Ben’s one true love up until just a few months ago was a knitted mouse that my friend Paula had made for Casper. Casper played with the mouse when he was young, but he didn’t love her like Ben did. Paula named the mouse Ratita, because I think it turned out to be a larger rodent than the pattern indicated.
Ben used to carry Ratita everywhere with him and would even nap with her during the day. It was insanely cute to happen upon them sleeping together, Ratita cuddled in his arms. When I would get out of the shower in the morning, sometimes I found he had left her on the bathmat; playing with her while waiting for me, then moving on to something else. I think theirs was a tumultuous relationship because Ben would alternate regularly between playing with and killing Ratita. Ben played/killed/cuddled Ratita so much that one of her eyes was almost loved completely off and she began to sport a sort of fuzzy afro from repeated ravaging. But then suddenly one day it was over. They probably grew apart as young people so often do and she was abandoned under the coffee table.
Archie has played with Ratita only once (which I managed to catch on the camera) but he did not seem to be that taken with her. So she waits patiently in the toy basket for another suitor.
