The Christmas Rat by Avi Read Free Book Online Page B

guess, though it wasn’t signed. But it’s not the one they usually send.”
    After dinner I looked at the cards. The one from our church had a picture of the stained-glass window I liked, you know, Mary and the angel. The printed message inside read:
    May the Message of Christmas Be with You!
    At about eight there was a long-distance call from Aunt Thelma. Knowing that my mother would be talking for a long time, I grabbed the flashlight and slipped out of the apartment and went down to the basement.
    It was dark, but there were no new cups.
    At first I was puzzled. Maybe Anje had given up. That didn’t seem like him. So I walked around looking for some clue about what he might have left instead. Sure enough, I found more pellets. They were hidden in odd, out-of-the-way places.
    I gathered up as many as I could find—maybe fifty—and stuffed them into my pockets. I emptied them all into an ash can. But I didn’t doubt he would bring more.
    It occurred to me that there was no real garbage in the basement. I was pretty sure they incinerated everything. So I figured there was no food for the rat. My idea was, if I could leave some, maybe it would keep him from touching any of the poison I missed.
    In the apartment, my mother was still on the phone.
    I washed my hands, then collected some dinner scraps from the garbage pail, wrapped them in foil, and sneaked them back to the basement. I left the scraps near the place where I’d seen the rat digging a hole.
    At the elevator, just before stepping into it, I called out, “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you!”
    If I could keep the rat alive until Christmas I figured he’d be all right. The cold snap was supposed to lift. Then the rat could go away. It was only a matter of time. And holding off Anje.
    As I slept that night I was disturbed briefly by the phone ringing. A glance at the clock by my bed told me it was two o’clock in the morning. When the ringing stopped I rolled over and slept, but not very well.

T WO D AYS B EFORE C HRISTMAS
    I only woke when my father sat on my bed.
    â€œEric?”
    â€œYeah . . .”
    â€œYou up?”
    My eyes were barely open. “I think so.”
    â€œEric, I need to ask you something.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWe got a call last night. Two o’clock in the morning.”
    I was awake now, knowing what was coming. “You did?”
    â€œA man said he was the exterminator in the building. Said you were interfering with his work. I told him he had a wrong number. But he insisted it was you. Knew your name. He was pretty angry.”
    I stared at my father. “What did you say?”
    â€œI told him he was nuts. The time and all. I told him to go away. That I would call the police.”
    â€œWhat did he say?”
    â€œHe hung up.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œEric, do you know anything about this?”
    I thought for a bit and then I said, “Well . . . remember the exterminator that came?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œOn Monday. Mom said he’d be coming.”
    â€œOh, yeah,” he said vaguely.
    â€œWell . . . he wanted me to help him.”
    â€œHelp him with what?”
    â€œAh . . . extermination.”
    â€œHmmm. Not proper. Not at all.”
    â€œI told him . . . no,” I lied.
    â€œGood for you. That was the right answer. You have any idea what his name was?”
    â€œAnje. Anjela Gabrail.”
    â€œYou sure that’s it?”
    â€œYeah. There’s a card he gave me in my pants pocket.” I pointed to the clothes that I had flung over a chair.
    My father found the card and held it up. In the dim room its redness looked like a blood spot. “I don’t want you to have anything to do with this guy,” he said to me. “I intend to call the company. I’ll make sure he doesn’t bother you.”
    â€œI’ll be all right.”
    â€œI’m