Temple of the Zodiac

Chapter 3: Cindy's Sister

Penelope, Bijou, Pashmina, and Cappy were walking along the sidewalks of their neighborhood. Bijou and Cappy walked side by side with Penelope and Pashmina behind them, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they walked.

"This is so cool," said Penelope. "This reminds me so much of our adventure to Halastia."

"Do you even remember that adventure?" asked Pashmina. "After all, you were really young."

"Well, I can only remember the important details like our kidnap," said Penelope.

"Yes, zat was just offal," said Bijou. "But we wont have to deal with zat again because zis time, we are zee heroes who will save zee day."

"Yep, this time it's just the four of us going to get a Caidoz piece from...." said Penelope but she paused as she realized something. "Hey, where is the next Caidoz piece anyway?"

"I don't know, I thought you knew," said Cappy.

"But you were the one who took the clue so you should be the one to know," said Penelope.

"But I don't know where the Caidoz piece is," insisted Cappy. "I was following Bijou."

"But I was following you," interjected Bijou.

"You mean to tell me that we've been walking aimlessly in one direction without a single clue as to where we are supposed to be?" said Penelope. Everyone abruptly stopped as they realized that Penelope was right.

"Atata," chorused the four Ham-Hams.

"Hamgoof, I'm sorry," said Cappy. "Here, I'll get it out now." Cappy reached into his back pack and pulled out the slip of torn paper that he had taken from Neteru's bucket. He unfolded the paper and looked at it. "Well, we're in luck, it seems that the next Caidoz piece is right here in our home town."

"Where is it?" asked Pashmina.

"It says, 'the piece is located in the possession of a human who lives at 1788 Oxnend Avenue,'" said Cappy.

"Is that all the hint says?" asked Penelope.

"Just that it is in this city," said Cappy.

"But Oxnend Avenue is clear across town, how are we supposed to get zere on foot?" asked Bijou.

"I don't know," said Cappy.

"Heke?" said Penelope as she noticed something ahead. "Look everyone, it's a bus stop. We can ride a bus." Noticing the blue bench to a bus stop nearby, the Ham-Hams ran to the bench, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. They came across a map near the bench where it showed the bus routes who come by the bench.

"You see," said Penelope. "This bus goes right past Oxnend Avenue. All we have to do is sneak onto the bus and we're there."

"Penelope, you're a genius," said Pashmina hugging Penelope.

So the four of them waited for the bus. Once it arrived, they hastily got onto the bus before the door closed and they hitched a ride to Oxnend Avenue as they planned. After getting off the bus, they walked to the house listed on the clue, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they walked. Cappy held the piece of paper that had the clue written on it as he checked the addresses of the houses they past.

"Here it is," said Cappy. They stopped in front of a concrete pavement which led to a simple green single-story house.

"Is this the place?" asked Pashmina.

"Yep, this is the house on the address," said Cappy as he put the piece of paper back into his back pack.

"How are we going to get inside?" asked Pashmina.

"Perhaps zere eez an open window somewhere around zee back side of zee house," suggested Bijou.

"Well, it's worth a shot," said Penelope. The four hamsters ran towards the side of the house, repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" as they ran.

Located on the side of the house was a window that was open a little bit. It would be a tight squeeze but it would be enough to enable the Ham-Hams access inside.

"Look, a window," pointed out Penelope.

"But how are we going to get inside?" asked Bijou.

"Don't worry, I brought along a grappling hook," said Cappy. Cappy opened his back pack and sure enough, there was a grappling hook with a long rope attached. Cappy tossed the hook into the air, successfully catching the hook onto the window. The Ham-Hams carefully climbed up the rope, inching their way to the window. They climbed to the window and squeezed their way through it. The window was not open very large so it was a tighter squeeze for them than anticipated. After Pashmina worked her way out of the window, she said to her companions, "I feel like I squeezed out of a bottle of soda."

