It's Time To Play

He rolled over on his soft purple bed and found himself staring through bars at bright brown eyes.

“What are you?” the eyes squeaked.

“I’m a hamster. What are you?”

“A mouse. Why are you in the cage?”

“It’s where I live.”

“Kind of tight, isn’t it?”

The hamster looked around his little home. “It’s ok, I like it. Where do you live?”

“Everywhere. I play in the walls most days. Do you have a name?”

“They call me Charlie, what about you?”

“I’ve been called Scat a couple of times, so I guess it’s Scat. What’s that?”

Charlie looked to where Scat’s nose was pointing. “It’s called apple. I get some every day. It’s good; would you like to try some? I can push it over.”

“Why don’t you come out and play?”

“I can’t get out of the cage, they keep it locked.”

“How come?”

“The boy that takes care of me called Matty says it’s to keep me safe. Once he thought I got out and he made this loud noise and water came out of his eyes. I was just hiding under my bed though, so when he saw me the water stopped.”

“I can unlock it from here, let’s go run around.”

“Well…ok…but I have to be back here before it gets dark. That’s when the boy that takes care of me comes back.”

Charlie stood back, whiskers twitching as Scat opened the cage door. Jumping down off the shelf the two new friends ran through the room, and headed for the other spot where the good smells were coming from.

“Look Charlie, crumbs. Lot’s of good food here. Wait, what’s that smell?”

They looked along the kitchen up to the table where something was starting to move.

“Oh,” said Charlie. "They call him Cat.”