Something mysterious is going on in New Toulouse. There is a rat invasion!
They seems to be everywhere. I saw dead rats in a bucket at the Green-Eyed Fairy. Then there was a live one feeding on the grain at the French Market, and when I visited Shotgun Row Blues Cafe I saw one in Mirri’s kitchen, happily eating a big loaf of nice bread.
I also noticed that the donkey Poofer at the Spanish Stable is hiding in her stall these days. Perhaps she is afraid of rats? She was looking at me in a strange way when I went to visit her. I got the feeling she was trying to tell me something about rats.
This is getting pretty scary. They are all around. At Cinema Mise-en-scene I found one at the popcorn machine! And at the Carson Gallery there is one at the telephone. Maybe it is waiting for a call? Or could it be their commander of communication?
Someone call the cats! Harley’s Hotel has rats in the kitchen! And at the Thirsty Sheep there was one on a plate on the table outside and one indoors … but they have sheep standing on the bar, drinking beer and burping too. So maybe it’s part of the culture?
I don’t think the reading rat I found at la Maison DuBois is a part of that old family’s culture, though. It sat on a pile of books. It was the first time I have ever met an intellectual rat.
Well, they are quite cute. The one on the step at Galerie Wikifoo was, anyway, and so was the one I discovered next to me, hiding in my skirt, at la Maison Rouge de Cadeaux et de Spiritueux when I was sitting, thinking about all this, on the little bench inside.
I have found a “blackmail box” outside the door of the Tarantula Arms. “Please pay L$1 for the stamp before sending an anonymous mail,” it told me when I clicked the SEND button. A friend tested it, and her anonymous message appeared in green letters in the main chat before me.
If blackmail is a part of socializing here in New Toulouse, there might be some message in all these rats everywhere.
My mind turns to thoughts about the possibility of using the blackmail box as a way to secretly send love messages. I wonder if zombies receive messages sent to them.
The Ghost of Liza Veliz fell in love with New Toulouse at first sight and established an existence in an old voodoo shack in the bayou. She publishes books, some of which can be found at her reading cafe at the French Market.