"Hey look, there's someone in here," said Cappy pointed forwards. Once the Ham-Hams got a chance to look around the room, they realized that they had entered what appeared to be a little girl's room since there was a small bed with pink sheets, lots of plush toys and dolls all over the place (including the floor), and girl oriented books on the shelves. And to confirm that the room was inhabited by a girl, sitting there next to the bed was a small girl playing with her dolls and doll house. The little girl was only five or six years old. She had long red hair and a cute pink dress with matching sandals.

"Who do you think that girl is?" asked Penelope.

"Her name is Suzzie," said Cappy.

"How do you know?" asked Pashmina.

"It says right there on that teddy bear," said Cappy who pointed towards a desk next to the window. On the desk was a stuffed bear with a tag on it that read "To Suzzie" written in red ink. The girls blushed sheepishly over their lack of observation.

The four Ham-Hams leaped onto the desk and climbed down the desk's legs to the floor. They repeated "Wasa-Wasa" as they quietly sneaked towards the girl who sat on the floor, oblivious to the approaching Ham-Hams. They hid under the girl's bed under the far end. They watched closely as the girl was playing around with her dolls. Suzzie picked up a plastic doll of a man and a plastic doll of a women and began to imitate their voices as Suzzie acted out a scene.

"Hey Jake, did you get me an anniversary present this year?" said Suzzie as she imitated the woman doll's voice.

"Why yes I did," said Suzzie, imitating the man's voice. "Infact, I have it right here." Suzzie reached into a nearby wooden toy chest and pulled out a shinny gold object and placed it into the hands of the plastic male doll. "I found it at a jewelry store. Do you love it?"

"Oh Jake, it's beautiful," said Suzzie, imitating the female doll's voice. "I'll love you forever." Penelope leaned forwards and gasped when she realized that the gold object that was placed into the doll's hands was none other than a Caidoz piece.

"You guys, it's a Caidoz piece right there in that doll's hands," said Penelope.

"Heke?" said Pashmina in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"She's not kidding," said Cappy. "I can see it too, even from here."

"But how are we going to get eet from her?" asked Bijou.

"I don't know," said Penelope. "We'll think of something."

The four Ham-Hams stayed under the bed, waiting for a chance to get the Caidoz piece. Their chance finally came when Suzzie said to her dolls, "I'm going down stairs for a glass of lemonade. Don't go anywhere." Suzzie placed the Caidoz piece and her dolls into the toy chest and walked out of the room.

"Now's our chance," said Penelope. They ran towards the toy chest, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. They reached the toy chest but they quickly realized it was too high for them to reach.

"Cappy, can you use your grappling hook to get us up there?" asked Pashmina.

"I'm afraid not," said Cappy. "I left the hook back at the window so we can climb down it latter."

"We could try standing on top of each other," suggested Bijou.

"That's a great idea," said Penelope. "Everyone, get on top of each other and form a Ham-Ham chain." They tossed their back packs aside and one by one, they all climbed onto each other's heads, forming a line of Ham-Hams to the top of the toy chest. Pashmina was on the bottom, followed by Penelope, Bijou, and ending with Cappy who looked over the edge of the open chest to see the Caidoz piece lying on top of a pile of toys.

"Do you see the Caidoz piece, Cappy?" asked Pashmina.

"Yeah, I see it," said Cappy. "It's right on top of these toys here."

"Well hurry up and get eet," said Bijou. "Zis eez hurting my back." Cappy reached his paw towards the piece but he couldn't reach it.

"It's too far," said Cappy.

"Don't give up, Cappy," said Penelope. Cappy reached towards the piece but he just couldn't get at it. Cappy was starting to inch his way closer to the piece when Suzzie suddenly came into the room.

"What are you four doing here?" asked Suzzie in surprise. For a moment, the Ham-Hams and Suzzie just stood there in shock at the sight of seeing each other. Cappy was the first to recover from the shock.

