Elvis

"Come with me to buy this rescue hamster", my neighbor said. "It's somewhere up north in the sticks and I feel a bit uncomfortable dealing with a person I've never met out in the middle of nowhere."

"Ok", I said.

All turned out well, her daughter is in love and frankly, so am I, and I get to take care of him for a few days. Score!! Piece of cake, because the care instructions penned by his 10 year old owner fill two pages. Can't possibly mess anything up. She is obviously smitten and committed to caring for him the very best she can.

Besides being the cuddliest and most sociable rodent I've ever met, he also brings back fond memories of our first two pets after we were married: Hermes the hamster and Charlotte the hamster.

Hermes was a sweetheart and used to sit on Mr. M's heartbeat till they both nodded off. Charlotte, the Siberian hamster was a little turd, a biter, an escape artist. It once took me five days to lure her out of the small furnace room in our first apartment.

It does appear that Elvis has, since his rescue day, lost the thing that prompted me to call him Elvis on the drive home; the small, swirly tuft of hair above his forehead. It must have just been wet and clumped from a fervent cleaning session.

Hmmm, I always said no more pets after our kitty goes but now I'm wondering.....