With One Kiss
The chubby hamster who yesterday morning was still a hairy human freezes in mid action. Something at the back of his mind tells him he's not alone in this bright airy room. He drops the raisin in his cute pink paws and raises his head, and looks straight into the beautiful amber eyes of a curious cat. He looks around in slow motion and nearly faints. Twitching whiskers, slashing tails, and silent stare. Cats. He's surrounded by a bunch of cats. His head goes blank. His mouth goes dry. He hates cats. He's scared of cats. They are planning to eat him, he's sure, after toying and torturing him half-dead and making him beg for mercy. He's paralyzed with fear. He starts shaking. He needs to run. He needs to hide. He needs someone to pop out of nowhere and save his life.
"Help." He manages to squeak in a choking whisper as fragments of his too short life flashing in front of his teary eyes. "Somebody help." Several of the cats tilt their heads sideways slightly as if intrigued by his shrill rodent voice, and the amber-eyed tabby right in front of him presses closer to the wall of the aquarium just as Lula walks through the half-opened door and lets out a shriek. The little hamster slides to the floor unable to move while his two sitters try all they can to get the 13 cats out of the room.
He lets out a ragged breath. He can't help asking again what he has done to deserve this. He's pretty sure his heart stopped for a whole minute when the tabby gave him that predatory smile. How is he going to accomplish the impossible task? He asks himself. How is he going to survive this ordeal? The invisible clock hovering inside his head keeps telling him he doesn't have any time to waste, but he simply has not a clue how and what to do. What if he's doomed? What if he's trapped? What if he has to remain a hamster for the rest of his life? He goes straight into panic mode and immediately starts to hyperventilate. Maybe this is better. He dazedly thinks as the world gradually becomes a blur around him. Maybe this is his only way out. Maybe this is his salvation. Maybe he can just die and go to heaven...
"Oh my God! Rex! Do something, quick!"
He doesn't hear the alarmed cry. He doesn't feel the firm but gentle grasp of a giant human hand. He does, however, finally see those full, supple, beautifully shaped lips coming closer and closer toward his face but alas, it's too late. And thus Joe Morelli loses his first kiss, as a hamster, to Ranger's animal-loving second-in-command, Tank.
And nope, they are not meant for each other, I'm afraid.