A man enters a shop he had never seen before, littered with strange oddities on every single shelf. On one shelf was a monkey’s paw, and another housed a strange puzzle box. What caught the eye was a strangely beautiful statue of a rat, small enough to fit into a person’s hand comfortably.

The man looked for a price label, but couldn’t see one. Instead, he turned his head to the shop keeper, watching him closely. “How much for this?”

“Oh, only five dollars, sir! But it’ll cost a thousand dollars for the full explanation, hehehe…”

The man decided to only pay the five dollars, and left.

As the man walked down the street with his new statue, he heard small scurrying sounds behind him. He turned and spotted a rat not too far behind, following him in nearly a straight line. The man started to quicken, and so did the rat. Before long, other rats joined in the chase, all following the man and his statue. More and more, almost as if every rat in the city was chasing after him.

He broke into a sprint to escape the swarm, but they chased him down in a fervor. Scared for his safety, the man lept onto a street lamp, climbing up and away. The rats began to pile onto each other, trying to get closer to him.

With no options left, the man threw the statue. It sailed a short distance before falling into the nearby river. The rats turned and pursued the statue, all of them leaving the man alone to dive into the water. The statue sank to the bottom, and all the rats drowned as they tried to swim deeper.

The man could only watch in shock and horror, holding onto the lamp so he wouldn’t get swept away with the storm. Once on his own feet, he walked straight back to that very same shop.

The shop keep grinned seeing the man. “Ah, you want to hear the full story, I take it?”

“Nah, too expensive. Do you have any lawyer statues?”