Rodents and Romance: Rats in Paris

Street Rats

I had nothing until I met her.

Just a street rat, destined for the muddied concrete floors of the road, flooded with rain.

Nothing more than a burden, a beggar, scavenging for food like a vulture, my knees raw and bloodied from endless hours of pleading.

My fur scruffed, throat raw, hope far from my grasp. I lay choking on my tears, any motivation to rise to my feet and aid myself had vanished. I was alone.

Until I met her.

The only woman in 2 miserable years to take a second look at me. To see past my ripped clothing, my knotted hair, my dirtied face. She looked past my distraught, my suffering, my rage, my hurt. She looked right into me.

Her eyes softened as she crouched down beside me, reaching out her paw and wiping the tears from my furry cheeks.

"Don't cry, mon cheri. Do you need help?" She asked, her voice gentle and warm.

She was enchanting, opening my eyes, once shut tight with fear and anguish. For the first time in way too long, I felt safe in her arms, somebody to care for me, at long last.

"Who... Who are you?" I whispered, entranced by her sweet smile and blonde fur, eyes as blue as the sky, that rained down on the two of us that night.

She took my paw in hers and pulled me to my feet, giving me a good chance to admire her appearance for a moment.

"Helen. And you are?" She questioned, picking up my sole bag of possessions I left on the floor and handing it to me, a blush rising to my cheeks.

My face was on fire, a certain feeling that brought both butterflies and a wave of dread throughout my body. I didn't want to fall in love. The last time it happened, well, it hurt to think about.

"Jeff. I, uh, thank you. For speaking to me." I nodded, almost bowing, awkward, since I hadn't had a conversation in over a year.

She laughed and tucked her fur behind her hair ears,

"Of course. What do you say you and I take a walk? I'd love to get to know you, mon cheri."

At that moment, my life changed.

I didn't know it at that moment, but those words set a spark inside me.

One I once wished to never light again, but one I needed.

She pulled me to my feet, that bed by the road was long past me.

All thanks to her.

I was no longer a street rat.