Hi everyone!
Been thinking about one of my first ferrets (as in he was with me when we had Jess, Dylan, Giz and Spice, he was actually our 5th so…. Not really a first huh? Anyway) Charlie. Lots of funny stories about Charlie, even how he got his name is a bit of a funny story in a Are You Kidding That’s So Stupid kind of way but today I thought I’d share his first day with us…
I don’t actually know if we can describe it as his first day with us though because the first thing he did that day was disappear. He got to us at 3pm-ish, we’d had his are you kidding moment around 7/8pm, decided to keep him, put him in a quarantine cage and fast forward to the next morning.
So it was a Saturday, that’s actually really important because (more shocking news!) I was actually quite an athlete at that age (I was still the same build just constantly doing training) On Saturdays I had training from 10-12 so I got up at 7 cleaned the hamster out, fed the pets, cleaned them out, made sure everyone was ok and got their first cuddles then went back to bed to watch cartoons until I was told to get ready. So, they’d be left to their own devices between 9 and 1, at which time I got home, put my lunch in the microwave and saw a huge white cat-snake hopping across the garden from the kitchen window.
O. M. G. Charlie got out. And the little sh*t waited until I got home to run away. WHAT IS WITH THIS MONSTER? I didn’t know if that was better or worse, and still don’t. So I ran out tried to catch him, tried to lure him, went round the neighbours (an achievement for a kid who can’t even get enough control of her selective mutism to ask to go to the toilet), and eventually settle into sitting in the garden calling for him for literal hours.
The thing is, he was new to us. He didn’t know we were home yet, we didn’t know what he liked yet, he didn’t know us yet and we weren’t even sure if he knew his name. The chances of him actually coming home were… remote but what else was I supposed to do?
So, I sat there for hours and hours. Lunch be damned. Dinner damned. Think my mum was getting really worried about me at one point. I sat there in my training gear, covered in sweat, crying and shouting for hours and hours until it started to get dark (about 9pm).
Well that was it. He was never going to come home. It was getting dark and we’d never be able to see him, he didn’t know where home was or anything.
And then he appeared beside me.
Seriously! As soon as it started to get dark he must have started trekking his way home, then half hidden in shadow he ran back across the garden ( I was certain I was seeing things) and stuck himself under my arms into my lap and licking up my tears.
It was like he was saying “why are you crying? I’ll always come back” a promise he made good on a few times more in his lifetime.
Charlie was home, a home he knew would remain in no matter what, and he was so naturally loyal to me it breaks my heart to think about. After many hugs and kisses and treats he was popped back into his cage, securely this time, and I was shuffled off to eat something, have a warm shower and get ready for bed.
Moral of the story; check the locks. Always check the locks. You not sure you triple checked? Get your backside out your bed, find the torch and check those locks! Constant Vigilance!
And now you all know why I’m obsessive about locks,
Bye for now!