Bella's Legacy

We only had Bella for maybe three weeks, but she was a beloved family member. Carmel colored fuzzy biter, hamster with a tude for sure. Aiden and Cody loved her even when she was banging that dang wheel around in her cage at 3am.

The morning I walked into the room and realized her cage door was open, my heart sunk. It had to be like that over night and I knew she had a good head start on me. If we didn't hear or see her that day, chances were, we wouldn't, and I would have to come up with a story to tell the kids.. Aiden in paticular.

I had a fantastic story all worked up the next day, but I didn't get the chance. That morning, Aiden asked if we could put Bella in the ball. I said, well, no. He asked why not and I said, "Well, do you see anything funny about Bella's cage?" He looked at it and realized immediately the problem with the door being open.

"Oh NO!" He shreaked. "The door is open! Bella got out and the Dogs ate her!!"

There was no getting around it. There was some tears and a couple really hard days as we all searched the house in every crevice and floorspace of every room. The dogs were interrogated of course, but we didn't get much out of them but a suspicious smelly dog lick kiss.

After a couple days, Aiden realized we were not going to be able to find her. This is when he started making up fantastic stories of what could have been a possible alternative to being eaten by the dogs.

"Maybe she went out though the dog door, and decided she liked it outside." I would add in, "And she made friends with the squirrle, and she climbs up the trees and shares their acorns!" He would look at me and say, "Uh, no Mom. Hamsters don't eat acorns."

"Maybe she ran out the door and went over to Abby's house. Yeah, Bella went over there and scratched on the door. Abby heard her, and saw here there and took her in and let her stay with her at her house."

"Bella ran outside and decided she liked it there, so she's living under the porch. But we can't see her because she runs over to Ms. Patty's house when we come looking for her."

"Bella got out of the house, and learned how to fly Mommy! She's a super hero hamster now, that's why she can't come back. She's busy being a super hero!"

I have to admit, as cute as the stories have gotten, Aiden was still asking to get another hamster as soon as he realized Bella was gone. He wanted the brown short haired one, rather than the white long haired one Bella was... But it wasn't until a couple weeks ago, the acceptance was there without the tears that Bella wasn't coming back. The stories started to change a little.

Cody:
Bella's door got left open and she got out and the Dogs ATE her!
Aiden:
No Cody, Bella could have got away.
Cody:
Dogs ATE her!
Aiden:
They maybe didn't eat her.
Cody:
Dogs ATE her! Ump Ump! (Making eating chomping sounds.)
Aiden:
Well, maybe they ate her, but they just opened their mouth and swallowed.
Cody:
Dogs ATE her!
Aiden:
They ate her, but they didn't chew.

They boys thought they wanted to name the new hamster "Zoom" but while at the pet store, they insisted her name was Percy. Must not have looked like a Zoom once they met her.





So now, we quietly welcome Percy to our home. So far, she's much different in temperment. Not quite the spit fire Bella was... who bit me to prove her points. Percy freezes and will play statue for a few hours, and will roll over and play oppossom if you try to pick her up. (The guy in the store wasn't very good at hamster handling. After like three minutes of grasping at her, I thought how cleaver she rolled over and played dead! Like, just do it!!)

The dogs are of course interested in Percy too, but hopefully will not get the opportunity to get up close and personal. We are putting an alarm on the cage door!