"Shashaa," shouted Cappy and the Ham-Hams immediately fell over and ran off in different directions, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. Suzzie placed her cup onto her dresser drawers and then knelt down and picked up Pashmina and Cappy in both hands as they were attempting to escape. Like a frightened women in King Kong's hands, Pashmina and Cappy struggled in Suzzie's grasp.

"Aw, what cute little hamsters," said Suzzie. She carried them to an empty cage nearby and dropped them into the cage. The door to the cage was located on the top of the cage instead of to the side so Cappy and Pashmina could not reach it. They were trapped.

Bijou had hidden inside a cabinet in the doll house's kitchen as Suzzie locked Cappy and Pashmina in a cage.

"Zis eez most unpleasant," said Bijou miserably. The cabinet was far too cramp and after knocking over a plastic pan inside, it struck her in the face and she spilled out of the cabinet in surprise. This exposed her and Suzzie grabbed Bijou the minute she saw her fall out.

"Non, put me down," cried Bijou in a panic, saying the word "no" in french. After Bijou was placed into the cage kicking and scream, Suzzie began to search for Penelope. Penelope hid behind the leg of the bed, breathing heavily after all that running. She didn't know what had happened to her friends but she knew she had to save them because she could hear her friends calling for help. For a while, there was nothing but silence as Penelope waited and listened but, other than her friends' distant cries for help, she couldn't hair any sigh that Suzzie was nearby Deciding she couldn't wait any longer, Penelope took in a deep breath, she ran out of hiding to find her friends but when she did, she immediately found herself running right into Suzzie's waiting hands.

Penelope kicked and struggled as Suzzie placed her into the cage and closed the door. After landing hard onto the floor of the cage, she said, "Ouchichi," with a groan.

"Penelope, are you all right?" asked Bijou.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Penelope. Suzzie picked up the cage with both hands and shouted out, "Cindy, come down here. I've got something to show you." The Ham-Ham's heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the room and in walked a twelve year old girl. The girl wore a red skirt with a green long sleeve shirt. She had long blond hair, thick brown glasses, and freckles all over her face.

"Suzzie, what's going on here?" asked Cindy. Suzzie held the cage up to her big sister in excitement.

"Cindy, look at what I got," said Suzzie. Cindy leaned over the cage and looked inside.

"Where'd you find those hamsters?" asked Cindy.

"They were here in my room," said Suzzie. "Aren't they cute?"

"I don't think Mom and Dad will let you keep them." said Cindy.

"Why not?" whined Cindy's little sister.

"Because you don't know where they came from," said Cindy.

"Oh come on," pleaded Suzzie. "Can't I keep them for the day? Please." Cindy sighed in defeat.

"Okay okay, we can keep them till Mom and Dad get here but we will let them decide if they can stay permanently," said Cindy.

"Oh thank you, sis," said Suzzie. Cindy leaned over to look at the hamsters once more and smiled.

"They remind me of hamsters I once had," said Cindy, thinking out loud to herself. She left the room without another word.

The four of them spent over an hour inside the cage along side Suzzie. With all four of them inside the cage, they could easily climb up on top of each other and then escape but they couldn't, not with Suzzie watching them like a hawk as she played with her dolls blissfully. The four Ham-Hams stared helplessly through the cage.

"This is hopeless," said Pashmina.

"I will never see Maria again," said Bijou sadly.

"Nor will I see my collection of hats," said Cappy.

"Now calm down you guys," said Penelope. "If we put our heads together, we will think of something."

"Penelope's right," said Pashmina. "We just have to stay calm and we can think of a way out of this mess."

As the Ham-Hams talked, Suzzie was playing with her dolls but she beginning to grow bored with them.

"I wish I had new dolls to play with," said Suzzie. "I'm tired of these old toys." Suzzie glanced at the Ham-Hams and suddenly, an idea occurred to her. "Wait a minute, I can use you four." Suzzie opened up the Ham-Hams' cage and reached inside to grab Penelope. Penelope didn't resist as she was lifted out of the cage and placed in front of the doll house. Suzzie reached over and picked up a red doll's dress and gently slipped the dress onto Penelope.

