ITSY BIT: The Happy Hamster
By
John
G. Sutton
The
following story is taken from my book ‘Animals Make You Feel Better’
published by Element/Penguin it tells the true story of my friend Dr. Lois J.
Barin and how a little hamster helped her cope with her stressful studies.
Lois
J. Barin suffers from an allergic reaction to dogs, cats, horses, tree pollen,
weeds and hamsters. Whenever Lois comes into contact with any of these she
begins to sneeze, her eyes run and breathing becomes difficult. Her consultant
allergist has stipulated no contact with
any of the above and whilst Lois is quite content to stay away from horses,
dogs, cats and of course weeds, she simply can't resist hamsters. You see
hamsters make her happy.
It
all began back in the year 1979, Lois knew she was allergic to many things
including most pets, but she just loves animals. Having tried befriending
goldfish and getting nothing but a few bubbles and the odd fishy stare through
the side of the tank, Lois decided she had to have a little friend to care for.
Dogs and cats were out of the question, they would scatter fur all over the
house reducing Lois to a coughing, sneezing wreck. What she needed was a much
smaller creature that could be controlled within a small area. A friend
suggested hamsters and as soon as Lois held one in her hand she fell in love.
Her
very first furry pet was a long-haired hamster she called Bear. It wasn't really
like a bear, much smaller, but it was very brave and would nibble even the
biggest nut. Lois was captivated by this wonderful friendly little thing. Bear
had so much personality and seemed to like entertaining Lois with funny tricks,
running on her exercise wheel and hopping up and down the cage. To Lois,
Bear seemed to be trying her little
best to amuse, in return she cared for the tiny creature. This was the start of
Lois's long love affair with happy hamsters. When she told her
allergist he was not amused, to put it mildly. However it was too late, Lois was
hooked on hamsters.
Over
the next twelve years Lois looked after Bear and a succession of
hamsters, she placed the cage
near to the table holding her computer. As she worked away, writing her thesis
for a Masters Degree her little pal would shuffle about and whenever Lois looked
at her pet she felt relaxed. The sight of her
funny furry friend
going about its daily life
brought joy into her heart. Often she would stop writing and feed her hamster
pal a treat, the pure pleasure of watching it nibbling away cleared Lois's mind
and filled her with peace and the strength to continue her very demanding work.
Then,
on the very day she was to present her Masters thesis to the board of examiners
at the Ohio State University, her
latest hamster, a fluffy furry
thing called The Grinch, died. It
took all of Lois's determination to leave the house that morning. The cage stood
empty at the side of her desk, the little wheel that Grinch had loved to run
upon was still now. There was a silence in the room that seemed to surround
Lois, in that silence she remembered the happy hamster that she had loved and
cared for. Then she began to sneeze.
Perhaps
it was the pollen in the air, or maybe a nervous reaction to the sad loss of The
Grinch her furry friend. Whatever it was Lois sniffled, coughed and wheezed her
way through the examination by the university professors. Despite this she
passed with flying colours.
Later
that day Lois went to see her
allergist, when she told him about The Grinch, far from sharing her sorrow he
seemed pleased. 'No more animals!' he said and made Lois promise, 'No more
hamsters'. Feeling weakened by the events of the day Lois did promise, but it
was a promise she was destined not to keep.
In
the year 1996 Lois J. Barin began studying for a Ph.D. she knew this would be
hard work, made harder by the fact that she had no little furry friend to watch
as she worked away each night on her computer. Still, if she wanted to achieve
her goal then work she must. The days were all right, she could see the
squirrels and an occasional chipmunk climbing the trees outside her window as
she punched the keyboard of her
word-process programme. But the nights in
that dark and friendless room were lonely. There, on the table next to her desk,
was an empty space where once the happy hamsters had played.
It
was in the January of 1996, the cold winds blew through the deserted streets and
even the interior of Ohio State University seemed frozen. In the canteen Lois
sat sipping a cup of hot tea with a
group of her colleagues. Lois listened in horror as one lady told how her
daughters hamster had given birth to another baby. 'I hope the dog doesn't eat
this one' she said.
Her
head seemed to spin, 'What!' she said 'your dog ate a baby hamster?', Lois was
in shock. 'Why don't you take the hamster?' her friend said. In a
flash Lois agreed. It might not please her allergist but she couldn't let
a lovely little furry baby get eaten by a great hungry hound. That night she
went round and collected it. The tiny thing was no bigger than
one of Lois's thumbs, as it nestled in the palm of her hand, she fell in
love, again. She couldn't care less
about her allergist, with a hamster in her hand.
Lois
named her new pet Itsy Bit, because she was just an itsy bitsy little thing.
Back home she washed out the cage and cleaned everything so much that it all
sparkled. Itsy Bit soon made herself at home and Lois placed the cage where it
had stood before, next to her desk. As she sat, staring at that tiny creature,
watching it tunnelling into the wood chips and nibbling at the treats Lois had
placed in its cage, she felt so much better. It was as if her home was complete
now, without a bundle of furry fun it had seemed so empty.
Over the next few months, as Lois worked hard on her Ph.D. research thesis, she would often stop and stare at Itsy Bit as she played on her wheel or hopped around the cage making her little bed. Just watching this hamster brings happiness to Lois, she feels that they are both together working hopefully, travelling forever forward towards some unseen goal. With Itsy Bit by her side Lois knows that she has a friend on this long journey of self discovery. And in this often difficult life the unselfish love of a true friend is something to be treasured above gold.