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The blonde girl walked around the fair, glancing at the numerous animals and stopping every now and then to pet them.
She was glad that her tutors allowed her to have a pet in their house, knowing even a well-trained animal could eventually chew on furniture or shoes or ruin an expensive rug by peeing or pooping on it.
She was passing by the rodents area when she spotted something. It looked like an adult hamster, judging by the size, but it had no fur, and its skin was uneven, with large red spots that looked like bruises.
No wonder it was at an adoption fair. Who would be willing to pay for a pet who had such an unhealthy appearance?
Christine walked closely to the cage and noticed the hamster staring back at her, its snout trembling lightly and- could she be imagining it?- a frightened look in his mismatched eyes. Yes, the hamster had one light blue and one brown eye.
She tentatively snuck her fingers into the cage and at first the animal fled to the back. She didn’t give up, however, and eventually the small rodent walked back to the front, sniffling her fingertips.
“Ah, I see you’ve found one of our least attractive-looking options”, a vet came up to her looking slightly apologetic.
“It is… Unusual”, Christine granted with a smile. “But seems sweet.”
The doctor smiled back.
“There you are, Christine!”
“Mama! Look what I found!”
Mrs. Valerius approached the cage and blinked.
“Christine, my dear… I know hamsters are cute and don’t take too much space, but this one… It looks a bit sick”, she turned to the veterinary. “What happened to the fur?”
“It will probably never grow”, the doctor said truthfully. “He does have a skin condition, which we believe was caused by the environment his mother lived in, poisoning included, but otherwise we assure you he is perfectly healthy. All our animals are tested for a number of diseases before becoming available to adoption; I even have his test results here if you would like to see.”
“Oh, you’re a he?”, Christine mused, turning back to the cage. The little animal seemed to be expecting her hand and scooted closer to it. The girl then noticed his amber irises. “His eyes…”
“His eyesight is better than many of his species. It’s just the coloring. He is very smart as well, we believe he will have no trouble in learning a few tricks if you want to teach him.”
“What about his mother?”
“She survived. After she was cured a family offered to keep her.”
“And left the baby behind. Poor thing…”, Christine whispered.
Mrs. Valerius chuckled. That was her Christine, she thought, her neverending compassion extending even to such an unusual animal while most people would be disgusted or even scared. When the girl turned in her direction, there was no sign of hesitation.
“Can I take him?”
He didn’t really understand what was happening.
He knew he was in his cage, but otherwise the surroundings were unfamiliar. There seemed to be no walls and the ground was a dark color; he could see the other animals, dogs, cats, birds, and a lot of people walking around.
If he looked up, he could see the blue sky and the sun. They were definitely not inside the lab anymore.
Maybe the animals had been taken out for some sunlight and fresh air?
After receiving strange looks from people, or even being blatantly ignored, at one point he noticed a human girl coming towards him. Her face seemed… He couldn’t explain it, but her expression reminded him of the nurses that took care of him.
He was no expert in human, but in his opinion this girl looked very pretty.
When she offered her hand, his first instinct was to flee. She was going to hurt him like everyone else!
He was ready to scream for help- sure the doctors would listen? On second thought, where were them ?
However, the hand did not follow him, and he noticed she still had that same expression as the nurses. He decided to give it a try and slowly moved towards her. Her hand smelled like sugar and flowers and something else he did not know.
Ah! The doctor finally showed up! Didn’t he know this girl could have killed him? So much for a caretaker…
An old woman also approached them. Oh, so the girl was a Christine? He didn’t really know what that meant, but thought it suited her. A pretty word for a pretty girl.
There was her hand again. It felt warm and soft.
The humans talked some more and then his cage was moved around. Where were they taking him? What about the other animals? Wherever he was being taken to, his food was also brought along, so he knew he wouldn’t starve.
At one point, the Christine girl got into a large white machine, sat down and closed the door. Then she tied herself to her seat with something black and held his cage firmly on her lap. The machine started moving and took them to a house.