"You can play the mommy," said Suzzie to Penelope. Suzzie then reached into the cage and picked up Pashmina from the cage. She placed Pashmina next to Penelope and then Suzzie slipped a blue shirt and tie onto her.

"And you get to be the daddy," said Suzzie.

"What? Why do I have to be the dad?" demanded Pashmina angrily. Suzzie then reached into the cage and pulled out Bijou. Suzzie placed Bijou next to Pashmina before putting a doll's pink skirt and tank top onto Bijou.

"You get to be the older sister," said Suzzie.

"At least you get a female role," said Pashmina irritably. Suzzie reached into the cage and then pulled out Cappy.

"You get to be the baby," said Suzzie.

"What?" said Cappy in horror. "I don't want to be the baby." But Suzzie couldn't hear him as she pulled off Cappy's hat and then tied a little baby bonnet onto his head and placed him inside a little doll baby carriage.

"Aw, you look so cute, Cappy," said Penelope as she and the girls giggled at Cappy.

"This is humiliating," said Cappy as he crossed his arms in anger.

Suzzie played with the Ham-Hams as if they were dolls. She placed them inside the Clubhouse where she made them reenact a family sitting at a dinner table inside the doll house's kitchen. The four Ham-Hams sat around the plastic dinner table, pretending to be eating food off of empty plastic plates while Cappy sat in the baby carriage irritably. The others didn't seem too happy about their current position either. Noticing Cappy's irritable expression, Suzzie said, "Aw, the baby looks bored. Don't worry. I have a rattle here somewhere." Suzzie reached into the toy chest and began to grope through all the toys inside, pulling out its contents one toy at a time. It was then that she pulled out the Caidoz piece from the chest. Cappy saw the piece and then he had an idea. He knew that what he was about to do would make him feel even more humiliated but he knew he had to do it. He stretched out both paws and began to whimper like a puppy.

"Cappy, what are you doing?" asked Bijou.

"Just watch," said Cappy before continuing with his whimpering. When Suzzie noticed Cappy reaching for the Caidoz piece in her hand, she said, "Oh, does baby want this shinny gold piece." Suzzie handed the Caidoz piece to Cappy who took it in both paws.

"Good work, Cappy," said Pashmina.

"Oui, zat was just ingénieux," said Bijou.

"Uh, thanks," said Cappy who didn't quite understand french.

"So now that we have the piece, we just need to figure out how to escape Suzzie," said Pashmina. "But the question is, how?"

Penelope searched the room with her eyes, looking for something they can use to their advantage. It was then that she noticed a pile of teddy bears and other plush toys piled up into a neat little pyramid on top of a dresser. The pyramid of plush toys covered almost the entire shelf except for one small space where Suzzie had placed her glass of lemonade and another small space which was taken up by a lamp. Penelope eyed the lamp's cord starting from the base of the lamp and down to the wicker chair located right beside the dresser. As she studied all this, a plan formulated in her mind.

"You guys, I have an idea," said Penelope. "I'm going to create a distraction, allowing time for you guys to run to the window and make your escape."

"But how are you going to distract her?" asked Bijou.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered," said Penelope. "Just get ready to run." Without another word, she ran off, repeating "Badda-Badda" as she ran. Suzzie saw Penelope running off and Suzzie quickly reached over and picked up Penelope in her hand.

"No no no, you shouldn't run off like that," scolded Suzzie as if she was dealing with a small child. Taking advantage of the moment, Penelope bit down hard on Suzzie's hand. Suzzie shouted in pain and surprise as she dropped Penelope. Penelope landed onto the wooden floor and ran off, repeating "Badda-Badda" as she ran.

"Go you guys, now's your chance," said Penelope as she ran. As Suzzie searched for Penelope, the other Ham-Hams ran for it. Cappy took off the baby bonnet from his head and put on his green cap. As they ran, they picked up their back packs which they had left behind near the toy chest and after stuffing the Caidoz piece into Cappy's back pack, they ran towards the window.

