DAY OLD BABY RATS SHORT STORY REVIEW

DAY OLD BABY RATS SHORT STORY REVIEW - This story, set in the Meat Packing District in NYC, is about a girl who is misguided in just about every way that is possible. She is always losing/ breaking things, carries a flask to help her through ‘emergencies’ and feels the need to monitor who parks outside her building. She spends much of her day checking the news, looking for the time (hence her broken watch), concerns about weather and occurrences that have transpired in her neighborhood. Day Old Baby Rats by Julie Hayden derives its title from a scene in the story where exterminators display milk white baby rats in a pickle jar that were caught in a old vehicle then exterminated. The protagonist muddles through disjointed montages from time to time. Through the subway, a cab, Macy’s and an abortion at her doctor’s office; all the while dressed in a white rabbit fur coat and large black sunglasses.