“Fred, did you know that some people think there’s a rat for every human being?”
“What?”
:Yeah… But others think there’re four people for every rat.”
“That many people, huh, Ralph?”
Rat population statistics are imperfect. Rats, like people, are social animals. They are shrewd, reproduce quickly, and have well- developed immune systems. They care for one another, enjoy talking to each other, but merely squeak when people are around.
So, alone in an alley by a dumpster Northeast of Philadelphia, Fred and Ralph, two sewer rats, continued to talk…
“A rat for every four humans. Others say, it’s just for every three. You know what that means, Fred?”
“Not enough rats?”
“Exactly.”
For a while they were quiet in the dumpster shade, amidst the empty cans and plastic bags. Yes, the world is full of cans and bags. And flies.
A bulbous-headed fly zipped by, followed by a number of others with their compound eyes and vigorous wings.
“There’s a lot of flies in the world, Ralph.”
“I know… They estimate about 130 quadrillion.”
Fred scratched ‘130,000,000,000,000,000’ on a bag with his paw.
“Is that right, Ralph?”
“That’s it.”
He counted the number of zeros.
“In other words, not enough flies either…”
David Sydney is a physician who writes fiction in and out of the EHR (Electronic Health Record).