Marooned part2

However the surprises hadn’t finished yet. Some days later Jim saw something was going on in the tallest bush that grew in the middle of the roundabout. He focussed on the activity and to his amazement a thin metal rod had appeared in the middle of the bush and was growing taller even as he watched.

It was that very same night that Jim guessed the reason for the metal mast. A thunderstorm woke him and from habit he went to the window to see how the rats would cope with the bad weather. It could well be that the rats had built a lightning conductor, though Jim couldn’t think of any reason why they needed to. He was just about to go back to bed when there was brilliant flash of light direct from the sky to the tip of the metal rod. A whip like crack followed and then it began raining heavily.

That was enough for Jim. Rat watching was over for the rest of the night, he needed his beauty sleep. Not surprisingly in the morning when he began his observations, the rod had disappeared. ‘Daft lot,’ thought Jim, ‘why ever did they go and do that, it must have got melted in the lightning strike, wouldn’t surprise him if some more of them rats had got themselves killed as well.’

The next event of any importance to catch Jim’s notice happened when he spotted a wisp of smoke rising from the rat village. ‘I wonder what the little devils are up to this time?’ he thought. Half an hour later he found out. A large paper bag was rising from the centre of the island, carrying four rats clinging to strings attached to the bag handles. The rats were supporting an old mug from which the smoke was coming. The bag rose steadily, restrained by another group of rats on the ground holding a long string attached to the bottom of the bag. Then when the bag was above the level of the lorries hurtling round the island, the rats on the ground let go of the string.

For a moment Jim thought they’d got away with it, but the next vehicle to enter the roundabout was a car transporter that became entangled in the string and the paper bag smashed into the top of one of the upper row of cars. The vehicle disappeared round the corner and headed off towards the motorway. Jim couldn’t see if any of the balloonists had survived, but he hoped so. The rats were obviously trying their best to escape from the island and to his mind they deserved some success.

After that there was no other attempt to escape that Jim could see. There was a lot of activity in the village but it was too well screened for him to make out any details. He did notice one strange thing though. At night time he could see small spluttering blue sparks in the undergrowth. They certainly weren’t fireflies, then he laughed to himself as an explanation crossed his mind. ‘Surely the little chaps couldn’t have invented welding?’

The little chaps most certainly had! Two days later the area in the middle of the village was opened up and Jim could see everything that had been going on. There was a metal framework about a foot square that had been erected in the middle of the clearing. Even as he watched the car battery was being rolled closer to the frame, while rats wearing harnesses with pockets attached, were using tools to tighten nuts and bolts. Then they put their paws into their pockets pulling on rubber gloves, before taking out pliers and connecting leads from the battery to the framework.

Jim dashed into his bedroom and collected his camera. Rats using tools and wearing gloves, no one would believe a word he said without some sort of proof. He came back just in time to watch an old radio case with a jumble of electrical equipment inside, being linked into the circuit. Then one of the rats pressed a button.

Sparks began to jump from one side of the metal frame to the other, while one of the workers made adjustments. A blue light appeared, then expanded rapidly across the complete framework and remaining as a steady glow.

Jim clicked away enthusiastically with his camera. He had no idea what was going on, but if he could get the pictures somebody should be interested enough to pay him a lot of money. Rats may well be clever, but these were far more clever than any animal Jim had ever heard of. One rat pushed a stick into the blue glow. The end of the stick disappeared. Then the operator pulled it out again, the full length of the stick reappearing as if pulled from a pool of water. Enthusiastic squeaking from all the rats present greeted this achievement.

‘Well that was clever by any standards,’ thought Jim ‘but surely after all the effort the rats had put into the device it must have a purpose.’

The operator next put his arm through the blue light and withdrew it, waggling his fingers as he did so. Jim was so involved by now that he wasn’t thinking of them as rats, but more like very clever people.

The next experiment was frightening. The operator stepped right through the screen and disappeared. A minute later he stepped out of it again. He was mobbed by all the rats present as he returned. Much squeaking and waving of paws followed before one of the crowd left the group and fetched the remaining rats on the island.

Jim couldn’t believe his eyes as the rats formed an orderly queue and marched confidently into the blue light. He was so involved in the proceedings that he forget to take any more pictures.

Right before his eyes the whole of the village left the roundabout and marched off into the unknown. But it wasn’t over yet! The chief rat returned and took a cigarette lighter out of one his pockets, then he set fire to what appeared to be a piece of string lying on the ground, before returning hastily through the blue light.

Seconds later a loud bang rattled Jim’s windows. The metal frame, the battery and other components used by the rats disintegrated in a shower of bits and pieces and a cloud of smoke.

In a month or so all the houses had been washed away and replaced by new wild growth, until there was no sign that anything other than wild animals had ever lived there.

Unfortunately Jim never convinced anybody of what he’d seen. He couldn’t prove it either; he’d forgotten to put a film in his camera!

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