From the first time Ella asked for a pet, I have sworn up and down and backwards that we would never, ever have a rodent in the house. That meant no hamsters, no gerbils, no guinea pigs, no rats. I loathe rodents, even “cute” domesticated ones. There’s just something about their rodent feet and their rodent tails that gives me the heebie-jeebies.
So you can imagine how thrilled I was when Lily made this announcement last night at dinner: “Guess what! I have the best news! I won the gerbil lottery!!!!” My heart fell, and I understood how a townsperson in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” must have felt drawing the black stone.
Instead of death, winning the gerbil lottery means that Lily gets to bring home the class pet, Fluffy, for the weekend, the long-extra-day-off-school weekend.
Lily is beyond thrilled. She loves, loves, loves animals of all shapes and sizes. Fluffy is in definite danger of having Lily hug her and squeeze her and call her George.
I, however, am not so thrilled. I will spend the weekend making sure the kids don’t let Fluffy escape and make a break for the sofa cushions. The creature could live the rest of its life in there quite comfortably.
My other fear is that it will get into the sofa and have babies. When Lily heard me say that, she rolled her eyes and said, “Fluffy needs to have been around a boy gerbil for that to happen.”
Fluffy got sent home with an exercise ball that allows her to roam the house. Having a rodent roll past my feet while I’m working is not my idea of a good thing.
If you need me, I’ll be sitting on top of my desk to work until Tuesday when Fluffy goes back to school.
6 comments:
Hee, Hee, Hee!
Better you than me!
(that's a poem)
ew, ew, ew,
I feel the same as you
('nother poem)
I don't mind rodents, but reptiles? No way.
Our visiting rodent did have babies over a 2 week break. That involved buying a new cage to separate the father from his offspring as gerbil dads tend to eat their young, Before we bought the new cage we put him in a lidless container in an old deep tub in a bathroom which had a step up to leave it. Early one morning we heard scuffling sounds running down the hall. The dad had climbed out of the bathtub, up the step and was on the loose! We did catch him, hiding among the boxes (we had just moved), and quickly bought a cage with a top which we weighted down with books. We were taking no chances!
Lord, I'd be hanging from the chandelier every time that ball rolled by... [shudder]
Good luck!
:-) Anna
Hahaha at least it was just for the weekend. How did it go? No Fluffy follow up post? We had two mice for a while, stinky things.
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