Billy's Inner Voice (the Rat)

When Billy Ketner was 4 years old, he started to learn about right and wrong.
He had an imaginary friend that would help control his urge to do wrong and
encourage him to do the right things. His righteous inner voice took the form of an
imaginary friend he called “Henry Rattington”. Henry was a white rat, the size of a 4-
year-old boy. Henry often folded his arms and put his chin up when he thought Billy was
headed in the “wrong” direction. He spoke to him with a strange accent that was like
Doctor Smith for the 1960s Lost In Space TV show. “My boy”, he would say, . . .”You
know that’s not the right thing to do”, . . . “You need to snap out of it”
He would start a count to ten. And before he reached 9, Billy usually relented.
When his mom asked him once, how he was such a good boy all the time expecting to
hear him say “you mommy”, . . . Billy replied, “Henry Rattington taught me.”
Puzzled, she asked, “Who is this, Henry Rattington?”