max in his younger days."I sure hope she's pregnant."
An odd thing for
George to be saying when he walked into the bedroom at about 1 a.m.
"Who? Huh?"
"The hamster--I hope she's pregnant."
"Why?"
"'Cause he's dead. Dead dead dead."
That's how I came to learn that our
elderhamster Max, AKA Marshmallow, loving husband to Cupcake and the longest living hamster in show business, had been
Promoted to Glory as they are known say in The Salvation Army.
It was bound to happen. He had far surpassed the average hamster lifespan of 2-3 years, survived innumerable
stupid hamster tricks and a lengthy marriage to his
first wife, Coco, who
ate their 13 babies back in 2005 after
I mistakenly separated mom from babies. He was also the sweetest hamster we've ever had, and father of all hamsters we've ever had, except for his two wives.
I think of Coco, who
died last year on Halloween, and the birth of
their first litter of babies, spitting like popcorn from the hamster wheel. I think back on when I tried to figure out
what to tell Jenna and opted for the truth.
She heard us talking tonight and already knows about Max. She's glad it's not the cat. A story for another day.
Recently we could tell that Max was aging fast, and that's when George came up with the idea to get him
a new mate in Cupcake. We did a trial run with them in the same cage a month ago, but no babies. We put them back together a couple of weeks ago, so we're really
hoping for some offspring to remember Max by.
Babies or not, Max you were a gentleman among hamsters. I'll miss you.
==
