I grew up with lots of different pets. We had: Cats, birds, fish (saltwater and freshwater variety), dogs, mice, guinea pigs, there was a lizard once, I had a turtle for about 3 days once, a monkey, and rabbits. Not all at once, my mom would have thrown herself from the roof... But we had run the gamut on animals. That being said, it is still fresh in my mind all the maintenance and chores involved. Harley however, does NOT know of such things and doesn't understand why she can't have a hamster. She wants one really badly. I keep saying no. I keep saying that we have a dog AND a baby and that's enough for now. Maybe after the dog is gone, we will talk about something else. Now she is trying to explain how she doesn't want the dog anymore, she wants a hamster so we should just give the dog away and I explained to HER that it doesn't work that way, we didn't take the dog in so she could just decide on a whim that we didn't want her anymore (yes I say whim to my six year old). Then I got to thinking, we don't have room for any caged animals. It's a fact. We don't. We bought a small house on purpose, we knew that these days would come and now we have no choice BUT to say no. Unfortunately, as a kid, I was actually really happy with having animals. I really enjoyed their company and there is just something so fulfilling about having them around. Whether it's a bird that you won't necessarily "play" with or a cat that's around and hides all the time...it's comforting.
But then....there was Speedy...
When I was 8, my sister had a mouse...and then, she got another one. She had TWO! And they were HERS! And I couldn't play with them! EVER! I was devastated!! So, of course, all I wanted for my birthday was a mouse. That's all I wanted. Just a mousey. My mom had converted one of her fish aquariums into a mouse condo for my sister's mice and she said we could just throw my mouse in there.
One August day, Ma and I piled into her Celica and drove to the pet shop in Huntington where we were going for our mice. I picked out the spotted one. We had males already, we need another one. We got another male, and he was white with black spots and he was the smallest one there. I thought he was perfect! I was so excited...in fact I was TOO excited. We got into the car, and I sat there with the brown paper bag in my lap...anxious.... Too anxious... I thought I would just grab a peek of the little guy, my new little mousey... Unfortunately, the SECOND I peeked into the bag, he JUMPED out of the bag! And proceeded to run around the little car! My mom threw the car into a parking lot and we sat there looking for the sucker. He was so damned fast, we couldn't catch him! He zipped all over that damn car! He decided to settle up by the accelerator pedal. Peeking his head out through the carpeting, he begins taunting us. Until finally, Ma, the animal charmer, grabbed his little ass and threw him into the bag. She crumpled the thing up so much I thought she squished him, threw the bag at me and said,"Don't you open that bag until we get home!". Yes Ma'am!! I named him Speedy Gonzales... I thought it was fitting... notice how you don't see any of those cartoons on anymore...
We get home, threw him in the cage. Fine. A month goes by, we are in school... Ma is home on a weekday, sometimes she had a weekday off, and she goes upstairs and sees my mouse...Standing on his hind legs with his little hands on the glass squeaking at her. My Ma used to work in a Pet Store, MMkay... she knew a thing or two about meeces... And that was no bueno. She goes over to the aquarium and thinks, how strange that the other mice are nowhere to be seen...odd..right? Well, she somehow decided she needed to investigate the missing persons and finds my sisters mice dead, buried in the sawdust underneath the water bowl and food bowl. One under each. Speedy just kept squealing. Ma decided that he was in fact possessed by the devil and that she should just toss the whole tank in the garbage...so she did. I think it was even garbage day or something because that tank wasn't in the trash by the time sis and I got home from school...
So brought the end to
And Harley wants to know why I don't want rodents in my house...
I already have two rugrats...
bah-dum-ch!!
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