Penelope took off her dress as she ran towards the wicker chair. She climbed up the chair at a speed that was so fast, it surprised even Penelope. She climbed to the top of the chair and then began to climb up the lamp's cord with astonishing speed. Before she reached the lamp, however, Suzzie reached out and grabbed Penelope once again.

"Bad hamster, bad," scolded Suzzie as if she was dealing with a dog. However, her grip on Penelope was not strong enough and Penelope managed to squeeze her way out of Suzzie's grasp and began to climb up the pyramid of plush toys. Suzzie reached over in an attempt to grab at Penelope but when she did, she instead grabbed onto a plush toy and pulled it out, causing the pile of plush toys to fall over. Suzzie screamed as the toys came tumbling down towards her, knocking over her lamp and her glass of lemonade which both of them smashed into pieces when they hit the floor. Penelope leaped off of the falling pile of toys, shouting "Oopaa" as she fell off the dresser. She landed softly onto the wicker chair, leaped off it again and ran towards the desk next to the window.

"Badda-Badda." repeated Penelope as she ran towards the window. Her friends were already behind the window, shouting words of encouragement as Penelope's little legs carried her towards the window. She scurried up the desk and leaped towards the window.

"No!" cried Suzzie as she tried to grab Penelope but Penelope slipped from her grasped, squeezed her way through the open window. The Ham-Hams quickly slid down the rope attached to the window and ran off.

The four hamsters stood at the front yard of the house where they panted heavily. Both Bijou and Pashmina had taken off the cloths that Suzzie had put on them and left the cloths onto the front lawn.

"Zat was close," said Bijou.

"I agree," said Cappy.

"But thanks for saving us, Penelope," said Pashmina.

"Oh, it was nothing," said Penelope modestly. Cappy reached into his back pack and pulled out the Caidoz piece.

"Here, Penelope, you can be the first to activate the piece," offered Cappy.

"Why thank you, Cappy," said Penelope. Penelope took the piece from Cappy and placed her paw on top of it. "I am the sun, I am the moon. I am the clear blue sea. A gift from the stars, a gift to all. May this piece show it's sign to me." Once the poem was said, the piece began to glow a sea-green color which lit up brightly just as the other pieces had done before and right before their eyes, a sea-green zodiac sign engraved itself onto the piece. The piece stopped glowing, revealing the glowing symbol that remained on the piece. The symbol looked like two halves of a circle that were placed beside each other with a single line going through the center of them. This symbol was none other than Penelope's zodiac sign, Pisces.

"Hamtastic, you did it, Penelope," said Pashmina.

"Thanks," said Penelope. "Let go, the next piece wont find itself."

"I'm ready," said Cappy.

"Me too," said Bijou. The Ham-Hams smiled as they all walked towards their next mission, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they walked.

Meanwhile, Suzzie sat on the floor of her room, sobbing loudly. Cindy came into the room and was surprised to see the pile of plush toys all over the floor, the puddle of spilt lemonade, and the broken lamp. She walked over to Suzzie and knelt down to her eye level.

"Suzzie, what happened?" asked Cindy.

"My hamsters ran away and they made a mess of my room," said Suzzie through her sobs. "I don't understand. All I wanted was a pet." Cindy frowned, sympathizing with her sister.

"Don't worry, sis," said Cindy in comfort. "Perhaps it's about time we ask Mom and Dad if they can buy us a hamster."

"Do you think they would?" asked Suzzie hopefully.

"Of course they would," said Cindy. "Now, help me clean up this mess before Mom and Dad get home and I promise I will talk to them." Suzzie smiled, feeling better about losing the Ham-Hams already.

Author's Note: For those of you who didn't notice, Suzzie's older sister is none other than Cindy, the eight year old girl who had attempted to kidnap Laura and the others when they first turned into hamsters in "Walk A Mile In Your Shoes."