how long Beau Downey revved up the motor of his SUV before he finally blasted off for work each day. This was part of being on friendly terms with one another. So no one felt compelled to remark upon the fact that Willow McKenna could say to the minute exactly when Anfisa Telyegin went to work at the community college each evening and when she returned home.
The plan was simple: After Owen Gilbert obtained the appropriate footwear for them all - no man wanted to traipse through what might be rat-infested ivy in his loafers - they would make their move. Eight Routers - as they called themselves - would form a shoulder-to-shoulder line and move slowly through the ivy-covered front yard in heavy rubber boots. This line would drive the rats toward the house where the Terminators would be waiting for them as they emerged from the ivy on the run from the rubber boots. And the Terminators would be armed with bats, with shovels, and with anything else that would eliminate the nasty creatures. "It seems to me it's the only way," Ava Downey pointed out. Because while no one truly wanted Anfisa Telyegin to have to find her property littered with rats killed by traps, so also did no one want to find rats in their own yard where the creatures might manage to stagger before succumbing to a crawl-off-and-die-somewhere-else poison, if that's the route the neighbors chose.
So hand-to-rodent combat appeared to be the only answer. And as Ava Downey put it in her inimitable fashion: "I don't expect you fine big strong men mind gettin' a little blood on your hands... not in a cause good as this."
What were they to say to such a challenge to their masculinity? A few feet shuffled and someone murmured, "I don't know about this," but Ava countered with, "I just don't see any other way to do it. Course I'm willin' to listen to any other suggestions."
There were no others. So a date was chosen. And everyone set about preparing himself.
Three nights later, all the children gathered at the Harts' house to keep them out of the way and out of sight of what was going to happen at 1420. No one wanted their offspring to hear or see the destruction that was planned. Children are sensitive to this sort of thing, the wives informed their husbands after a morning-coffee agreement to stand as one. The less they knew about what their daddies were up to, the better for them all, the women said. No bad memories and no bad dreams.
The men among them who didn't like blood, violence, or death bolstered themselves with two thoughts. First, they considered their children's health and safety. Second, they dwelt upon the Higher Good. One or two of them reminded himself that a yard of rats wouldn't go over well with the Wingate Courier, nor would it get Napier Lane very far toward achieving Perfect Place to Live status. Others just kept telling themselves that it was only two rats they were talking about. Two rats and nearly ten times that in men... ? Well, those were odds that anyone could live with.
Thirty minutes after Anfisa Telyegin left 1420 and headed for the bus stop and the ride to the community college and her Russian literature class, the men made their move in the darkness. And much was the relief of the faint-at-heart when the Routers managed to drive only four rats into the waiting line of Terminators. Beau Downey was among this latter group and he was happy to dispatch all four rats himself, yelling, "Gimme some light over here! Scare the hell out of 'em!" as he chased down one rodent after another. Indeed, later it would be said that he took a little too much pleasure in the process. He wore his blood-spattered jumpsuit with the distinction of a man who's never fought in a real battle. He talked about "nailin' the little bastards" and gave a war whoop as his bat made contact with rat number four.
Because of this, he was the one who pointed out that the backyard had to be dealt with, too. So the same process was gone through there, with the net result being five more furry corpses, five more bodies in the garbage bag.
"Nine rats, not so bad after all," Owen Gilbert said with the relief of someone who'd made sure up front he was among the Routers and consequently forever free of