Smell a Rat...

Exploration

Exploration

An hour later, when they had both cleaned up and Jacob had gotten over his sea sickness, they were both standing next to each other on the deck, Chris standing a deliberate distance from Jacob. "We're go exploring!" decided Chris. "You and who's army?" asked Jacob, highly amused at the stance Chris had taken about him until now.

"You and me, of course! Who else on this boring old ship am I supposed to play with?"

"And I suppose I have to go along with this? Oh, right"

Conceded Jacob. "I vomited all over you. It's something to do, I guess."

So the two boys began to comb the ship for a mystery. A secret trapdoor maybe - or a locked room with no keyhole. After half an hour searching, they came up with a blank. Arriving at Chris's cabin, both plopped down on the bed - Chris, followed, with some reluctance, by Jacob. "We're going to raid the kitchen!" Announced Chris. Jacob groaned. "I've already traipsed around the ship for what seems like hours! Now you want me to help you commit petty theft?" Chris thought for a moment. "I suppose so, yeah! Come on!"

Jacob had wanted to be a spy when he was little. He managed to light up some of that enthusiasm for Chris benefit-If the kid had fun, he'd leave him alone, surely-and so now they both had cheeky, childish smiles on their faces. "The foods stored down there!" whispered Jacob. They crept down the narrow ships hall, being careful not to slip on the bucking floor. They turned a corner...

...And both screamed. (By an amazing stroke of luck, this coincided exactly with when the opera singer hit the highest note on the scale in the main room where all the adults were assembled, so no chefs heard) There, in the middle of the floor, was a fury brown shape. At the sound, it turned its head, then scampered off.

It would be fair to say that Chris was the most shocked, but they were both relatively freaked out. Chris spoke first

"What is it?"

"It's a rat."

"It's a rat! What do we do?"

"Catch it."

"Catch it!"

They stood for a moment, staring at the place the rat had been. Chris asked the obvious question.

"How do we catch a rat?"