Free Nell by Nancy Thayer

didn’t want to put her out of her own bedroom; she, Nell, would be delighted to sleep on the living room sofa. But Clary and Sally were planning to stay up till three, watching a horror movie and smoking grass, and there was nothing for Nell to do, once she had made the announcement that she was tired, but to go to bed in Clary’s bedroom with the rats rustling and chittering in their cage all night long.
    Nell stayed with Clary for two nights. They talked and laughed and drank and went to a movie and ate pizza and Nell was happy. She and Clary had reestablished their connection. Now that they were no longer bound by their association with Marlow, they discovered they were bound by something stronger: They had known each other for a long time, they had gone through changes, and they still liked each other, not as family, but as friends. In spite of the fact that Nell didn’t sleep well for two nights—she really couldn’t help but fear those rats might get out of the cage—she considered the visit a complete success.
    In March of the next year, Nell got a phone call from Clary. Sally was going off to Mexico with a lover, and Clary had to change apartments. She had found a new roommate in a new location, but the landlord did not allow pets of any kind. She wondered if Jeremy and Hannah might like to have her rats.
    Nell was speechless. She knew that if she insulted the rats, she would be obliquely insulting Clary: Love Clary, love her rats. These were baby rats, Clary hastened to add in the long-distance silence caused by Nell’s dismay. Sophia and Carlos had lived out theirnatural lives and gone on to rat heaven; Clary had just gotten these new baby rats three weeks ago. They were so tiny, so cute, and if Jeremy and Hannah played with them every day, they’d become the sweetest pets.… Clary wanted to drive up during the weekend with the rats. She’d bring a cage; she’d show Jeremy and Hannah how to care for the rats.
    Nell hesitated. She wanted so very much for Marlow’s children, Clary and Jeremy and Hannah, to get to know and like one another, and here was the first chance that had presented itself. She did not want to turn Clary down. But rats  … Finally, she told Clary to come ahead and tried to sound enthusiastic as she spoke.
    It was a five-hour drive from Piscataway to Arlington. Clary arrived on a Saturday afternoon with the two rats, an old aquarium with wire over the top to make a cage, a sack of pine chips, and a bag of Purina Rat Chow.
    Nell sat on Jeremy’s bed, smiling, as Jeremy and Hannah, enraptured, let the baby rats run up their arms. Jeremy let his rat go under his shirt and run along his chest and stomach. Nell could see the outline of the little body and the long thin tapering tail through the cotton of her son’s shirt. She felt there was something unnatural about watching a rat run over her son’s body—she felt a primitive revulsion at the sight—but she bit her tongue. The children were so happy, and Clary was sitting on the floor talking to them, writing out a list of instructions.
    The rats were to have fresh water put in their drinking bottle every day. They were to be given dry spaghetti or noodles every day. They needed hard stuff to chew or their front teeth would grow too long and they wouldn’t be able to eat. Jeremy and Hannah should never approach the cage and stick their hands in without warning; this would scare the rats. The children should gently tap on the cage and make a little chittering sound before reaching in. The rats would soon learn that this meant a friend was near and would be picking them up. Every now and then the rats could be given a treat, but not too much sugar, which was bad for them. Clary had often made scrambled eggs for her rats; they liked that sort of thing.
    Nell had sat on the bed, looking at Clary, marveling. Clary, who was so blond and tall and sleek and lovely, who could have done anything , was here before her, seated cross-legged on