May 2, Day of Rodents

Yesterday as we were arriving at Lucas' school, we heard girls shrieking in the entryway. Not an uncommon occurrence, but there was a particular urgency to these shrieks. As we came in the door, we discovered why. There was a large rat loose in the large room just inside the door, and two of the school's employees were trying to catch and squish it with trash cans. I told Lucas to run and we escaped the scene; I think the rat did too- probably darting back into the storm drain it came out of.

Rats are all too common here in Salvador. Here in the center of the city many of the storm drains are covered with wood or whatever else to prevent rats from coming up and running around. So I'm not too worried about the school and don't blame it for a lack of sanitary conditions. I don't think that's the issue. The school is almost 300 years old, fer cryin' out loud.

So I figured that was the end of that, but then the theme got continued when Lucas got home. No rats in the house, no rats in the backpack. Well, kinda rats in the backpack. Rats in the homework. Lucas gets homework every day now, which seems a bit crazy to me, seeing as he's only six. Every other parent in the city thinks it's about time and he should be getting much more.

Mostly his homework consists of reading some simple sentences and then illustrating them. The sentences have been getting a tad more difficult as they go along, and it's been neat watching as Lucas' reading skills improve. But I must say his homework yesterday was a bit surprising for a six year old. Here's the finished product:


I love the hair. All the women Lucas draws have hair like that now, he even drew a female dragon yesterday that had the same crazy spirals.

So in case it's not clear what's going on in the pictures, and you don't happen to read Portuguese, let me translate:

Paloma sees a rat in the living room. The rat jumps on the sofa.

Paloma gets a hammer to kill the rat.

The rat jumps on Paloma's foot and runs into the woods.

I guess if I had been a different person, someone without a somewhat twisted, pseudo-punk-rocker bent to his personality, who used to like black comedies and still has a warped sense of humor, I might have been shocked and alarmed by this. Twenty years ago I would have found it incredibly amusing. I guess I'm getting older, and hey, having kids changes everything, but I must confess I found it somewhat unsuitable for a six year old.

What do you think?