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TEXT: H.P. Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls"

RATS: Edgar Bosco Puddin Penelope & Priscilla Manny & Moe

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PENELOPE & PRISCILLA,

the Grimm Sisters

After my experiments with Edgar, Bosco, and the five boys, I resolved to let Edgar and Bosco live alone in their separate cages.

My experiments needed to step up to a new level. I needed to obtain a pair of rats, born and raised together. I wanted to see how two rats, siblings, behaved with one another from infancy through maturity.

PRISCILLA and PENELOPE are both "hooded rats." Like certain varieties of dogs and cows and horses, these rats have two colors. Their heads are usually dark and their torsos are white. Their markings are unique.

At first and for a long while, Priscilla, the oldest and biggest, dominated Penelope and, frankly, abused her. The older sister always grabbed the food first, sometimes even grabbing it out of the younger sister's mouth, and devoured it, forcing the younger to fight for a piece, certainly less than the lion's share.

For being the weakest, Penelope was given extra care and attention, outside the cage and away from her sister.

Still, every night, they slept cuddled together for warmth. Once in a while, Priscilla snapped at Penelope. Eventually, they grew up into adult rathood. When Penelope grew to the same size as Priscilla, they stopped arguing and fighting. The food was distributed as democratically as possible-- for rats.

In Shirley Jackson's novel, "We Have Always Lived in the Castle," two elderly sisters have always lived together and their home atmosphere is thick and musty. In terms of American Gothic, their lives are spooky.

This is a common archetype in horror literature ("Arsenic and Old Lace", "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane") and mainstream drama ("Toys in the Attic".)

(The product of late Victorian males working themselves to an early grave, leaving behind semi-wealthy widows who move in with their siblings.)

The sisters project a similar "eerie" quality. They have their own private rituals and their mutual comforts. While they have each other, they are alone.