Holly the Hamster - RIP

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Hamster's are funny wee furry things aren't they? I didn't have a hamster when I was a child but it seems lots of my friends did. Not sure what I was missing out on really (not much you might say!).

In the last story about Mixtures, we didn't get to hear how she met her death, but there was little time for contemplation as the tale was swiftly followed by the memory of another friend who cried out that she'd murdered her first hamster.... I wonder if anyone else has a similar tale to that of Holly.....

Holly

“Holly was the name of my hamster – she was named after Christmas because that’s when I got her – and she loved playing outside her cage.

"I had gotten her lot of toys as you’d expect, but one in particular was one of those big plastic balls that you put them into and they run about. You know the ones, like caged balls rolling madly about the floor, propelled by a running hamster! I suppose whoever invented them had exercise in mind as well as fun. Well whatever, he probably made a fortune!.

"Well Holly loved that ball. It was almost like she’d run to it as soon as she was out of the cage, begging to be let in. I put her into her ball as usual one this one day and set her off on the bedroom floor.

"After a short while I realised the ball wasn’t moving at all and I went over to it and started it up again on a roll across the floor – I thought she was just tired. Still there was nothing in terms of a direction after the ball hit the door . I went over to it and picked it up. Oh, but you’ll never guess what I’d done (as she hides her face in horror). I’d killed Holly! Hard to believe isn’t it!?

"But it wasn’t through exhaustion as you might think – I suppose their heart capacity is quite small after all - no, it was worse than that. When I’d put her in the ball and closed the door, her leg must have got stuck. She was hanging by her wee leg, upside down, from the door of this plastic ball.

At this point we, the audience to this tale of woe, were all wide mouthed and eyed with a sympathetic “ohhhhhh” sound radiating from us at different pitches.

"Well, I snapped it open, but it was no good. I think the motion of the ball and her hanging the way she was, all the blood must have gone to her head.

"I buried Holly under the hedge in the front garden and my Mum planted some flowers over the spot the next month. Do you know what else, I buried her with the ball. No, not in it, but just by her side. I couldn’t bear any other hamster using it, it wouldn’t be right. She’d have probably haunted it!."