It appeared that he would live with her and the old lady from now on.
What happened exactly? Had he been expelled from the lab? He hadn’t done anything wrong!
There was an old man sitting at a large table. The Christine girl called him a “papa”, kissed his cheek and showed him the cage.
Had she called him an Erik?
The adoption paperwork, or rather what was left of it, since the clinic had something half-ready, was done quickly, and soon Christine and Mrs. Valerius were riding the car back home.
She analyzed her new pet, trying to figure out a nice name, and noticed that while he seemed to look at everything with curiosity, the small animal also looked… Sad?
Mr. Valerius was reading the newspaper at the dinner table by the time they entered the house. Christine ran in his direction and kissed his left cheek.
“Papa Valerius!”
“Hello, my dear. How was it? Did you find a new pet?”
“I did!”, Christine lifted the cage. “It’s a hamster!”
“I see that. But what happened to its fur?”, he frowned. “Is it an exotic species?”
“No. The doctor said he has a skin condition. His mother was poisoned and it caused him to be born like that. She was adopted, but they left him behind”. Christine’s eyes were big, like a child’s, and sadness tinged her voice.
Mr. Valerius sighed.
“Well, unfortunately there are very cruel people in this world. But he has you now, he has us. He is not lonely. There’s no reason to be sad anymore, okay?”, Christine nodded. “Good. Have you picked a name for him?”
“Yes!”, the girl beamed. “He’s Erik!”
His days at the new house with the Christine girl were very nice. She always made sure he was properly fed and had enough water on his small bowl, and cleaned his cage everyday- not that he spent too much time inside it.
Back in the lab, he was rarely allowed outside of his cage, for there were many large animals who could kill him accidentally, or even on purpose. Now that there seemed to be no potential threat, he took his time exploring his surroundings.
During daytime, the girl took him everywhere, even when she needed to leave the house. The pair earned a few stares, even a few nasty comments about Erik, but it never bored them; Christine couldn’t be happier with her pet, and Erik was too busy trying to take it all in. So many different sounds, colors and smells! So many things he hadn’t even dreamed of while confined in the lab!
As time passed, he realized Christine was rather lonely. On the times they went out, he noticed girls always walked in pairs or groups, but Christine never did. Her companions were either Erik, “Mama” or “Papa”, as she called the elderly couple who she lived with; they were not her real parents, Christine had confided him. One more thing they had in common: both were separated from their real families.
In front of other people, Christine made it look like she barely noticed she didn’t have many friends. One might think she didn’t even want to be friends with other girls. However, more than once, Erik had seen her cry after finding out she hadn’t been invited to a party, or after someone sent her a nasty text.
It broke Erik’s heart that the girl who took such good care of him, who didn’t mind he had no fur, who had never looked at him as if he was ugly or disgusting, had to endure these terrible people. Erik did his best to make her feel better, nuzzling her hand and even doing a few tricks she had taught him. It worked every time, and Erik vowed he would never leave Christine’s side, for as long as she needed him.
There was a visitor.
It was a boy, about Christine’s age, with golden hair and fair skin, who kept calling her “Lotte”. Erik had never heard anyone call Christine that, but he figured it might mean something for them, seeing as Christine beamed every time she heard it.
They had been talking in her room for some time when she glanced towards Erik’s cage and gasped.
“Oh, Raoul! I haven’t showed you my new pet!”
“Really? A pet?”, the boy seemed excited as well. “What is it? A puppy?”
“No, no, I didn’t want to risk Mama’s furniture being chewed on or scratched”, she got up from the bed as she spoke, walking towards Erik’s cage and taking him in her hands. “It’s a hamster. Raoul, meet Erik!”
Raoul grimaced as soon as he saw the small animal Christine was holding.
“What is that ?”
“ He is my new hamster, and his name’s Erik, thank you very much!”
“How do you even know that thing is actually a hamster and not some sewer rat? What happened to the fur? Whoever sold you this was lying.”
