Rachel Katz<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
December 3rd<\/sup>, 7pm. I stood outside the door, jiggling my foot as I waited for my knock to be answered. It\u2019s the kind of moment any babysitter knows well. Luckily for me, I was not fidgeting from nervousness, but from the desire to keep my foot from freezing.<\/p>\n I was not kept waiting long. About ten seconds after my knock, I heard the sound of a small body slamming into the door. I guessed whether it would be Ben or Jon. I had a 50\/50 chance of getting it right. It was Ben who answered. However, instead of being greeted with the twins\u2019 customary grins and shouts, they seemed a little down. Something was definitely amiss.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take long to learn what had happened.<\/p>\n \u201cHermes is missing,\u201d they cried, as soon as I stepped inside.<\/p>\n My heart skipped a beat for them. Hermes the hamster, a recent addition to their family, had quickly become a fixture in their house. Having never had a pet, I can\u2019t say I knew how they felt, but I knew I\u2019d be upset if I was their age (nine) and my pet had gone missing. I also thought that I would hate to be a hamster lost in their house.<\/p>\n I began formulating a plan. With the help of the twins, I set up a small, humane trap that was foolproof when catching mice in the summer at the cottage. However, the excitement did not begin until after the boys went to bed.<\/p>\n At around 10:30, I began hearing rustling and quiet clanging noises in the basement. I am slightly put off by basements in general, and this one was no exception. However, I decided that it was better to get over myself and find the fluffy fellow before the twins found that Hermes the hamster wasn\u2019t quite <\/em>as immortal as his godly namesake.<\/p>\n So with cage in hand, I descended into Hades- I mean the basement. I padded down the stairs and decided to start in the laundry room. I poked around for a bit, looking in corners and nooks. After that, I did a quick scan of the rest of the basement. Finding nothing, and hearing no more noises, I decided to return to the laundry area. This was a good decision on my part, because after a bit more searching, I caught sight of my quarry. He was huddled next to a toolbox, staring intently at me.<\/p>\n I made soft cooing noises and inched towards him. In a flash though, he vanished like the wind. Determined now, I waited a bit for him to settle before resuming my search. After tripping over boxes and slipping on bags I hadn\u2019t noticed, I relocated Hermes. Boldly, I stepped forward and then crouched in front of him. I quickly reached out and picked him up. Hermes went from being a docile, ain\u2019t-he-so-cay-oote fuzzball to deadly furry claws in less than a second. A wild struggle ensued. I tried to hold onto his squirming body while he did his best to wriggle away. Eventually I managed to wrestle him back into his cage and slam the door shut before bringing him upstairs again.<\/p>\n Once on the main floor, I relaxed. I had rescued the hamster-in-distress and had left a surprise for the twins when they woke up in the morning.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rachel Katz December 3rd, 7pm. I stood outside the door, jiggling my foot as I waited for my knock to be answered. It\u2019s the kind of moment any babysitter knows well. Luckily for me, I was not fidgeting from … Continue reading