Evan and I chose our hamster quickly. There were many of them scampering around in cages, and we took a few minutes eyeing them, talking about which one we thought Ford would like. We decided on a light brown and white one- this one seemed really active and the most fun. Evan said that it was best to get a boy hamster because he'd heard that they were easier to handle and more friendly, and the guy working at the pet store assured us that the one we wanted was indeed a male. He also tried to sell us the cage and all the other paraphernalia, but Evan assured him that we had all that stuff at home. I had $20 to spend, but in the end, the hamster cost a little less than that. The guy put the hamster in a small pet carrier which was made of cardboard and had air holes cut in at the top.
"I'm guessing we should head on back and meet Brian and Guthrie now," Evan said, as we left the pet store.
"I'm nervous about what Bri is going to say," I admitted. I knew that Brian wouldn't be expecting us to come back with another small pet, and he'd most definitely have something to say about it.
"He'll grumble for sure," Evan said, "But leave him to me."
"I don't know, Ev," I said doubtfully.
"Trust me, Heidi. I've got this."
/
Brian was waiting with Guthrie at the food court where he said they would be. Guthrie was holding a bag from one of the large department stores. Brian's face clouded over instantly when he saw what I was holding.
"Please do not tell me that there's an animal in that box," he said, pointing to the pet carrier I was carrying as we approached.
"It's only a little hamster, Bri," I said.
"Cool!" Guthrie said, "Let me see!"
"No! It's not 'cool'!" Brian said, "What the hell, you two?"
I opened the box a tad at the top and held it towards Guthrie so he could peer in.
"He's my secret santa gift for Ford! Evan says he's been talking about wanting one since carnival when we got Splotch. Isn't he cute!
"So cute!" Guthrie confirmed, poking his finger into the box to stroke the hamster. It didn't appear to appreciate that so much and scurried away from Guthrie's finger.
"Want to see, Bri?" I asked, tilting the box a little towards him.
"No, I do not want to see," Brian said. He pointed at Evan, "For Pete's sake, Ev; this is not what I had in mind when I sent you two off together. You're 5 years older than her, you're supposed to be the responsible one here!"
"You told Heidi to ask me what Ford wants, and this is what he wants," Evan said calmly. I had to hand it to him, he didn't look in the least bit perturbed by Brian's blustering, whereas I was feeling really nervous.
"You know how Adam feels about house pets," Brian said. "But you figured that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission, somethin' which I really don't like. So I want you to march yourselves back the store and return that hamster."
"No Bri!" I begged as I hugged the box containing the hamster to myself protectively, "Please don't make us do that!" I could hear the whine in my voice even as I said it.
Brian glared at me.
"Evan said that you, Adam and Crane had loads of house pets growing up!" I said desperately, in a more normal tone now.
"That was different."
"How?" Evan said.
"It just is," Brian said firmly.
"You and Adam always say that you're trying to raise us like mom and dad would have, right? You guys say that all the time. Well mom and dad let you guys have lots of house pets. All the time, so why is it now different for us?"
"Because house pets are a lot of work, guys- they take time to look after. And they take up space. And they cost money. All thing we're short of in our house in case you hadn't noticed."
"Ford will look after him- you and Adam are always saying how responsible he is," Evan said. "We've got the cage and everything it needs in the basement Plus, we can put him in Heidi and Guthrie's room, in the back until Christmas. It's only a few days and then it can live in my and Ford's room. I don't mind. And look at the size of it. It's hardly going to eat us out of house and home.
Guthrie and I looked back at Brian for his reaction. We'd been watching the exchange between Brian and Evan like a tennis match, looking back and forth at each brother as Evan batted back all the reasons Brian was serving up for not able to keep the hamster.
Now though, Brian didn't say anything for a moment. His gaze flitted to Guthrie and then to me, where I stood still holding the box against me to guard it. He crossed his arms; I could tell that Evan's words had gotten to him.
"Please let us take him home, Bri. Ford will love it, and I want to give him something he loves for Christmas," I said in a small voice. I gave him my puppy dog eyes. They don't work on Adam, ever, but Brian can be swayed sometimes.
"For pete's sake…" Brian muttered.
I could see he was wavering.
"Please…"
Brian sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a gesture he does sometimes when he's stressed about something or thinking.
"Adam's goin' to kill me," he said finally, "But, okay, you can keep the darn hamster."
"Alright!" Guthrie exclaimed and I squealed "Yay!" and jumped up and down a bit. I hugged Brian's side with my free arm. "Thanks, Bri!" I looked up at him. "So you'll clear it with Adam!"
"Looks like I'm goin' to have to," he grumbled.
I glanced at Evan and he gave me a self-satisfied grin, and a look that plainly said, 'I told you so.'
