Rats!

The first article in today's LA Weekly is by a woman who moved here from New York and was happy to be living a rat-free lifestyle until...

Let's just say her story is remarkably similar to mine, down to the roommate on vacation and the late night trip to the kitchen:

laweekly.com/general/a-considerable-town/rats-i-say/16661/

Night of the Rat

About 1:30 a.m. the little (or should I say big) bugger got stuck in the glue trap in the bathroom and went ballistic. After thrashing around it went quiet for five minutes. Then suddenly it propelled itself into the hallway before tumbling down the stairs. I was in bed having a heart attack during all of this.

This morning some men came by to retrieve it from under the sofa but it had escaped from the trap and was gone!

My roommate is out of town and has missed all the action.

No Joke

Last night I made it to Largo to see Patton Oswalt (celebrity sighting: Lisa Loeb). One of the comedians who opened for him was joking about all the rats in his New York apartment and how he would catch them running from the couch to underneath his refrigerator. I felt so relieved that at least I didn't have to deal with that problem in L.A.!

At about 1 a.m. I went down to my kitchen, flipped on the light, and a rat scurried under the refrigerator.

Another sleeping pill. I tried to calm down with the thought that at least the rat was downstairs. In the morning, though, I found two pellets in the upstairs bathroom.

I'm putting out glue traps tonight and barricading my bedroom.

I knocked on the door of my very cute neighbor and his girlfriend to tell them about the rat and ask if they could also call the landlord. I was still in my gym shorts, having gone to the gym and then driven to five different stores looking for glue traps. I was sweaty and stuttering and I dropped my mailbox key and then couldn't find it. If this was a movie, it would have been the moment my neighbor would have realized he was falling in love with me.

Alas, this is not a movie.