Part 1: A Hamster tells a tale…
Once upon a time there was a girl named Jenny who had a hamster that was fat and squishy, soft and reddish-brown. She loved it with all her heart so she named the hamster Teddy for its cuddly-teddy-bear resemblance. She loved the hamster so much so she fed it every day of the year, through the bars of its rainbow-colored cage.
One night, she had a dream that Teddy spoke to her while she fed it hay.
Teddy said, mid-chew through a particularly tasty piece of hay,
"Hey Jenny, have you ever met the Easter bunny?"
Jenny was so startled her eyes bulged out of her head and her whole body went as taut as a tightrope. It was the first time she heard her hamster talk, but the surprise quickly wore off and was replaced with unmasked glee.
"No, I haven't. What's he like?" she asked curiously.
"He is actually a she. I've only ever met her once before, at a party in a squirrel's house. Don't ask why, because I managed to sneak out when you weren't looking, but when I got there-this crazy white rabbit was babbling on and on about chocolate eggs…"
"'She said, "Chocolate eggs are so delicious! They're a lot like real eggs with the yolk and all that, but the shells have these pretty little designs and the inside is just molten love in the shape of an oval instead of a heart." I had no idea what the heck she was going on about until I found out she was THE Easter bunny, so I went up and tried to shake her hand, you know, good manners and all, and instead she kissed me!"
"The Easter bunny, right on my whiskers. I blushed all the way down to my tail, and the whole room laughed at me. But she was sweet as a button, that bunny, her name's actually Clara, and she apologized right after for making me so embarrassed; I didn't mind you know-"
"She sounds just dreammmyy…" Jenny interrupted. Teddy frowned, and snatched another piece of hay to nibble on and continued.
"Yes, yes, yes, so anyways she apologized and I said, 'it's alright ma'am, just surprised, that's all' and she giggled and went right on talking as if I had never approached her in the first place! I was a little ticked off about that, yeah, but the things she talked about made you get this glazed look on your eyes-"
"She told us about all the past Easters where she would hide these eggs filled with treats and the kids would run about all excited," Teddy paused to take another hearty bite, settling her paw on her bulging belly.
"She told us about the places where she hid the eggs so the kids would take ages to find them, and the close-calls where she almost got discovered with a basket full to the brim with painted eggs. Everyone in the room listening to her stories were fascinated, me included, but it got REAL interesting when she started talking about her land back home, Easterworld."
"'Easterworld is like a fairytale,'" She started, a bright fire in her eyes, "' There's rolling hills of green, lush forests full of singing birds and gurgling brooks and soft breezes. There are fields of every kind of flower you can ever imagine and the castles, oh the castles'" She held her breath, as if holding in a gasp "'are like the sparkling fortresses in a princess's tale. They're filled with eggs, glorious wondrous chocolate eggs of every size and shape and taste, that my people gather and decorate in preparation for Easter. The birds help weave the baskets and every spring Easterworld is humming with energy and the land is painted soft pinks and yellow, bright green and baby blue.'"
Jenny seemed entranced by the description, steadily losing herself to the sound of her hamster's voice.
"'But the real magic is where the eggs come from. No, not from thin air, or from just any old chicken, but GIANT chickens, the size of kitchen tables, that sit in their giant chicken nests and just lay chocolate eggs, from god knows where, since roosters don't exist in Easterworld, but anyhow one day I walk into a castle and there are bunnies and chickens milling about bored out of their minds, I don't blame them, since it was Halloween time and no one's working come Halloween, when suddenly there's news someone's found a golden egg, not just a golden looking egg but a PURE GOLD egg, no filling, and I've got to see this! I go to the bunny who found it and ask him where he found it, and he just replies-"
"Wait, shush, just hold on a minute…" Jenny seemed startled out of her trance and slowly turned to look at Teddy with furious eyes.
"Teddy, I haven't told you this yet, since I've only JUST KNOWN you could talk and understand me and you haven't taken a single breath between sentences, and frankly I have so much to ask you, but you honestly babble way too much, and really, of all the things you talk about, its about the EASTER BUNNY? Of all those times when I WAS talking to you and you never replied, you didn't think THAT would have been the right time to respond with an interesting story like this?" Jenny seemed ready to explode with frustration.
"All this time, and I thought you were just a normal hamster with a normal brain capacity, and yes, occasionally I would look into your eyes and see some sliver of something human while you stuffed your cheeks with food and I knew that if you could talk with me, you would, but what changed? Why now?" Jenny's face drooped as she processed all the times that the hamster remained mute to her conversation starters.
Teddy had stopped, the small pile of hay that diminished with every word that spilled out of her mouth nearly gone, its ears were perked attentively forward. The beady black eyes stilled, and focussed on Jenny's face, and a yellow toothed grin lit up on the hamster's face.
"Wanna go on an adventure?" the hamster asked in a low voice.
