Returning Mishap

A missed Writer's Cramp: Returning home from vacation mishap

After a short vacation you return home to... (something in your life isn't the same, identify it and write a story)

missing a hamster is gone

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It was Christmas vacation 2000, we have just returned from a trip to my parents house. We came back safe and sound through the treacherous Rockie Mountains we went through to get back to Oklahoma Panhandle from Southern California.

The fact was that we felt very lucky to be home after the snow and ice storms we drove through coming home. The road was bumpy at times and the fog on our ’97 Protégé was thick. The roads were covered in black ice. The son was thankfully asleep therefore I did not have to pretend bravery.

When we finally made it home and unlocked the door there was something missing. At first we could not tell what.; all we did know was our house had not been robbed – yet something was wrong.

Both my husband and I started searching around the first thing we noticed was one of the two hamster cages was empty. Cocoa Bean was missing. We looked around for a note from those taking care of our cats and hamsters. A cryptic note was found saying that a hamster was missing – no date no time was placed on the note. So my husband and I looked at each other questioningly.

We decided to first unpack the car because that had to be done. There was no way that I was going to leave everything in the car – not even in the rural town we live in. There were to many valuable gifts shoved in all the nooks and cranny’s of the car.

Then, the ransacking began, starting in our bedroom were the Cocoa Bean’s cage was housed. We took apart: Looking in the sheets, taking them off, and shaking the bed spread. There was no hamster. So we looked under the bed – not there either. That was then we became real worried.

It was 10:30pm so we decided that it was too late to call the sitters. So we continued to take the house apart. We were flustered. We knew the hamster was an escape artist but how could he get out? We thought we had taped all the entrances he could get out of closed. So how could this be the cage did not look tapered with and it was wire so how could he eat himself out. He was too big to fit between the bars.

All of this just scared my husband me and. My husband was a lover of rodents thus he became devastated. Cocoa Bean came from a home that could not take care of him properly so we took on the role. He was very friendly and had been our favorite of the two hamsters we had at the time.

It was hard to give in and get some sleep but we were exhausted. Life had just given us a harsh blow and this was beyond our own belief.

The next day our son awakened me. I immediately woke up so I could call the animal sitters. Before calling though, I had to explain to our son the fact that our house looked trashed. Then I called the sitters. Their explanation solved the mystery in a very sad way.

“We went to look after your animals and found Bean’s cage empty. We could not find him. That was when I wrote the note.” At that time the sitter took a heavy sigh. “The next day, Bean was waiting for us by the front door – dead.” She again sighed and started speaking again not giving me a chance to speak, “We took it home with us and gave him a good burial in our yard.”

“Ok,” I said fighting back tears. I did not know what to say… I had my answer and it was not one that I was hoping for. I ended the conversation with a “Thank you, I’ll see you around. And no, I don’t blame you one bit. Things happen and Bean was an escape artist anyway.”

I hung up the phone and went back into the bedroom to give the news to my husband. He took it harder than I did. He was moping around for the next week. He has a hard time dealing with a death of an animal but thanks to the earlier hamsters we have had he does not mop around as long. A week was a relief for me because my depression gets worse when I see others in pain or down.

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