Whatever Happened to Algernon?

I named my pet Algernon after Daniel Keyes’ book, Flowers for Algernon. It’s about inferior beings seeking intelligence. Seemed a fitting description of my college aspirations.                                             --'An Einganeer's Tale', page 20

Algernon and I met when he was assigned to me for my PSYCH 101 lab.  I got to teach him (I think he was a him!?) how to push a lever in order to get a drink.  He was such a little thing then, and so hungry for knowledge, as most youngsters are.  He quickly learned to push the lever, as well as several other tricks, with me using only positive reinforcements.  Later on I tried the same methods on my kids, and had much poorer results.  I found that negative reinforcements were necessary, and even then the results were dubious at best.  But I did find the methods worked quite well in directing young engineers.  Anyway, Algernon and I grew to be quite close.  He just had to come home with me!   

Algernon grew to be quite large.  Seemed he like the dorm food more than most of us.  He was so cute sitting on my shoulder, or scampering up and down the dorm hallway.  He would follow me around and come when I called.  I never understood, though, why others did not seem to appreciate him as much as I did.  

After several months, my roommates said the rat had to go.  So I talked my mother into keeping him. She had always been an animal enthusiast, but keeping a rat really pushed her limits.  Still, she agreed to take care of him as long as I continued with my education.  The woman who agreed to marry me, however, was not as accommodating.  She made it quite clear that either she or the rat would be accompanying me to California, not both.  

After much thought, I decided that having my wife with me in California would be preferable.  My mother said I should have chosen the rat, and refused to keep him any longer.  So what was I to do?  There was no way he'd survive in the wild, and I believed there was a law against turning rats loose anyway.  So, I decided to return him to where he came from.

   Late one night, I snuck back into the Psych lab and placed this 5 pound, foot long monster into a cage containing several 3 inch lab rats.  To this day, I smile when I think what the expression on that Grad student's face must have been the next morning.