construction sites downtown. It used to be just a hasty scrawl with a cheap can of spray paintâ Colin the Rat , with a crude ugly rodent with an ugly face.
But now it was different. The artwork was better. Much better. It was multicolored, and the script was elegant. The rat in the graffiti was more than a little Manga. The rat sometimes looked a lot like the rat on my T-shirts, the rat that I came up with.
Mr. Miller and the principal were so pissed off about having to sandblast the brick walls that they called me in for a consultation as to how to get the graffiti to stop. Miller even caught on that the artwork was good. âThis isnât just vandalism anymore, Colin. This is serious, premeditated art.â He paused. âBut itâs still a nuisance. And itâs costing the school money.â
Maybe he thought Iâd rat on whoever it was. But I couldnât.
I started to see variations of the rat image all over town. There were even stenciled versions on sidewalks. There was an article about it in the weekly newspaper, The Coast .
It had become clear to me that Colin the Rat had at least as many anonymous admirers as he had detractors.
Emily said, âI think you somehow raised ratting to a whole new level of social acceptance.â
And I guess I could take that as a compliment.
Long live the rat.
Lesley Choyce divides his time between teaching, writing, running Pottersfield Press and surfing the waves of the North Atlantic. He is the author of almost eighty books for youth and adults. Lesley lives in Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia.
But now it was different. The artwork was better. Much better. It was multicolored, and the script was elegant. The rat in the graffiti was more than a little Manga. The rat sometimes looked a lot like the rat on my T-shirts, the rat that I came up with.
Mr. Miller and the principal were so pissed off about having to sandblast the brick walls that they called me in for a consultation as to how to get the graffiti to stop. Miller even caught on that the artwork was good. âThis isnât just vandalism anymore, Colin. This is serious, premeditated art.â He paused. âBut itâs still a nuisance. And itâs costing the school money.â
Maybe he thought Iâd rat on whoever it was. But I couldnât.
I started to see variations of the rat image all over town. There were even stenciled versions on sidewalks. There was an article about it in the weekly newspaper, The Coast .
It had become clear to me that Colin the Rat had at least as many anonymous admirers as he had detractors.
Emily said, âI think you somehow raised ratting to a whole new level of social acceptance.â
And I guess I could take that as a compliment.
Long live the rat.
Lesley Choyce divides his time between teaching, writing, running Pottersfield Press and surfing the waves of the North Atlantic. He is the author of almost eighty books for youth and adults. Lesley lives in Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia.
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