It's over. Or is it?

CHAPTER 5

Crunch, crunch.

It was 3 a.m. the next morning, and our upstairs neighbor was back.

"What is he eating up there?" I asked Niki. "There's only insulation and wiring. Honestly."

"Just try to go back to sleep," she said.

"OK."

But it wasn't happening. With every move it made, I was fine-tuning my image of its hairy back, its long tail, its menacing face. 

Crunch, crunch...CRUNCH, crunch.

How is Niki sleeping through this?

Eventually, mostly from pure exhaustion, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, Niki greeted me with wonderful words: "Well, it's over." Seems she heard the trap, heard a "yelp" and that was that. My shoulders instantly retreated. It was over. No more worrying about a rat eating up the inside of our roof. No more wondering if it could get into our crawl space, or into our house. Over.

That day at work, it was a relief. And that night before heading to sleep, it was an even bigger relief. Tomorrow we would call Trevor, utilizing Rule No. 1 -- the sound -- and it would be over.

Sleep fell over me. And then...

Crunch, crunch, crunch...