Chapter 1

        I looked at my shard of mirror, and re-slicked my hair down for about hundredth time. I still couldn't believe this was finally happening. I was really going out to dinner with Kelly. I checked my watch. 5:29. I sighed. In times like these, the time seems to stop. I could swear it's been 5:29 for the past five minutes. I looked again. 5:30. I started to get nervous.  'What if she's not coming?'  I asked myself.

5:31. I started to sweat hard. I was tempted to use one of the pretty white napkins to mop my forehead with, but thought better of it. I used my sleeve instead.

5:32. I desperately looked to the door of the restaurant, and to my great joy, saw Kelly walk through those great wooden doors.  She hurried over to me.

     "Hi Andre, sorry I'm late," she said smiling.

I looked at my watch. 5:34 p.m. "Fashionably late." I answered with a flashy grin.

She sat down with a flourish, and wow. When I told mom and dad that I was eighteen, and I wanted to go out with a pretty girl named Kelly, I had understated it. She was knock-out gorgeous. Everything about her was pretty, her eyes, her toothy grin, right down to her elegant tail. I was glad I had prepared myself so much for tonight. I had taken a bath in the kitchen sink. (I ignored the dishes in the way.)

Brushed my teeth, gotten my best twist-tie tie, used a few squirts (okay, a lot of squirts) of Mr. Nickels best cologne, and finally put on my home-made, (but great quality) aviators. I think the aviators really finished the good look. I looked great.

        I thought about me, then I thought about Kelly, then I thought about me again, for some time, until I was startled by a voice with a strong southern accent.

"Are ya'll ready to order?" It was the ratress.  A ratress is the name we use for our servers at restaurants and diners. It's kind of clever, because one, she's a rat, (as we all are,) and two, she's a female rat. Therefore, we apply the suffix 'ess' at the end. If it was a male, it would have the suffix, 'er', as in 'ratter.'

"Yes we are," Kelly answered. "Andre you go first."

"Okay, I'd like a cheddar cheese platter."

"Okay honey," she said writing my order down, "And you sugar-pie?"

Kelly smiled sweetly, and said, "I believe I will have the Charource, Mahon, and Chimay Platter."

"Okay sweetie, Charource, Mahon and Chimay. I've got it. What do you want to drink?"

"I'll have a coke," I answered quickly.

“Same here,” Kelly volunteered.

"Okay sweets, and what size will that be, thimble, shot glass, or the grand Dixie cup."

I looked at Kelly questionably. "Should we try the Dixie cup?"

 The ratress spoke up saying. "If you finish it, it's free."

"We'll try the Dixie cup." I said without hesitation.

After she walked away, I looked at Kelly in surprise. "I didn't know you liked those exotic cheeses," I said.

"Well now you do," she said matter-of-factly.

Chapter 2

     Our evening was very nice. We talked about what we liked to do, our jobs, and our hobbies. Kelly worked at an association called 'Childish Rats are Vulnerable,’ (C.R.A.V.). At C.R.A.V., the adult rats teach young and foolish ratlings about what can happen in the real world. They run fire drills, teach about rat poison, and mostly, work with rat traps.

"I love what I do," Kelly said. "Teaching the little ones about something that could take their life, teaching them to avoid it, I think it really is my calling."

       

      I nodded thoughtfully at this, and then launched into telling Kelly about my job at 'Mechanisms'.

   "Mechanism is run by a handful of highly skilled and courageous rats that daily put their lives at risk for others," I said proudly.

"Mechanism's operation statement is to: Find lethal and dangerous rat traps. Disable them. Get out alive.  In my opinion, Mechanisms is at a par with human’s Nano-surgery. Disabling a trap is very difficult, and many have died doing so. Our official team name is 'Team D6^. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yes, it sounds intriguing--" Kelly answered politely.

"Actually, I was wondering if the name was cool," I interjected.

"The names cool too," She said with another of her cute smiles.

We then heard the clock strike 10:00. I couldn't believe it was so late already.

“ I've got to go,” I said. “I told Mom and Dad I’d be back by 9:45. I have totally lost track of the time.”