Green Jello Brains

It's been an interesting and challenging week. So last night, I dreamed if I did not write something significant, my brain would turn to pulverized green jello.

The dream was mild and no biggie... especially since I knew immediately where  the dream concept came from.
It  came from an old episode of CSI we were watching last night.

The kindly, yet sarcastic coroner took a small, plastic container of green jello from the morgue fridge and shook it  fast and frequently, while his doe-eyed assistant appeared both mesmerized and mystified. Then the coroner dramatically flipped off the little plastic lid.

"This is what happened to his brain in this car accident," the corner said,  as he poured the slimy green goo from the container into his white-gloved hands. It was no longer a solid lump of green jello. It was now chunky, separate, pieces of snot and phlegm hanging off his latex fingers.

"Yummy" my husband said.

I said nothing, just watched the fictionalized analogy with fascination... thinking how many brain injuries I've seen investigating auto accidents.... how it's just a matter of degree how damaged your brain can be when it bounces off the bone in your skull in a wreck.

It was after that episode of CSI we fell asleep.
Then I had the green jello dream, which I wrote about earlier.

And as I related it to my husband this morning, he told me he had a similar dream the night after he heard about the fire in Kingston and the rats.

"What rats?" I asked.

"You don't know about the rats?" he said with visible surprise. "After the fire?" he added.

"No, "I replied... humbled because I like to believe I know about everything, lol.

Long story short, he said, there was a fire at a popular restaurant that was next to the ferry terminal. That's where we take the ferry from hither to yon.

The restaurant was a favorite of ours.... and more so for the people in community who'd grown up around it since they were kids. It had windows overlooking the ferry docks and the boats coming and going. The staff were all great people who worked there forever. The food, drinks, company and locale couldn't be better.

Then there was a fire and the whole thing burnt down.
I knew about the fire.
I watched it smolder.
I surveyed it after.
It was tragedy for its owners and the whole community.
Structure-wise, is was a total loss.
Employment wise, it was a total loss
However, it was  a blessing survival-wise because no one died or was hurt.
No other businesses were destroyed.
Miraculously, the Ferry terminal and boats and nearby marina were safe.
Kudos to the Kingston Fire Department, Police and countless, courageous Volunteers.

I don't know what caused the fire, though I do recall it was not arson.
And there was something about it getting in from the kitchen to the roof.... and moving so fast through the building, it was history before the firefighters could attempt to save it. Fortunately, it was very late at night and closed.

The story I hadn't heard about was the rats.
And this was far more fascinating than the green jello brain dream I had last night.

Evidently, when the building caught fire, it was full of rats no one knew about.... tens of thousands of them. They all escaped en-masse from the burning restaurant and flooded the streets of Kingston.

As the story goes, so many rats flooded the streets, the streets turned black,  a moving, massive swarm of rodents collectively seeking sanction. You couldn't walk for all the rats fleeing.

"Seeking sanction...where?" I asked as the story was stopped for dramatic effect.
The boats and the sea were to the left, the  businesses, city and houses were to the right up.

"The fled into all the sewers, streets, structures, houses, other businesses," I was told.  "They estimated 10,00 rats made an overnight move,"

I was told it took a long time to clean up as many rats as they could, but they're all around us.  They always have been, always will be. Yet none had ever been found in an inspection at the restaurant.

This fire was, by the way, several years ago. No new structure has gone up since.This is the third amazing but true rat story I have heard in the past three days.

One included yet another motel room.
And the third,  I think you're better off not knowing. A case of TMI... Too Much Information.
So I will call this little tail...errr,....tale... a wrap.

                                                           Postscript
 
In researching this post, I came up with nothing on the net on the restaurant and the 10k rat race.
However, I did come across the following with stories from the 1800's.
I came across this link when researching  a story about a lady who's face was eaten by rats  following a fire. I hope you might find this entire link, cover-to-cover, as fascinating as I do.

Fingers crossed it works:
http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Fire/FireNews.html