Music: "Ben" by Michael Jackson ♫
When I left the house today I had a lot of things I wanted to accomplish: exhanging a pair of sneaks I bought yesterday for a bigger size (Check.), swinging by Wal-mart for a couple of weekly essentials (Shampoo? Check. Toilet paper? Check. Mars Bar to fill the emptiness in my soul? Dayum skippy!), and a quick pit-stop at good ol' Mickey D's for lunch. (Yum! Is there anything their fries can't fix? *Drools* McCheck.)
Then it was off to PetSmart to hunt down some food for the furfamily and shamelessly oggle fish for an hour or two. Why? Because they like it. And because I can! :-P
Little did I know I was about to meet a cuddly little rodent I wouldn't be able to resist. [::Cues cheesy omonious music::] Dun, dun, dunnn...
Meet Nimue! (Pronounced NIM-oo-ay.) My new hooded blue pet rat! :-)
Isn't she adorable? She's sleepy here and resting her chin on my hand. I know--Awww! :-)
Now how in Ratatouille Hell did I manage to walk into a pet store in search of kibble and waltz out 45 minutes later with a rat-in-the-box? Good question!
I originally started off my adventure by asking to hold a teddy bear hamster who's serene cuteness while in it's tank lulled me into a false sense of security. I'll tell you, you haven't lived until you've seen a tubby little hammie hiss at you and roll over on it's back PREPARED FOR WAR! RAWR!! Of course, the threat of being bitten was another matter entirely. Hamsters may be cute but they don't play. They GANGSTA, baby!
So Sherri, the lovely clerk helping me out, suggested I try a Russian dwarf hamster instead: smaller, calmer, and more "mousy"-looking but not really my cup of tea. I'd already owned a Russian dwarf named Viktor when I was a teenager and he basically stayed in his cage. Too much of a divo to share his greatness with the rest of the world! HUMPH! Then again, when you're only 3 inches long, the rest of the world can be the living room LOL
Grr! I wanted a fuzzy little friend I could actually cuddle, dagnabbit! (And I seriously wanna know why spellcheck popped up for that word! *Stompsfoot* Oldcootisms are the best, man!)
That's when I spied the chinchilla cage and found myself magnetically drawn to it. An ex (who shall remain nameless!) once told me about his pet chinchilla and how supersoft its fur was. OOOOH! FLUFFY!
So I asked Sherri if I could pet the chinchilla... *Blinkblink* I swear, it's not as kinky as it sounds!
Ohmygosh! It was so soft you'd think it'd been dipped in Snuggle® fabric softner and professionally dry cleaned before she'd handed it to me. Unfortunately, it had a price tag to go along with it. $149!!!!!! I shit you not! Were they going to throw in Scotchgard™ with that too?
So I handed the chinchilla back to Sherri and looked around the remaining tanks in frustration. Guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits--oh my! All pets I've had before. *Le sigh* The gerbils were kinda cute but they reminded me too much of hamsters with tails. And don't even get me started on the diabolical mission of ferrets to take over the world.
*Le sigh* I was about to give up on ever finding a new little furball to call my own when Sherri's face lit up and she walked me over to another tank; one I hadn't even seen because it was at the bottom of the case at floor level.
"I have the perfect pet for you," she said. "Now try to keep an open mind..."
My mind stayed wide open for about a minute and a half until I saw the rats she was lifting out of the tank then the top of my head slammed shut again.
"RATS?!" I said. Okay, so "said" is definitely an understatement. More like shrieked. Loud enough for several people to stop while passing us.
"Just try it," she said as she pulled out a gray and white rat and shoved it at me. "They're very loving and smart."
"Okaaay..." I'm sure the look on my face at that particular moment left no doubt to what I was thinking about her current mental state LOL
I took the rat from her and waited for Armageddon to begin. The end of the world surely was upon us because I was in a pet store holding a rat instead of running for the nearest Starbucks. (Mocha frappuccino? Check!)
Of course, I'd seriously underestimated the rat she'd just placed in my hands... ;-)
"This one's my favorite," Sherri said. "She's very sweet. I want to make sure she gets a good home."
I looked down at the rat as she cocked her little head to the side and looked up at me. "Well, she is kinda cute," I said tentatively, "...in a ratty sort of way."
Then Le Rat, who wasn't at all satisfied with being labeled kinda cute, decided to up the Cuteness Factor to a whole other level: she stood up on her hind legs, leaned in close to me, and touched her nose to my lips!
AWWWWWWW!!! :-) :-D XD
"DID SHE JUST KISS ME?!" I shrieked again, this time causing several dogs in the Grooming area to howl in pain.
Sherri's face lit up. "Yeah, she did. I wasn't sure if she'd do that for you. She loves giving kisses."
"OHMYGOSHYOU'RESHITTINGMENOWAAAYYYYY! I didn't know rats could do that?!?!"
Sherri's smile was stunning. "Rats can do all kinds of tricks. I own a few myself. My daughter's rat likes to sit on her shoulder while she works on the computer all day."
I don't remember what I said at that point because Le Rat stood up and tapped her nose against my lips again.
ELVIS ALMIGHTY!!! :-) :-D XD AND AWWWWW SHUCKS!!!!!!
Sherri mentioned wanting to find this particular rat a good home again. Yeah, mission accomplished, Sherri! LOL I was a goner and I knew it now. They had converted me!
"So what are you going to name her?" Sherri asked, quite shamelessly. Her grin definitely had "shiteating" written all over it.
I looked down at the adorable little fuzzbucket that'd somehow managed to turn my entire world upside down in two seconds seconds flat and I just knew...
"Nimue," I said. "I'll name her Nimue."
So it is written, so shall it be! ;-)
xoxo
Miss Mia
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