She downloaded forty Christmas movies
but we never watched any of them
The ice storm entered her hands and she was unable
to hold the controller, push the little buttons
Darkness came into the room and the depth
of her paralysis went through the floor
and rode the rats running in the basement
What a ride it was
Jumping rats falling by the thousands into a grave
where nobody answers phones
or breathes for a future
that others take for granted
tin hats 
It’s the XMas movie “potential” that’s the important part. Like a joyous black hole they exude an undeniable, unavoidable attraction. “We *could* watch them, if we wanted.”
Rats—a la Willard—always get a bad rap. Ratatouille portrayed it best. Joined at the bread crumb, humanity and rattus rattus.
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Thanks A. As always it reverts to one’s POV. The blood stains on the floor turn out to be red sauce from a spaghetti dish in the fridge. Later as you are eating, you recall Lady Macbeth and how she called the spirits to fill her with the direst cruelty, which allowed her to do all kinds of shit. So where we get our POV is very personal and often unique. It is a mix of living and dying and boredom, education and forgetting and the whole mix swirls into some action, the good and the bad, but here we are and like my father used to say, everybody has to be somewhere. Love. Duke
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When I first read this piece I thought of Strawberry Fields -“let me take you down …” which describes the Christmas season for so many. Also thought of falling and being unable to get up … hobbling and at the mercy of the rats.
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Yes, stinking, slimy, filthy, disgusting rats to paraphrase Gene Wilder. Rats as pets? Maybe. Depends on so much beyond our control. Duke
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I think rats are like any other pack animal. Probably one along is good as a pet.
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