curious about him as he was her. He wondered if he were to come back to her nest, would he be able to look at her again, study her and find out more about himself as well? He spied the woodshed that whole day. Almost missing his lunch and several times falling asleep on the watch. Half the time he was contemplating if he would go back down in the night but terrified of what other horrors lay beneath. Day turned into night, and he was about to give up the watch and go to sleep when again, that same scent wafted into his snout. There she was, peeking out of the other side of the woodshed!

He stood still, wondering why she was there. Then he saw here charge through the yard to where the dogs were. She went into their food bowl where many times he had also been and took morsels of leftover food. Then just as quickly, she charged back into the woodshed and disappeared. So she wanted a little snack, he thought. Then suddenly, she was back again and charging for the foodbowl before disappearing back into the woodshed. He stood still while all this was happening and he noticed that she did this three more times that night. This puzzled him no end until he grew tired and fell asleep.

When he awoke, he had a plan. At luchtime, he did not finish his food as he set aside the best portions in his nest, careful not to let the cockroaches get to them. He had also made a few trips to the dogs and took some portions of their food as well. (The cats were pretty selfish about their food so he did not bother with theirs) Then when the night came, he put all the food he had gathered at the mouth of the hole in the woodshed and stood guard a distance away where he could see it. After a few hours, she came and was seemingly puzzled to find the food right there without having to go any further. She quickly took the food, as much as she could eat and carry and disappeared back. This pleased him, he had found a way to make contact, albeit from a distance. He did this again on the following days with the same results. On the fifth day, he used a different tact as he now stationed himself still at a distance but where she would be able to see him. She appeared and despite expecting her all these hours, Benjie was still taken aback by the sight of her. She regarded her for a short while, before slowly and carefully making her way to the food. She took it and without taking her eyes off of him, went slowly down the hole. Again he did this on the following days.

On the fifth day, he again changed his tactic. He gathered all the food that he could carry and went down the hole to her. She was quite surprised to see him, but this time there was no violent reaction. He stopped at the foot of her nest and she met him and accepted his gift. She then turned around and gave it to three smaller creatures that she shared her nest with. She then turned back to him and motioned her thanks as best she could. He was ecstatic and savored his victory all the way back up to his nest. Now he had a friend that was much like himself.

As the days went by, they became closer and closer. He came to visit to bring her food while she sometimes came up and stayed with him in his nest. Often he left his yard to play with the smaller rodents in their dens, and he invited them to visit him in his. He had finally found what he was looking for, a family to belong to, one of his own.

It all came to a tragic end one night, as he was getting ready to go to bed. He went down the hole for the last time to check on them. He was shocked to find blood and gore all over the nest, and the small creatures that he had played with were being devoured by others of his kind. He was about to confront them when he saw her, cowering in a distant corner, helplessly watching her family being literally torn apart. She saw him and ran to him, she was bidding him up the hole to escape the wrath of these others. They ran as fast as they could, but in their rush the others took notice and charged up after them. They ran to his nest, but the others were on their tails. Benjie, in a fit of bravery, turned around and ran in a different direction, hoping to lure the other rats to pursue him instead. It worked, and soon he was headed for help. Alas, when he got to the cats corner of the yard, he was nowhere to be found! And so he was cornered with two rats charging up at him. Benjie was desparate, with all of his might, he charged at one of them and succeeded in getting him off balance. This scuttled the other one, providing Benjie with the slimmest of lines of escape. He ran as fast as he could, the dogs were his last chance. He could hear the other rats behind him, the scurrying of their paws getting closer and closer. And then, the dogs began barking. He heard the scurrying stop and when he reached the dogs den, he found that the other rats were gone. He was lucky the dogs were awake, and just as soon wondered if she was alright.

He ran back to his nest to check on her. He charged through the yard, worried about her. His worrying got the better of him as he did not take notice of the scent of the rat hidden under the canal that ran through his path. Suddenly, he felt the claws upon him as they tumbled on the concrete together. He struggled with all his might but he was just not strong enough. He felt the necklace come loose, and then a sharp pain in his neck. He continued his losing struggle until suddenly his adversary was gone. The cat got the other rat and threw him on the grass. This rat was no match for the cat, who chased after him, caught him with his claws, pinned him to the ground before delivering the coup de grace. As soon as the shrieks of the rat were silenced, the cat took him in his mouth and jumped back up to the roof with his prize.

Benjie knew it was over, he got to his feet and tried to make his way back to his nest. It was getting dark, the adrenalin stopped and he was suddenly getting tired. He thought about family, the human who fed him and cared for him, the dogs who obliged his need to snack on their food, the cat who despite not being on good terms, helped him in this moment of need, and her who had given him happiness in these past few days. He had everything now, and was indeed happy.

He was tiring fast with each crawling step. He closed his eyes to shake off the tiredness, but found darkness when he opened them again. His last step slipped and he fell into the shallow water of the canal, taking his last thoughts of her into eternity.

TO BE CONTINUED…