Waddles aka Mr. Wobbles

Shady Hamster Pet ID: 3009
My hang out: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

My mug shots …

Here’s my story … (FICTION)

It had been a long week. In fact, looking back, it had been a long two months. It was exactly that long ago when my family decided to go and live in Australia. When they left, they took the dogs with and left me behind. I wasn’t that unhappy. They didn’t really look after me that well, and their dog was so big it could have swallowed me whole and still be hungry.

I was a bit chubby, especially around the mouth. That was because the wheel had been broken for a while, and no one had bothered to replace it. I still wasn’t enough to provide a decent meal. My legs were skinny because I hadn’t been working out on the wheel. They always say, ‘never skip leg day.’ I had been skipping every leg day now for the whole two months. When they left, my family took me to another house, and I became a member of a new family.

The new family were adorable. They fed me and gave me fresh shavings to sleep on and put me on a windowsill so that I had a fantastic view of the garden and of the pool. I had plenty of sunlight, and it gave me energy. I ate all the delicious food, and I rested in the sun. I was a content hamster.

Except for maybe a little bit lonely at times. I loved it when the 7-year-old girl came and spoke to me and tickled me and picked me up to show her friends. I was so happy when the mom or the dad came and talked to me and whispered some strange guttural sounds in a language that I don’t know.

I also enjoyed watching the two dogs, playing in the garden, in the sun. I longed to play with them, to go and scurry around in the garden, in nature and in vegetation. I decided that I was going to escape the cage. I was going to go outside and play with the dogs and be out and about in nature.

Finally, the day arrived. The day when I was going to get out of the cage and head outside to play with Harvey. He’s the Jack Russel puppy, who plays all day long around the pool. He eats sticks and runs around like a crazy thing all day, and it seemed he needed some company.

I didn’t want to run away though, I just wanted to go and play for a while with Harvey. Then they can put me back in my cage for the night. Did I tell you they call me Mr Wobbles? My real name is Waddles, but due to an error in communication with the 7-year-old girl, I was renamed Mr. Wobbles. It’s not the best name, but I’m not complaining. She feeds me grapes.

When she opened the cage to clean it, I put my sunglasses on and slipped out, behind her back. She didn’t even notice. I quickly ran out the back door and scuffled across to Harvey. He was intently gnawing on a big piece of firewood. I crept up to him and gave him a surprise by shouting,” Boo!”

To my astonishment, Harvey got such a fright that he jumped up fell straight into the pool with a splash.

I ran to the edge of the pool in fright, to save my new friend, but my arms were too short to reach out to him. My arms are too short for most things.

I looked around. The piece of firewood that Harvey had been chewing was hanging over the edge of the pool when he let it go and jumped in fright.

I felt terrible. I just wanted to make a new friend and play with him and talk about my family to him, and now he was in the pool. I nudged the big piece of firewood with my nose, and it teetered briefly before it slipped into the pool and floated toward Harvey. He grabbed on to it with eagerness and was thankful that he now had something to keep him afloat.

Harvey’s a puppy, and he is not an accomplished swimmer, and his legs are short, so he had to paddle extra when doing the doggy paddle. He looked tired already, after less than a minute, so the firewood was going to save him.

After a while, he relaxed, and I said to him. “Hi, Harvey. You don’t know me, but I’m the family hamster. Hellooo!”

“You gave me such a fright, that I fell into the pool,” said Harvey. “What kind of an animal are you?”

“I’m a hamster,” I replied, “and I want to be your friend.”

‘It’s a strange way to show friendship,” muttered Harvey. Frighten me so severely that I jump into the pool, and then give me my own piece of wood to float on.”

The problem was that Harvey was stuck in the deep end, and he wasn’t moving towards the shallow end and the steps. The filter was strong, and it was keeping him in a holding pattern in the deep end, and it showed no signs of releasing him.

I had an idea.

Gus, the fat Labrador, was sleeping in the sun. He loved to sleep, and a little bit of excitement like a dog in a pool talking to a hamster with sunglasses was not going to get him moving.

“Hey, Gus,” I called. “I’m your family hamster, and I’m Mr Wobbles.”

Gus lifted his head to look at me, but the effort was quite tiring, and after a quick look, his head was back on the floor.

“Gus! We need to help Harvey,” I shouted. This time there was urgency in my voice. “Will you jump in the pool here, and make some waves in the pool so that they will wash Harvey down to the shallow end and the steps?”

All Labradors love water, and Gus needed no second invite. He looked quizzically at me, stood up and on spotting Harvey floating around in circles, did a short run-up before a full-length belly flop into deep water.

The splashing and the waves produced quickly washed Harvey down to the shallow end and to the extraction point – the stairs.

Harvey lifted himself up from the stairs, and when he was entirely out of the water, he shook himself dry and walked around the pool to me.

Expecting the worse, I backed off, thinking that Harvey was going to have a quick meal out of this chubby little hamster with skinny legs.

Instead, the young and excited Harvey ran up to me and licked me, while laughing. “That was so much fun, Mr Wobbles!’ he said. “Can we do it again?”

Just then, all three animals heard a dreadful yell from inside the house, as the young girl suddenly discovered her hamster was missing. “Mom! Mr. Wobbles is missing! He’s gone!” Huge tears filler her eyes, and she started crying and wailing at the same time, a lovely sound as any parent will attest to.

“If we want to do it again, you need to get me back in there as fast as possible,” I said to Harvey. As per usual Gus just lay there, barely moving, drying out from his dip in the pool. He wasn’t going to be much help.

“Jump on my back,” said Harvey. I jumped on and held on tight to his short hair with my short arms. He snuck back in, and the cage was still on the floor, where the girl and her mom had been cleaning it. The girl was so busy crying and wailing that she didn’t even notice the little hamster scurry in and go straight into his room.

I winked at Harvey. “Thanks, dude,” I said. “We must do this more often.”

“I’ll pop in at your cage every day, now that I know where you live,” said Harvey. “Also, don’t worry, I know how to use my nose to open the cage, so we’re golden.”

He hurried off, and I started scratching around, making some noise. The seven-year-old saw me and shouted, “He’s back! Mr Wobbles is back!”

“Maybe he didn’t leave in the first place,” said her mom with a big sigh. Parents sigh a lot, I noticed.

Author: Craig Jarvis

PDF – Waddles – Series 2 Card (Print & Play)

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