/
Evan went off on his own after that and Guthrie and I trailed after Brian while he went to the various stores to get his stuff done. It was kind of boring, but I didn't complain because I'd won a victory with getting the hamster for Ford. I knew that if Brian had really wanted to, he could have made us take the hamster back to the store. Evan's tactic of bringing up our parents was a good one and I made a mental note to store that ploy in my mind so I could use it one day. Brian made us go back to the store and get another larger, sturdier box for the hamster in case it chewed through the box we already had. He even managed to get it for free.
While we were walking around, I asked Guthrie what he bought in the department store, but he was very cagey about telling me, saying that we were supposed to keep our secret santa person a secret.
"But you know who I've got," I said.
"That's cause you had to explain to Brian about the hamster. I want to keep it a secret," he said stubbornly.
I found that a little strange because Guthrie wasn't usually that great about keeping secrets when it came to family members, but I didn't push it. We took turns toting the pet carrier box and peeking inside to make sure the little thing was alright which it seemed to be although at times, it looked a bit agitated.
Eventually, it was time to meet up with the others again which we did at the food court. When Daniel saw what we had in the carrier he laughed and said, "You guys are brave. Dad's going to flip!"
"Brian said it was okay," I defended.
I nodded at the bag from the music store that Daniel was carrying.
"What did you buy?"
"Just some guitar strings and a couple of other things," Daniel said vaguely.
We made our way out the mall, back to the truck. Guthrie sat in the front with Brian and the pet carrier so that the hamster wouldn't get cold. Daniel, Evan and I bundled up under the blankets in the truck bed. On the way home, Daniel asked how we'd managed to persuade Brian to keep the hamster. I regaled him with the tactics that Evan had used.
"Good one," Daniel said, casting Evan an admiring glance when I mentioned that he had brought up what our parents would likely have done. "I'll have to remember that one myself."
"Brian's a soft touch anyway," Evan said.
"I don't think he is! Not all the time anyway," I protested. To me, Brian was an enigma and completely unpredictable. You couldn't ever say for certain which way he'd react.
"You'd better pray he can mollify Adam," Daniel said.
"What does 'mollify' mean?" I asked.
"It means to make someone less angry or to calm them down," Daniel said.
"Dude! What's with the big words?" Evan asked, kicking Daniel playfully under the blankets. "You been reading the dictionary or something?"
Daniel grinned. "Nah. It was in my English vocab test last week."
The house was empty when we got home. Brian told us to go down to the basement and sort out the cage etc for the hamster and get it set up in my and Guthrie's room.
He pointed at Evan. "You're in charge since you're the mastermind behind this plot."
Evan grinned easily.
"No worries."
"I'm goin' to see what work needs to get done and try and do some damage control with Adam," Brian said. "Danil, I could do with another pair of hands."
Daniel and Brian went outside and Evan, Guthrie and I went down to the basement to see what we could find for the hamster. I don't like it down there so much. It's dusty and there are spiders. I'm not one of those girls that hates all bugs, but I do hate spiders. Actually, I'm legitimately scared of them. I don't like their fat currant bodies and the way they scuttle on those long spindly legs; it freaks me out.
I stood off to the side while Evan found the cage, which was huge, as well as a water bottle and bowl and running wheel, which again was larger than the ones in the pet store. We carted it up the stairs and then Evan instructed us on how to clean the cage first. We took it up the stairs and settled it on the dresser at the far end of my and Guthrie's bedroom. Evan seemed to know a lot about the best conditions for it. He was being much nicer now than he had been at the mall- he's always nice when he's around animals. We helped him set the cage up, but if I was honest, he did most of it himself, meticulously making sure there was enough bedding and that the water bottle was in the right place.
"How'd you know all this stuff, Ev?" I asked. "Like how to set up a hamster cage and everything."
"Tommy used to have a couple of hamsters," he said. Tommy was one of his friends from school. "We used to play with them all the time."
He told us to grab a couple of empty toilet rolls from the bathroom to give the hamster something to play with. There weren't any empty ones there, so I unravelled a couple of rolls and left the tissue as neatly as I could on the side so it could be used.
When the cage was ready, we transferred the hamster into the cage. It ran to one corner and tried to burrow into the bedding.
"He doesn't seem happy," I said.
"He needs some time to get used to the cage," Evan said, "Don't either of you try to handle him for a while. I'm going downstairs to get it some food."
While Evan was gone, Guthrie and I peered into the cage, watching the hamster.
"What you going to call him?" Guthrie asked.
"I'm going to let Ford name him- he's gonna be his hamster," I said. "I can't wait to see his face on Christmas morning when he finds out!"
"Me too. You think we're gonna be able to keep him a secret until Christmas?" Guthrie said.
"I dunno… but let's try really hard, okay?"
"Okay."
