Luci

A tribute to a shy hamster

I remember when I first saw Luci - it was in our petshop and he was very young, about 4 weeks old, with long spidery legs and a head which was way too big for his body. While his other siblings were sleeping, he was trying to climb a wooden house - and he succeeded. I knew that very moment he was the one for me.

Luci, you were so shy - you never liked the cuddles and the big hand chasing you all around the cage trying to pet you. But we knew you loved us in your independent hamster way and we loved you back. You loved your tube where you could spend days, surrounded by food, only leaving it in the dark to spend yet another hamster day in a wheel. You were a master treat forager. You'd wake up when I did and got the first treat. Then you waited for Jan to wake up when I went to work and pretended you were lonely and hungry and needed a good-night treat. I still see your little nose in the corner of the cage, looking hopeful and cute and just irresistible.
When you got sick with tumor, you didn't give up. You lived for another two months, trying to maintain the quality of your life, still foraging for food, still coming to get your treats, though your belly was getting bigger and you were getting slow and tired.
I hope you found the biggest tube ever up there at the Rainbow Bridge, full of your most favourite honey yogurt treats you loved so much. You can now eat them as much as you want, nobody is going to say, Luci, these are not good for you, eat an apple instead.
Say hi to all our beloved furries and tell them we love them.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all aglimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Martina