Trick or Treat by the Numb3rs
The sequel to Larry's Life o' Crime
By Jelsemium
Rating: K
Disclaimer: So not mine
Comment: I wrote this last year during lunch on Halloween, but didn't have time to beta or upload it, so it was late being posted to Numb3rs dot org last year. Then I posted some other Halloween stories this year, so once again, it's late.
Hope you had Happy AllHallows Day. If you have any Halloween candy left, this will give you a good excuse to dig into it.
Larry Fleinhardt's office was filled with fascinating doo-dads and gizmortifracts. Every time that Charlie Eppes had a few moments to poke around Larry's office, he found something new.
Today, however, Charlie was more interested in something old. Specifically, he was leaning over and inspecting Larry's hamster cage. "I see you found homes for Houdini's babies," he observed.
Larry looked up from the sheaf of calculations that Charlie had worked out for him. "Ah, yes," he said. "My TA wanted one because it was the only type of pet he could fit into his apartment. Your father's partner wanted two for the office. He is planning a little Hamster Town for clients to look at should they be kept waiting for more than a few minutes."
"That's three," Charlie murmured.
"Amita's soon to be former roommate asked for one. She wanted a pet that was as vegetarian as she," Larry recounted. He scratched his pale curls. "Um, oh, yes, Mildred wanted one, too." He grinned suddenly. "I made all the 'adoptive parents' sign a form of intent and a pledge to keep the hamsters in a non-serpentine environment."
Charlie was frowning. "Larry, that's only five. What happened to the sixth?"
Larry gestured to the hamster cage. "That is the sixth. Houdini, alas, is no longer with me."
Charlie's eyes went wide. "You mean…" he hesitated.
"She escaped," Larry interjected. "I guess her free spirit declined to allow itself to be kept captive, even by a friend."
"Oh," Charlie sighed with relief, although he was unsure of why he was concerned about a short lived rodent anyway.
"This is Stuart," Larry added. "I decided to keep one of the males."
Charlie nodded. "Easier, I guess. No more babies to worry about." He straightened up and began fiddling with the hamster ball that was sitting on the desk. "By the way, did Viola ever figure out that you took her hamster?"
"Well, she strongly suspected that my new pets and her snake's missing dinner may have been related in some way," Larry admitted. He set down Charlie's calculations and shuffled through the papers on his desk.
"She sent me an invoice," he said. "Ah, here it is." He held up a letter. "She billed me for seven hamsters… payable in chocolate."
Charlie laughed. "Very appropriate for this time of year," he said. "What did you send her?"
"A box of Chocolate Frogs," Larry said. "Enough for her and her hard working students." He went back to reading.
"Ah, good thought," Charlie said.
Larry didn't respond because he had just been distracted by a document that was sitting on top of his desk.
Charlie took that as his cue to leave. "Don't forget the Halloween party," he said as a matter of form. He'd come back later to remind Larry. Assuming, of course, that he remembered.