Hey look, it's chapter 4! Sorry for taking so long to get this up…At least now it's summer and I am, for all intents and purposes, jobless – which means I have more time to write, hurray!
As always, read, enjoy, and review.
-Genie
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"Dex, wake up."
Dexter, who had been dozing peacefully, stretched and opened his eyes. Howdy was poking him with his foot.
"What?" Dexter groaned, sitting up. Taking stock of his surroundings, he immediately realized that he and Howdy were both in Howdy's cage at Goldie's grocery store, which came as a bit of a surprise.
"What's that sign say?" Howdy was pointing to a piece of paper in the window of the store. It was facing outside, but the paper was thin enough, and the writing on it dark enough, that the lettering was visible through the paper, appearing backwards to the two hamsters.
"What am I doing here?" Dexter asked, ignoring Howdy's request to translate the backwards lettering on the sign.
"Dunno," Howdy replied. "Curtis must'a brought you over here while you were sleeping or something. But seriously, what's with the sign? It's new, I'm sure of it. And it's in Goldie's handwriting."
The paper certainly did appear out of place amongst the various produce advertisements in the window. Dexter put a paw to his chin and surveyed the sign for a moment, attempting to make out the words from his less-than-ideal vantage point. When he finally grasped its message, his jaw dropped.
Howdy looked from Dexter's horrified expression to the paper and back again. Then he waved a paw in front of Dexter's face.
"Hello? What's it say?"
Dexter turned to Howdy abruptly and grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Two hamsters, free to good home."
"What?"
"That's what the sign says."
"You mean…?"
"They're getting rid of us. Giving us away," Dexter finished, a pained expression in his eyes. He turned away and started pacing back and forth as Howdy attempted to absorb this startling piece of information.
"You sure you read that right?" he finally asked. "Goldie wouldn't…are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm positive," Dexter replied sternly.
"But why – "
"I don't know!" Dexter fumed, and continued his relentless pacing.
For a moment there was silence between them, Dexter pacing nervously and apparently deep in thought, and Howdy merely standing there, stunned, unable to fully process what Dexter had told him. It didn't make sense. Goldie and Zach loved him, didn't they? They'd always been so good to him. And he knew how fond Curtis was of Dexter. So why would they do this?
"It must have something to do with the engagement," Dexter said suddenly, as though he'd read Howdy's mind.
"Well, whatever it is," Howdy replied, his thoughts turning from his beloved owners to his beloved friends, the Ham-Hams, "we gotta get out of here."
Dexter stopped pacing and looked at him questioningly.
"If they've decided to get rid of us, so be it," Howdy continued. "We'll just make it easier for 'em. I'm sure Boss will let us live at the clubhouse, at least for a while."
Dexter sighed. "I suppose you're right. There's nothing we can do if we just stay here."
Howdy nodded his agreement and made his way over to the cage door. Just as he nudged it open, however, the sound of a key turning in the lock at the front door of the store startled him back into the cage. Dexter shot him a look that said something along the lines of What are you waiting for? Run! But it was too late. The door swung open, Goldie appeared, and Zach burst past her into the store. He immediately approached the cage housing the two hamsters, a solemn expression on his face.
"Hi Howdy," he mumbled, opening the door to the cage to give Howdy a quick scratch on the head. "Hi Dexter."
Goldie was watching her son through cheerless eyes. She sighed softly and walked up behind him, placing both of her hands on his shoulders.
"Honey, I know you're sad," she told him gently, "but this is really the best thing for them."
"It's not fair," Zach grumbled, crossing his arms in front of him. "Why can't we keep them? It's not fair!"
Goldie crouched down behind Zach and wrapped her arms around him in an effort to console him. "We've been over this, sweetie," she sighed. "Curtis and I are going to be too busy planning the wedding to make sure they're properly taken care of, and I just don't think you're responsible enough yet to handle it yourself. They'll be much happier in a new home with someone who can give them their full attention."
No we won't! Howdy wanted to scream at her. He was watching Zach closely, a profound sadness overcoming him as he saw tears forming in the boy's eyes.
"Here," Goldie was saying. She turned Zach around to face her and wiped the tears from his eyes with a corner of her apron. "Let's go pick out a snack, ok? Would that make you feel any better?"
Zach sniffled and allowed his mother to take him by the hand and lead him to the back of the store where the cookies and cakes and other goodies were shelved. Howdy was still watching him when Dexter placed a paw on his shoulder. He looked up.
"I'm really gonna miss that kid," Howdy said.
"I know," Dexter replied. "Maybe we can visit sometime. But now is our chance to make an escape without them noticing."
Howdy nodded and followed Dexter to the cage door. This time, however, before they could make their move, they heard the tinkling of the little bell above the store's front door as it opened once again. Instinctively, they turned to the source of the sound and saw a stranger entering the store – a youngish man followed by a little girl. The girl's eyes were immediately drawn to the cage by the window and before they had a chance to resume their escape, Howdy and Dexter were being fawned over by the youngster.
"Good morning!" Goldie smiled warmly, her attitude changing drastically from what it had been moments earlier, and greeted the customer at the front of the shop. "What can I help you with today?"
"Actually, I'm here about the hamsters," the man replied, returning the smile. He gestured to the young girl who had accompanied him into the store. "I saw the sign in the window last night, and my daughter made me promise to bring her in first thing in the morning today so she could see them before somebody else took them away. I've been telling her she could get a pet for a while now, and I guess there's no better time than the present."
"She's a darling little thing," Goldie said, approaching the girl. "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Casey," the girl replied, without taking her eyes off of the hamsters in front of her.
"Well, Casey," Goldie said. "let me introduce you." She reached into the cage and scooped the hamsters into her hands, then knelt down in front of the girl and held them up to her eye level. "The brown one is Howdy, and the grey one is Dexter."
Casey smiled and reached out a tentative hand to pet them. Her father put a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her.
"Well, honey, what do you think?"
"They're cute," she said, and giggled.
"Which one would you like to take home with us?"
One. Which one. Howdy and Dexter looked at each other with the same alarmed expression and it was clear that the same thought was running through both of their minds. It was bad enough that they were being given away, carted off to who knows where, probably never to see their friends again – but they were being separated from one another as well? The last thing they had to hold on to was each other, and now it seemed as though that might be taken from them as well.
"I can't decide!" Casey was saying, still giggling in an adorable and somehow simultaneously infuriating manner.
"You know, you're more than welcome to take them both," Goldie said with a smile. "They'd probably be happier together, anyway."
At this, Casey jumped and clapped her hands. She turned and looked up at her father expectantly.
"Can we, daddy?" she pleaded. "Can we can we can we?"
He mulled it over in his head for a moment, then smiled and relented.
"I suppose two hamsters won't be that much harder to care for than one," he said.
Howdy and Dexter breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. At least they'd have each other, if nothing else.
Goldie put them back in the cage and carried it outside to the man's car. Zach was still sulking angrily in the back of the store and refused to come out, but Curtis emerged from his store next door to issue a heartfelt goodbye to the two hamsters. He was clearly saddened at this parting of ways, but he did his best to conceal it. And then he was back to work behind the counter at the eyeglass shop, and the young girl was seated in the back of her father's car as Goldie placed the cage with Howdy and Dexter inside it beside her on the seat.
As the car pulled away from the storefronts and out of town, the two hamsters watched the scenery fly by outside the window and wondered whether this was really the end of the life they had known and loved for so long.
