Yesterday morning Mus Mus didn’t respond in his usual enthusiastic way to ED’s morning greeting. As a matter of fact, he didn’t respond at all, because he was gone! He had climbed out of the glass aquarium in which he has been housed, and left. He didn’t actually scale the glass; we had added a cute wooden box designed for hamsters and such, that was big enough for him to stand up, stretching v-e-r-y tall, and reach the edge.

Needless to say, we were devastated.

Though I must say, I felt all along that he was nearby, and fine. (This is a special rapport that develops between some humans and their Very Special Rodents, or VSR’s.)

So we put food and water down on the floor , hoping to lure him, or at least keep him from becoming dehydrated, but we saw no sign of him all day.

Last night my sister called to give me the wonderful news that she had gotten her travel date (today’s her birthday, by the way—Happy Birthday T! What a wonderful birthday present!) ; everybody else in the house had gone to bed—things were very quiet and pretty dark; and while T and I were talking, I heard a faint scrabbling noise from the vicinity of the filing cabinet (Mus lives in on top of a low cabinet pushed right up next to the filing cabinet). I tiptoed over, just in time to see Mus climb over the rim of the aquarium, and jump in!

True love can’t be denied.