particular almost18yearold thought she could sway me. She thought the 'cuteness' factor of these three could sell me into letting her keep what she purchased yesterday at the pet store. Alright, I'll admit it, they are minutely cute from the other end of my zoom lense, but they are RODENTS for Pete's sake! Rodents scurry, chew, have beady little eyes...and would love nothing better than to escape from my daughters hands and scurry off to teenage fashion wasteland otherwise known as her bedroom, never to be seen or heard from again. Well that is until our Jack Russell, the VERMINATOR, gets a missile lock on it.
Now I am pretty tolerant and easy going with most things in life. However, there are 2 things that give me the creeps. BIRDS and RODENTS. My dislike of rodents though, stems back to my teenage babysitting days.
...I can remember it like it was yesterday...(a remarkable feat these days considering my middle-aged memory loss)
Let me set the stage for you. With my feet up in the recliner, I decided to watch a little TV, having just put 3 small boys to bed, made sure R2D2 the guinea pig was in it's cage, washed the dishes, picked up the equivalent of a toy junkyard, etc, when I must have dozed off for a few minutes. I know, not a good thing, when you consider what little terrors these 3 were, but I was so tired.
And then I heard it...a faint squeaking. Then suddenly, I felt a slight pressure on my chest. I was still so groggy that I must've told myself that it was just the TV and kept dozing. Not until I felt that pressure begin to crawl did I open my eyes...only to see TWO beady little eyes peering right back at me...R2D2 was INCHES from my face!!! I couldn't scream...you know that kind of dream you have when someone is chasing you and you can't utter a sound? That was me at this point...and then I heard something else. Faint giggling...and then laughter...and then in my paralytic transe I saw a pair of grubby boy hands remove the object of horror from my chest.
Those boys and that RAT just stood there, wide-eyed, staring in disbelief at my silence. I wanted to give them the 'evil eye'... I wanted to unleash all sorts of punishments upon them...but all I could manage was to raise my index finger and point...to the cage, and then to their bedrooms. It must've been written all over my stricken face, because they unquestionably obeyed.
and with that, the dirty little deed was over. Little buggers....and did I mention that they are all grown and all three are doctors? One is even a veterinarian.
...they say that animals are imprinted for life...yeah well, so are teenaged babysitters!
So what is to be the demise of these three visitors? Well, Lindsae couldn't bear the known fact that if they return to the pet store...their fate will be in the belly of a snake. So tearfully, she found them a good home...one of her friends ...which means she has visitation rights.
Whew...