“He’s adopted, I didn’t buy him, and the vet from the fair said that he has a skin condition, that’s why he has no fur. His mother was poisoned!”
“And you believed him?”
“Of course I did, he’s a doctor!”
Raoul scoffed.
“At least you didn’t waste any money on it…”
Christine was on the verge of tears.
“Stop saying those things! And he’s not a thing , his name is Erik !”
Sensing his friend’s displeasure, and in an attempt to soothe it, Raoul held out his hands and decided to take a closer look. He couldn’t stand the fact his friend had been lied to.
The animal’s skin was clammy and a bit cold, but Raoul figured it was due to the lack of fur. Erik seemed too small to be a rat, and its front teeth weren’t proeminent like rats’ used to be. Perhaps this was a hamster afterall. A very sick hamster.
“Lotte…”, Raoul didn’t really know how to say it. That was when he noticed another unusual thing about his friend’s pet. “Since when do hamsters have yellow eyes?”
“Well, I don’t know… I’ve never seen anything like that either, but the vet said-”
“I think you should take him to a different vet.”
“Why?”
“There’s no way this animal can be healthy. You should… You should consider putting it down.”
That did it for Christine. Hot tears started cascading down her cheeks.
“Are you saying I should kill my hamster?”
“Lotte-”
“No!”, she cut him off. “Why are you being so mean? What did he ever do to you?”
“Christine, look at him! Look! He doesn’t even have fur, how do you know he’s not feeling bad? How do you know he’s not in pain? The vet was working at the fair where you adopted this, he’d say anything to get rid of it and you believed him!”.
Raoul shoved the hamster back into Christine’s hands, frustrated that someone had taken advantage of his friend’s innocence and she refused to see it. Erik took this opportunity to bite his hand. This boy had made Christine cry, Erik had to do something!
“OUCH! He attacked me!”
“Of course he did, you hurt him! It’s his instinct, all animals have it!”
“What if I get sick too?”
“He’s not ill, Raoul!”, Christine all but screamed.
“Why is he so ugly then? Look what type of pet you picked! No wonder everyone calls you a weirdo!”
Christine looked as if she had been slapped. Erik snuzzled her palm and licked her finger, trying to get her to smile again. She clutched him to her chest. Raoul realized what he had said and sighed.
“Lotte-”
“ Shut up. ”
Still holding Erik, Christine laid down on her bed and turned her back to the boy.
“Go away, Raoul.”
Erik never saw the boy again.
The days were getting cold.
Back at the lab, the doctors always made sure that the temperature indoors was appropriate for Erik’s lack of fur. Even though Christine’s room did also have a heater system, it was never quite the right temperature for him. “Papa” had helped her provide a bed to put inside the cage, so during the nights he could cover himself and sleep comfortably, but during daytime, no matter how much he ran around, there was always a chill in the air.
One day, Christine burst into her room and called him, interrupting his afternoon nap. Seeing her huge smile, however, Erik decided he could forgive it this time.
“I got you something!”
Erik chirped in return. Her excitement was contagious.
Cautiously, Christine took him out of his cage and sat on her bed. With Erik secured on her lap, she then proceeded to empty the contents of a small plastic bag in front of them. Small pieces of fabric of many different types.
Were those…
“Clothes!”, Christine exclaimed. “I sewed them myself. We’re getting close to winter and I thought you might be cold because… Well, because you have no fur, and I wanted you to be as comfortable as possible. I hope you like them”, she smiled.
Erik couldn’t believe his luck.
First, this amazing girl picked him at the fair. She could have chosen a faithful puppy, or a lovely kitten, or even another hamster who did have fur, but she chose him- him!
He knew they were the best of friends, even though he wasn’t able to fully communicate with her. She took him everywhere and confided him everything. She didn’t care about the strange looks or nasty comments.
She had even stood up for him against her friend! Erik hadn’t forgiven that Raoul boy for making Christine cry, but she seemed to have forgotten all about it.
And now… This. A bed, and clothes, so he wouldn’t be cold.
He was a very lucky hamster, indeed.