This is the fourth in a series of autobiographical short stories by author Rita Antoinette Borg, collectively titled A Funny Thing Happened to Me…. A funny thing happened to me when I walked my dog around the block yesterday. I saw a shy, timid rat sunbathing on the sidewalk. She was not afraid of my dog, nor was she afraid of me. This chance meeting ignited a need to write about two of many encounters with these mammalian species we humans love to hate. Psychology states that whatever you hate in something or someone else reflects what you hate about yourself. Rats are very much like humans. Rats have been invaluable to the exploration of cardiovascular medicine, neural regeneration, wound healing, diabetes, transplantation, behavioural studies, and space motion-sickness research. They are widely used to test drug efficacy and safety to save human lives. Ironically, we kill millions of them each year. We hate rats. I love animals; all kinds. I would let a pet rat roam on my back, but not so much a wild one that might carry disease. No sane person would. However, like with alien beings from outer space, a rat encounter can be a very inspiring experience. One of the sweetest...