A Story About What?

Much is made of where writers get their ideas. Writers are known to humorously—or, occasionally, bitterly—describe the questions they field on this issue: Simply, “Where do your ideas come from?” Or, “How’d you get the idea for such-and-such? That was brilliant!” All writers must think up creative premises for their work to dazzle and engross their readership. A writer among writers, however, is the one who dazzles other writers with the creativity of his subject matter.

T. Coraghessan Boyle’s recent short story, “Thirteen Hundred Rats,” ran in the July 7 & 14 issue of The New Yorker magazine. Alas, I found myself wondering, “Where on earth did this idea come from?” I won’t give it away, but suffice to say, Boyle weaves a story about a widower named Gerard who, in need of companionship, shells out $400 for a python from the local pet store. Mysteriously—once you’ve read it, you’ll see what an accomplishment this is—the story is told from the point of view of Gerard’s neighbor, who is out of town while the crucial events of the plot take place.

Gerard’s python eventually requires feeding, and he dutifully returns to the pet store to buy a rat, which is offered up to him in a to-go style cardboard container.

The rat—it was white, with pink eyes, like the lab rats he’d seen arrayed in their cages in the biology building when he was a student—slid from the box like a lump of gristle, then sat up on its haunches and began cleaning itself, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be transported in a doggie bag and dumped into a glass-walled cavern in the presence of a tongue-flicking reptile. Which might or might not be hungry.

Read the whole story. I won’t spoil it by mentioning where Boyle takes the plot from here.