/
The rest of the afternoon was pretty regular. Guthrie went off to do his chores, and I did mine and then spent some time with Splotch and Polly. Then I went to hang out in my bedroom with my book. I secretly hoped Guthrie wouldn't come to find me and want to me to entertain him. I'm much better at entertaining myself, especially when I'm grounded, but Guthrie was having a hard time with it and always wanted me to play with him. I love playing with Guthrie, but I also don't mind being alone; I like it even. In a houseful of 8 people, getting alone time isn't always easy, so I grab it when I can. Plus, I wanted to keep an eye on the hamster. Make sure he was doing okay and the like on his first afternoon at ranch McFadden. So, I was hanging out in my bedroom, just lying on my bed and reading my book when I registered that there was a lot more noise coming from downstairs, so my other brothers must be home. I went back to reading my book, but not longer after, I heard bootsteps on the stairs. There was a light knock at my door and then Adam was there.
I sat up on my bed.
"Hey," I said, warily. Adam didn't look happy, and I knew immediately that was because of the furry little creature inhabited at the far corner of our room that Brian must have told him about.
"Hey yourself." He came further into the room and headed straight over to the hamster cage. "Let's see it then."
I scrambled up and over to the hamster cage. Adam was peering into the cage, knees bent.
"Look, he's over there," I said, pointing to the hamster, which was still in the corner of the cage, burrowed into his bedding. "Isn't he cute?!"
"Mmmm," Adam said, non-committedly.
He straightened up again and looked down at me. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. He didn't look really mad or anything, but he wasn't smiling either.
"I just wanted to get Ford a nice gift, and Evan said that's what he wanted…" I said, trailing off.
"You knew I wouldn't be happy though, didn't you, Heidi?" Adam said.
"Yea…" I admitted. "But Brian said it was okay!"
"After you'd gone and bought it. You put him in a difficult position."
"It was Evan!" I protested.
Adam's eyebrows raised immediately.
"Evan was definitely involved in this and I'll be havin' a word or two with him too, but let's not pretend you were completely innocent," he said, sternly.
"Okay…" I said, backing down immediately. I knew how much Adam hated it when we shirked responsibility for something.
"Can we keep him though?"
"I'm not goin' to undermine Brian," Adam said. My heart soared but I must have worn a look of success on my face because then Adam took my chin in his hands and tilted my face up to look directly at him. He does that when he really wants to make a point. "But I don't want anythin' like this to happy again, Heidi. If you know I wouldn't allow it, then you don't do it. Am I makin' myself clear?"
"Yes," I said. I didn't even feel badly that Adam had lectured me, like I usually would, since he was saying we could keep the hamster. "Do you think Ford will like it though?"
"No doubt he will," Adam said, his eyes softening for the first time since he'd come in the room.
Just then, the sound of boisterous, hysterical laughter could be heard from the living room.
"What are those clowns up to now?" Adam said. We headed to the landing outside my room so we could see what was going on downstairs. Evan was sitting on one of the couches wearing Brian's ski goggles. His mouth was wide open, while Daniel, Ford and Guthrie were standing opposite him, although a decent distance way, chucking marshmallows at his mouth and falling about laughing every time they missed.
"Watch it! You're gonna bruise my face!" Evan cried though his laughter as one of the marshmallows hit the side of his face with surprising force. "Aim for my mouth!"
"We are!" Ford said. He was laughing so hard that tears were forming.
"What are you idiots doing?" Adam called from our place on the landing upstairs.
"Trying to land the marshmallow in Evan's mouth!" Guthrie said, hurling another marshmallow at Evan that hit off the ski goggles.
"Why?" I asked, laughing now too.
I had to admit, it was pretty funny just watching all of their reactions. The boys weren't even using new marshmallows from the pack now; they'd resorted to trying again with the ones strewn around the floor from other failed attempts.
"For fun!" Daniel said.
"Let me try!" I said, running down to the stairs to join in and taking my turn to hurl marshmallows at Evan's mouth. I was just as useless as the others.
The commotion drew Brian and Crane from the kitchen and for a couple of minutes, they, along with Adam from his place upstairs shouted instructions to us to try to get the marshmallows into Evan's mouth.
"Let's try it with Adam!" Daniel said suddenly, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"Leave me outta it!" Adam said.
"Please, Adam!" Guthrie said, and then all us younger kids were begging him to take Evan's place, including Evan.
"Go on, Adam," Brian said, wearing a mischievous grin now too.
Adam tried to resist, but he really didn't put up much of a fight, so I thought maybe he secretly wanted to get involved. He took Evan's place on the couch and put on the ski goggles. We all took turns hurling the marshmallows at his mouth, even Brian and Crane! We were all as useless as we had been with Evan; It's harder than it looks! But then, on one of his turns, Daniel sent the marshmallow flying and it landed, smack bang, in the middle of Adam's mouth.
There was a beat while we registered what had just happened, and then we all, including Adam, fell about laughing.
Sorry an update on this took so long. I had major writer's block. Hope everyone's doing okay.