Tracks

In the mornings I have noticed tracks in the dust inside my concession, not dog tracks, and not the right shape or size to be a cat, so I asked Ibrahim to come have a look. He told me what it was, and that he would bring a trap over to catch it. I didn't know the word he had used for the animal, so I looked it up in my Hausa dictionary...OK, deep breath...translation: "giant rat." Not what I wanted to hear.

Anyway, Ibrahim brought over his contraption and set it up; however the Giant Rat has yet to set foot in it. Too smart. One night in the moonlight I saw Mr. Rat: he was sitting upright at my water bucket, forefeet on the rim, drinking water. He is about the size of a raccoon, and I could hear him lapping up the water. In the morning I found his tracks under my bed.