The other rat, Mozart is dead now too. I had a feeling earlier but only checked after Hayley was passed out in bed, because I wanted to avoid a sleepless night. I’m not going to enjoy telling her that her other rat’s gone now too, especially without George here for back-up.

I never did mention what happened after we told her Nicodemus had died. She was upset at first; she had seen that episode of Caillou where they found the dead bird, so she had some idea of what I meant. She wanted to know why so I told her that rats get old much faster than people and that Nic was really very old for a rat. I avoided saying the words “sick” (especially since she herself was sick with a cold) or that good old “he went to sleep” – you don’t want to make connections between death and sleep with a child, especially one who already has sleep issues.

She got pretty teary-eyed and wanted to know if he would come back and I said no. She cried a bit but the worst part was that she kept worrying that Mozart was all alone and would miss his friend. That was heart-breaking. George said that she woke up that night and was talking about it, but overall she handled it as well as you can expect at that age, and better than I had hoped.

Also, two days later I cheered her up by suggesting we make a “buddy” for Mozart. We took an old mateless baby sock, stuffed it with fabric, and I sewed it up. We attached a yarn tail, a pom-pom nose, and drew two little eyes on him. Mozart actually did curl up with it from time to time so that made her happy.

I have no idea how she’ll react to this news but I have to tell her first thing tomorrow since she’ll notice he’s gone when she goes to get her clothes (the tank is on her dresser).

In all honesty, I’m sad but relieved. I don’t think he was doing that well. I think he was blind in one eye, he looked like he was developing a tumor on his leg, and he was a bit wobbly and lethargic when he walked. I don’t believe he was suffering but I’m glad for his sake that he went before that became an issue. Again, he lived to a very old age for rats. But he’ll be missed.

And so, again, I post the same image, this time drawing attention to the beige Mozart on the right. Rest in peace, little buddy who loved table scraps as much as any dog.