Don’t get even. Get odd. – Zen saying
Last night, Raser caught a forest rat in his homemade trap. The rat had been building a nest in the awning above my bed in the dormitory. Quickly, a trap of bamboo appeared this morning. Raser proudly displayed the caught creature, its head caught inside the bamboo on a string. The rat was quickly taken to the kitchen, placed on a skewer and roasted. The word spread among the dorm students about the appearance of the delicacy of rat curry for the evening meal. Sure enough, for dinner, amidst potatoes and onions, was a rat’s tail and other barbecued parts. The rat tasted terrible. I tried to smile. The boys laughed. But they ate every bit, reminding me of how the dorm students rarely have meat. Catching and eating a rat was a rare luxury, a fuller meal than the standard ‘rice and fish paste’, as they are only given 20 baht for extra food each week.
