Humorous story about a pet rat escaping into the wild.Comical animal poems between chapters.
The Rhymes and Ramblings of Cantankerous Creatures combines a humorous short story with comical rhymes. Heather's pet rat Ruby escapes from the confinement and security of her cage to explore the dangers of life in the wild. She meets various creatures in her new home under the deck. Together Ruby and her new found friends explore the neighborhood. After many frightening experiences, Ruby decides that life in the wild is not for her. She attempts to return home to the safety of her cage.
Excerpt
Rhymes and Ramblings of Cantankerous Creatures
By
Richard Parise
Ruby’s Escape
It all began innocently enough. I woke up. Heather came over and fed me a few morsels of her breakfast. I lay back down. Heather went off to school. Follow me so far?
Next thing you know, I’m back up skipping my way over for a quick drink of Perrier or should I say tap water. This adorable pet white rat should be so lucky. Then I noticed. I don’t know what made me look. Call it simply blind luck. Call it chance, fate, opportunism, destiny… Call this rambling. I’m sorry. I try not to do this but it’s an inherited trait from my Grandrat Martha. Story goes that when she was two, she ate the entire insides of a Roget’s Thesaurus! …Thus my ramblings.
Getting back to my story, I look over toward my cage door and lo and behold, it’s wide open! Heather forgot to close it. The child actually forgot to close it. That was like her fat cat forgetting to eat lunch. Not that I have anything against your average house cat mind you. This particular species weighs fifty pounds if it weighs an ounce. I’m sure they had this beast in mind when they coined the term, “cat nap”.
Well this was my first chance in nearly two years of confined living to explore the outside, the great unknown, the vast wilderness, outer space… Of course, I had been out of my cage before, but only under the watchful eyes of Miss Heather. Never had I been free, as now, to choose my own path. Never had I been loose, as now, to create such havoc, such lunacy, such destruction, upheaval, chaos… The Grandrat’s grandkid was free!
Farctured Frazzled Folk Fables and Fairy Farces, Part II satirizes popular children's stories into adult-oriented renditions. FFFF &FF, Part II is also available in Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble e-book formats.
