Pasta Heroes (6) - A short novel about noodles, rats and courage

Mutated rats with a taste for gourmet food escape from a laboratory in New York. While fast food chains remain untouched by the rats, restaurants like Pasta Heaven are getting overrun. Time for it's owner, Vincent, and his employees to grab a gun and go to war.

Lenny followed the advice of the annoyed radio host and changed the channel.
"They're gonna have the news on this one in a few minutes, it's probably going to be better."
"That won't be hard after whatever that was," said Vincent and laughed. "Tonight I dreamed about being a rat which made me realize that we should get a cat, and that means that it would have to live with you, upstairs, since we can't put up a cat toilet in the kitchen. What do you think?"
Lenny looked at him with a frightened expression that soon switched over to sadness, there was even a bit of water gathering in his eyes. It was the reaction Vincent had been worried about since Lenny's dog had died just a few months ago. He had been as sad as other people when their parents die, with the exception of those expecting a big inheritance.
"I know that it is a bit early," Vincent said, "but we could really need the help."
"Sure, not a problem. I was thinking about getting a dog though."
"How about just getting both?"
Lenny's face lit up like a child who had just been told that Christmas would be celebrated twice this year, but after a moment or two he seemed to worry.
"Aren't they going to fight each other? What if the dog chases the cat like some bait?"
"I think you just have to get them used to each other, it's definitely easier when we get them together."
"And don't you think it's dangerous for them to eat mutated rats?"
"I really don't know, but I guess lots of people eat animals that have been stuffed with chemicals. Maybe the dog and the cat will know themselves whether to eat it or not."
"Yeah, and they don't really have to eat them anyway, just catch and kill them. Maybe we could give them a treat every time they bring a dead rat?"
"Sounds good," said Vincent. "So how about if I go to the animal shelter and you go to the hardware store and get us some metal grid or chicken wire so we can make the windows safer?"
"Yes, maybe it's better this way," said Lenny and nodded. Vincent had gone with him to the shelter to pick his last dog, and it hadn't been easy. Lenny had wanted to adopt as many dogs as he could fit in the truck, and if it hadn't been for Vincent, he actually would have done that. But even Vincent had a hard time walking by all those brown eyes begging you to save them from imminent death.

Fortunately, this time it was a lot easier for Vincent to go to the animal shelter. He had to wait over an hour in line to even get inside, and when he finally got to take a look at the cages, most of them were empty. He chose a dog with shaggy hair and floppy ears, and an orange cat that, even though it was female, reminded him of Garfield, partly because of the color, partly because it seemed a bit fat. Like everybody else, Vincent had to sign various papers promising to care for the animals, not harm them in any way and not dispose of them once the rat invasion was over. That was easy because Lenny would never ever stop caring for an animal.
The dog resisted in a passive way, and Vincent basically had to drag him into the car. Since he had bought a cat toilet that could be used as a cage, he didn't have any problems with the cat, it seemed to barely care about what was going on anyway. The dog however kept looking at Vincent with an expression of deep concern.
"Don't worry, there's someone who will take good care of you. And you're going to be living above an Italian restaurant, the times of eating cheap dog food are over." Vincent realized only now that he hadn't chosen a dog that would make a good rat hunter, but one that would make a good companion for Lenny.

Vincent parked right in front of his restaurant, a rare occurrence, and saw through the window that Lenny was standing on a ladder and hammering around the frame. When he spotted Vincent, he raised his right hand to greet him, the hand he had been using to hold himself, lost the balance and almost fell off the ladder before grabbing the frame again. This suicidal good nature will kill him one day, Vincent thought. Lenny habitually raised his hand to greet people, he would probably do that as well when he was holding on to a cliff and a known face was coming to help him. Vincent returned the greeting and rushed into the restaurant.

"What are you doing on the ladder?"
"I'm fixating chicken wire. I'm sorry, but they didn't have anymore metal grids, everything like that was sold out. It was pure chaos in the hardware store, people buying every nail and board and cement and everything. I just grabbed this chicken wire, it's holes are a bit too big to stop rats, but we have enough to just put several layers on top of each other."
"Hmm... perhaps we should also buy some cement and more boards?" suggested Vincent.
"I bought one bag, they didn't allow more than one person and they even had police there to keep things more or less in order. By now it's probably sold out already. We have a lot of boards in the storage room though."
"Good job, Lenny. At the shelter it was pretty crazy as well, I even had to wait in line just to get in, but I got a dog, a male, and a cat, female."
"Really?" Lenny asked with big eyes and leaned to the side to take a look through the window, loosing his balances once again, and this time he went down. He was up on his feet before Vincent could help him.
"Can I see the dog? What kind of dog is it?"
"Sure, but I have no idea what kind of dog it is," Vincent said and went outside to introduce the dog, the cat and Lenny to each other. The dog immediately took a liking to Lenny, which made Vincent feel a little offended since he had been the one who had saved him from the animal shelter.
"I'm going to cook lunch for us and Misses Harper. If I start screaming, we have a rat problem."
"Okay and I show Jack and Stella the apartment and the restaurant and the kitchen, so they know where to hunt the rats."
"Jack and Stella? That was fast."
"I thought about all the way driving to the hardware store. I even would have had names if you had brought a female dog and a male cat, but this way it's probably better."

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

About the author: From riches to ragz: The story of a gambling nomad

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