I used to live in NYC, and lemme tell you, not seeing something strange or unusual on the subway at least once every few days was a stranger occurrence.

I'll never forget this one time, though, I was on the A train heading downtown in Manhattan, on my way to work, when this guy in an over-the-top zoot suit got on the train. It was neon orange suit with a wide-brimmed hat and jeweled cane (there are those who might call this suit a “pimp suit”). It was so bright and loud that NASA could see this guy from space. He sat down on the bench and suddenly, everyone nearby is looking at him and pulling out their cell phones and taking pictures of the guy. I turned to look and had to do a double-take.

Sitting on his shoulder was a huge rat that was dyed bright pink, and in his lap was a second huge rat dyed bright blue. Real rats, no cages, no leashes, just loose and sitting on his shoulder and lap. And this guy is smiling and posing with the rats for pictures and letting people touch and pet the rats.

I got off at the next stop, and so did this guy. As he passed by me, I saw he had a third huge rat on his other shoulder, dyed bright purple, that I couldn't see before.

As I stood, waiting for my connecting train, I watched this guy walk to the end of the platform and squat down. Suddenly, two wild subway rats crawled up onto the platform from the tracks. He took his rats and let the wild rats sniff them. The wild rats took a few minutes to get to know the tame dyed rats, and then my train came and scared the wild rats off back into the tunnel.

The guy picked up his rats, put them back on his shoulders, and went on his merry way.

It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my life.