Bored. So bored. Whenever Billy was gone, it felt to Georgie as if everything became dull and boring. His big brother was off again at Stan's house along with Eddie and Richie, doing whatever they do there. What was Georgie to do? None of his favorite cartoons were on TV right now. He had already drawn and doodled all day until he became bored with that as well. Time to walk aimlessly around the house until he thinks of something to do.

The first stop would be the room in the house that he visited the most, after his own, of course—Bill's room. He walked in and sat on his older brother's bed and stared at the various posters hung up on the wall. Then, his eyes landed on the cage that sat on top of Bill's dresser. This cage encased their pet hamster, Timmy. Let's see how the little rodent is doing, shall we? After all, he is technically both Billy and Georgie's pet, even if he's only kept in Bill's room.

The little hamster was tucked in a corner, sleeping. Georgie thought fondly back on the day when they first got him. It was Georgie's idea to get him, and he was even the one who picked him out and named him. And yet Billy was the one who got to keep him in his room? That's not very fair. Georgie didn't even get to be affectionate with his pet at all; Bill always reprimanded him every time he so much as opened the cage. All he wanted was a little love from Timmy. Was that so much to ask for? Well, Bill's not here now to stop him.

Georgie opened up the latch on the cage and reached his hand in. He grasped the hamster, waking him up and instilling panic and fear within his little rodent body. "It's okay, don't be scared; I won't hurt you," the little boy said to his pet. Georgie took Timmy out of his cage, the hamster continuing to writhe in fear. The young Denbrough brought him up to his face to kiss the little furball, but before he could, the hamster squirmed his way out of Georgie's hands and scurried across the floor underneath Bill's bed!

Oh, no.

Oh, no!

Oh, no! Oh, NO! OH, NO!

This can't be happening! This can't be happening!

"What do I do? What do I do?!" Georgie panicked. He looked under Bill's bed, but the hamster wasn't there! "Where did he go?!" Georgie squeaked. He probably dashed off to hide in some tiny crevasse somewhere in the house.

Georgie sat on Bill's bed and started to take in the gravity of the situation. His first pet, and he's lost now, thanks to Georgie's dummy decision to take him out. He began to cry, thinking he may never see his little hamster again. To make matters worse, he could hear the front door open, signaling Bill's return home.

The younger Denbrough could hear the thumping steps of his big brother walking up the stairs, and Georgie knew there was no hiding his mistake. He had to fess up. Hopefully his brother would have mercy on him.

"Hey, Georgie, what're you- " Bill noticed as he walked into his room that Georgie's eyes were red with tears and snot was dribbling down his nose. "What's wrong?"

"I lost Timmy!" Georgie said as he continued to sob. "He's gone, Billy! He's gone! And it's all my fault!"

Bill looked at the cage and saw that it was empty. "W-w-what do you mean? What ha-happened?"

"I wanted to hold him and pet him, but he jumped out of my hands!"

The elder Denbrough sibling pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to figure out how they were going to fix this. "Why, Georgie? I told you! I t-t-told you to n-n-never take him out of his cage, 'cause then s-s-something e-e-exactly like this was gonna h-happen."

"I know! I'm sorry! I just wanted to love him!"

"Well, n-now you can't l-love him at all, can you? 'Cause now he-he's off somewhere in the house, p-p-probably in some place we can't get to. S-so great job at not li-listening to me."

"I know! What I did was wrong! Just stop being mad at me so we can get him back!"

"Okay…" Bill paused to settle down. "Okay, you're right. We both n-need to calm down, alright? That means you n-need to stop crying."

"Okay," Georgie said as he wiped his eyes and nose with his shirt sleeve.

"We need to th-think how we're gonna get T-Timmy back."

"We have to catch 'im," Georgie said.

"Well, ob-obviously. But how're we g-g-gonna do that?"

"Hmm," Georgie pondered.

"M-maybe we can lure him out f-from wherever he's hiding with something h-he likes," Bill suggested.

"Like his food! We can spread it on the ground, then once he comes out to eat it, we catch 'im!"

"Good idea, Georgie!"

Bill went downstairs and came back up a few moments later with the bag of hamster food. He scattered the assortment of seeds and corn kernels on the floor, right at the foot of his bed. "A-alright," Bill said, joining Georgie on top of the bed, "now all w-we gotta do is sit here on the bed, a-and when we see Timmy come to eat the food, we gr-grab him, and we put him back in the c-c-cage!"

"I wanna catch him!"

"Okay, but you g-g-gotta be quick."

"I'm a lot quicker than you, Billy!" Georgie said snidely.

"Sure about that?" Bill replied with a smirk.

"Yes! I've seen how slow you react, Bill; if you tried to catch him, he'd be gone before you'd reach him."

"Yeah, you do have pretty f-fast reflexes, don't ya, Georgie?"

"Like a lizard!" Georgie flicked his tongue out a few times, mimicking a reptile.

Bill laughed at Georgie's antics. "Alright, Lizard-Boy, j-j-just make sure you c-catch that rodent!"

"My eyes are peeled!"

After five minutes of waiting around on the bed, Georgie asked, "How long's it gonna take, Billy?"

"I don't kn-know. Could take hours, m-maybe."

"Hours?! I don't want to wait that long!"

"Well, you want T-T-Timmy back, don't you?"

Georgie sighed. "Fine."

Luckily, it didn't take hours—only about twenty minutes or so. Though, it still felt like hours to Georgie. They suddenly heard the scampering of tiny claws along the wooden floor. The two brothers both peered over the edge of the bed and saw Timmy on the ground gnawing away at the seeds. Bill looked at Georgie and mouthed, "Go!" as he tilted his head toward the unsuspecting hamster.

Georgie leapt from the bed like a tiger pouncing its prey and landed on top of Timmy with a loud thud on the floor.

"G-G-Georgie, what are you thinking?! You cr-crushed Timmy!"

The seven-year-old boy had his hands tucked underneath his chest, and when he lifted himself off the floor, he said, "No, I didn't; I have him right here!" as he showed off the hamster within his grasp, perfectly unharmed.

"O-okay, now hurry and p-put him back in his cage!"

Georgie followed his older brother's command and shut the latch on the cage once and for all. "We did it! We got Timmy back!" Georgie exclaimed. The two brothers high-fived each other.

"Your plan worked!" Bill congratulated.

"Our plan worked. We're a team!"

"Right, of course. But you know, that was still st-stupid of you to land on top of him," Bill said. "You really c-c-could've hurt him badly."

"I'm sorry, Timmy," Georgie said to the hamster through the cage.

"Now, come on," Bill said, "we gotta c-clean up all this hamster food off of m-my floor now."

In this rare occasion, Georgie didn't complain about having to clean up—he was just grateful that he managed to get his beloved pet back safe and sound. And maybe from now on, he would listen to what his brother tells him a bit more often.

Maybe.