"What do you think it was?" I asked, my eyebrows lifted. "Come look again."
We entered my bathroom with wrinkled brows and examined the patterned muddy marks around and inside the toilet.
"Mandy thinks it may have been a cat, but the prints look too small for that," I reasoned. We squinted in the direction of the white seat again.
"A mouse?" Adrianne wondered, crinkling up her nose.
"The prints are too big. I think it was a rat. A pack rat. Yup, I think a pack rat visited us last night." Memories of a night in the Rocky Mountains of Montana were flashing through my brain... the sudden awakening at one or two a.m., the pathetic "trap" of cheese and suitcases, the chase that ensued and the eventual violent death of the hairy monster on our carpet. If it could happen in Montana, it could happen here.
"Yuck. We did have a mouse last year. And then there was that potato that Sohgra found on the counter all munched up last week."
We left the bathroom, both hoping that the problem represented on the toilet seat would somehow disappear without our personal interference.
That evening, we gathered around the table again. Helen had made vegetable soup and was willing to share with the rest of us. "I'll see if Ali will run down to the nan shop and get us some bread," she said grabbing her phone. There is nothing better than warm naan and hot vegetable soup when the nights are beginning to get colder. We feasted and then watched a movie, leaving the rest of the massive naan hunk on the table.
The next morning I was the first to arrive back at the table, since it seems I am the one in the house who can go the shortest amount of time without food. I pulled out my own box of Crunchy Nut and sat down. Pouring a bowl and filling it with milk, my eyes wandered around the room, trying to wake up. "Hmmm, I wonder who ate the rest of the naan. It would be good with some peanut butter this morning," I thought as I crunched. A little later Mandy came down the stairs. "I'm going to make French toast, do you want some?"
"W-Yes-ch pl-w-ease-ch!" I mumbled through my crunchy nutty bite. I swallowed. "Hey, do you know what happened to the naan from last night?" I asked.
"Nope. It was there on the table."
"Hmmmm..." The French toast was great. Its one of our breakfast favorites.
Later, Debbie came downstairs, pulled out a Nutella jar from her cupboard and popped some toast in the toaster. "Hey Debbie, did you eat the rest of the naan from last night?" I asked, still hungry for naan and peanut butter even after my Crunchy Nut bowl and French toast.
"Nope," she said as she sat down at our long table. "Maybe Helen did? Everyone else is gone for break."
"Hmmm..."
We relaxed at the table until it was past nine, enjoying the fact that we were on vacation and didn't have to get ready for class or do anything really. Finally, Helen came downstairs. Before she could get to her cupboard for her own Cruchy Nut and Nutella, I asked, "Hey Helen, did you eat the naan from last night?"
"Nope."
"Did you move it or put it away?"
"Nope." (Helen is not much of a morning talker.)
"What?! I didn't eat it and neither did Debbie or Mandy." Everyone's eyes turned toward my bathroom door. (Except for Helen's that is. She was busy pouring her Crunchy Nut into a bowl.)
"Its the toilet seat creature," I sighed.
"No way, that was a big hunk of naan, we only ate like half of it. There was at least that much left," Mandy said, stretching her hands a good 12 inches apart.
"Yup, and it was sitting right there when I went to bed," I said pointing at one end of the table."But now, where has the naan gone?" I smiled, chuckling at my lame rhyming skills.
Several days past, the naan was forgotten and I found other food items to put peanut butter on. Then one night, I sat at the table with Mandy and Esther, working on report cards and listening to the Beatles.
"What is that?" Esther asked, turning her ear toward the kitchen cupboards. We stopped to listen. Behind the tune of "Hey Jude" there was a scratching, crinkling kind of noise coming from behind one of the bottom drawers. Mandy and I looked at each other knowingly.
"We had a visitor while you were in Dubai, Esther," Mandy explained.
"Yup, and it looks like he's still here," I added."But how did he get back there?" I got up to investigate. Peeking behind the fridge, I saw that between the living room wall and the kitchen cupboards, there was a nice little pack rat sized alley way. I pulled the sliding door that separates the kitchen and living room closed, allowing me to have a clearer look into the crack. Mandy looked over my shoulder. "What's back there?"
"It looks like there’s a pot holder or something on the floor. I can't really see it, it’s too dark."
"Let me get my maglite." Mandy rushed upstairs and returned with a huge flashlight.
"Shine it straight back...yeah, there!"
We both chuckled. Tucked neatly back into pack rat alley was our missing piece of naan, though a bit smaller than we remembered it to be. "Well, I hope he didn't get his paws on my peanut butter too!" I thought.
The naan that was gone has been found. But this is more than just a story; it’s a cry for help! If anyone has suggestions for the removal of hungry, sneaky pack rats, by all means, share your wealth of knowledge with this house full of women, would you?
