A Rat on the Back, Part 2
"A play about invisible rats? Is that really what you think the children need? Most of them are appropriately terrified of the regular ones. They don't need nightmares about invisible ones."
A.N. Sorensen
Indignant housewives lined one side of the field between the mill and the bakehouse. Their children flocked around a ragged scarecrow in the center of the field, enthralled by spiky and sloppily painted puppets that flailed in the air above a makeshift stage. A small boy ran from the spectacle. He cried as he hid in his mother's skirts.
"Don't let it get me, Mommy!"
"Jolly won't harm you, child. He's not allowed anywhere near our house."
"Not the scarecrow, Mommy, the rats! The invisible rats!"
The woman shot a venomous look at Tilly as she kneeled down to hug and soothe the child without breaking eye contact. "There's no such thing as invisible rats, love. And someone is going to make Jolly stop spreading these vicious lies."
Tilly almost tripped over her own feet at the mention of invisible rats. Of course the scarecrow would have something to do with it. The problem couldn't be as simple as a lone, disappearing predator the size of a horse. The giantess grimaced.
"I'll handle it," Tilly said.