Have you ever picked up a glass thinking it was milk, only to take a drink and realize it's orange juice instead? It's disgusting, right? because your expectations were one thing, and the reality another.
Now imagine that the milk was a beanie baby and the orange juice a dead rat. That's pretty much what happened to me the other night in my bedroom.
There I was sitting on the floor putting on my shoes when i leaned back and put my hand on the floor just underneath the bed. I felt something soft, (yes, soft) and thought to myself, "oh, I must have dropped a beanie baby down here," This was not a strange thought since I had just gotten rid of a bunch of stuff, including beanie babies. So, instead of screaming, I pulled the furry thing towards me0fully expecting to see a cute little stuffed animal.
As you have all guessed, it was a dead rat. Freshly dead by the looks of it. I screamed so loud my rommates came running. Then I washed my hand four times. Then I freaked out trying to pick that thing up while keeping as many layers of paper towel between my hand and it. Then I washed my hands again-twice.
You may be thinking, but wait, isn't this the cat who once threw a dead bird in the air bouncing it from wall to wall in the hallway? The cat who once left what I called a 'mouse buffet' of no less than five dead mice in a row for me to find just inside the front door? The cat who frequently eats a mouse and then throws it up, leaving a cat trachea sized tube of mouse entrails and bones on my bedroom floor? Yes, this is that cat.
I believe it was the element of surprise that threw me off, because as you see, I am used to finding dead things in my house. Why he hid it under the bed I will never know. Perhaps he was saving it for later? All I know is, as traumatic as it was, I'm just glad I found it before it started to smell.
P.S. did you look at that Ollie photo closely? If you did, you'd have noticed the tiny tail hanging out of his little mouth....