The Desk and the Rat

I believe I mentioned the backroom of the farmhouse in the past.

Originally it was the kitchen area with a big old cookstove. 

You would come in the back door to this room to warm

yourself by the fire in the winter, and dry your clothes and boots! 

Or when you awoke on a cold morning would hustle down
one of the many staircases to get warm.
There was a narrow back stairs that came down directly here too. 

So now it was kind of a catch all room. 

There were the laundry tubs at one end 
...and the washing machine. 

A big double freezer in the middle. 
Various boxes and cabinets here and there.

And the big roll top desk at the other end. 

The desk had history. 

The family had been in the printing business 
for three generations. 

This was the great grandfather's office desk when 
he printed a local Ohio town newspaper. 

It came to pass that there was rustling heard in the clutter of the back room. 

The Old Farmer observed papers chewed up in the desk drawer

for the makings of a nest! The hunt for the miscreant was on! 

Of course all of us were in on it including the old beagle, our hunting dog,

perhaps we were supposed to circle the area so the "mouse" would be cornered. 

The Old Farmer's weapon of choice was a broom. 

He cautiously opened the lower desk drawer. 

Out burst the mouse who had transitioned into a RAT!

All chaos broke loose, the Old Farmer swiped at it with the broom,
the dog leaped forward, the rat ran between leaping feet, scurried

around the boxes, the Old Farmer all along trying to smack it with 

the broom, while usually hitting the dog who was right in the fray. 

Eventually the culprit was back in the corner behind the desk and
was dispatched to the great beyond.