I was here 2 months when I saw my first rat down on the subway tracks. When I first moved here, I didn't pay enough attention to the train tracks because I was too busy looking at subway maps. Getting to where I needed to go, without getting lost was my absolute first priority. I had heard about the rats on down in the hole in the ground (subway station) from my next door neighbor. She was talking about them one day and all I could say was....."THERE ARE RATS ON THE SUBWAY TRACKS?!?"

There I was the next day at Hoyt/Schermerhorn waiting for the G train and on the look-out for my first sighting of a subway rat. I can't explain the joy I felt when I saw it run across the tracks. I felt like a real New Yorker.

This is when my rat addiction began.

As I know I don’t want to play with them. And I’m sure that I wouldn’t want to bring one home as a pet. It is safe to say that I kinda like the dirty things. Nothing excites me more than seeing a rat on the subway tracks. I truly don't know what it is about them that fascinates me so much. I’ve seen tiny rats. I’ve seen medium sized rats. I’ve seen rats the size of squirrels! My day is incomplete if I go home without seeing one. And while other people accidentally get a glimpse of one scurrying along, I’m actually sitting there looking for them.

One time when I was waiting for a train, the woman next to me shuttered. I looked down on the tracks and saw a pretty nice sized one walking along. He had an open sore on him and I actually felt bad for the thing! And another time, I saw a rat come out of a rat-hole just as a train was coming and it looked panicked like it didn’t know where to run. I swear I had to hold back screaming “Hurry, get back in the hole!”

For a while, I was seeing one or two or three EVERY day at Hoyt waiting for the G train. Then all of a sudden, the rat sightings stopped. For about a week back in November, I realized… I hadn’t seen my rats in days!! WHAT WAS GOING ON? I then realized (because I saw a sign) that they (the evil rat killing people) had put down RODENTCIDE. I thought to myself… “Those fucking assholes poisoning poor innocent rats!” Of course, I had to call my mom immediately and tell her of the situation. My mom laughing hysterically (because she thinks everything I say is amusing) says: “Beck! rats carry diseases!”

They do?

It is now almost March and the rat sightings at Hoyt have now increased. The rat poison obviously didn’t last too long. They are back to scurrying along on the train tracks. And I’m back to seeing one each night at my last stop to get home from work.

I feel complete again.