Hammy

• Niamh Bauer , Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2020

Hammy

Brr, brr, brr . My phone vibrated against the kitchen table. Switching it off silent I glanced at the caller ID, Stella Summers, I swiped at the screen and held it to my ear.
“hey Lucy, it's Stella how’s it going?”
“Great” I answered,
“Are you free today?”
“Ah, I'm actually going to-”
“That's great, can you look after Hammy for me today, I’m going to the shopping centre, you know how they feel about him visiting! No animals allowed!

My face went pale not Hammy! Every time I look after him something disastrous happens! Hammy is a hamster, he lives in a hamster ball and goes everywhere with Stella, he is her fur baby.
“uh, I don’t know," I answered unsurely
“Pretty please”, she pleaded, “with sprinkles on top?”
“Fine!” I groaned giving in, Stella let out an exited squeal
“I'll be there in ten!”
Ten minutes later I was standing in my driveway watching Stella pull away, and in my arms I held a plastic round ball and inside that ball was a tiny ball of terror! Now, today I was supposed to be going to the bowling alley to play a game with my friends. We were playing a in-house competition and the winner got a free membership at the bowling alley for a year. And there was no way that I was going to miss this game for a hamster! With that I hopped in my car, hamster in tow, and headed straight for the bowling alley.
At the bowling alley I was losing! My friends were getting strike after strike! With frustration I picked up my next ball, I tried to slot my fingers into the grips but there were none! Panicking, I threw the surprisingly light ball before it slipped out of my hands and hit my toes. The ball thundered as it connected with the runway. I crossed my fingers as the ball lined up with the pins, but something wasn’t right. The ball looked clear with a brown tinge! I turned around to where Hammy was meant to be on the lounge, but it was empty!
Freaking out, I helplessly looked at the ball containing my friend’s beloved hamster, it was picking up speed by the second! Hammy was running as fast as his little legs could carry him toward the pins, an evil grin broke out on his face as he collided with the pins and disappeared below. Strike! crackled the loudspeaker as all ten pins fell to the ground.
After five hours of excavation in the bowling alley we recovered the hamster, who was completely fine. In the end I gave up the year’s worth of free membership (which I had won) to a hysterical Stella who will probably never recover from this unique ordeal.

Postscript : This story was based on a limerick I wrote in 2019
I once took my best hamster bowling
when all of a sudden it went rolling
he slipped down the runway
there was only on way
so don’t let your hamster go strolling