It was decided that Fluffy was going to have to go away for the summer holidays.  He certainly couldn't stay at the school.  All the lab animals had to 'find' a home during the summer and it was usually a teacher's home.  So I had to choose between Fluffy or the Corn Snake.  Guess who I chose?  It was then that I realized that Fluffy 'existed' and was a small animal requiring the basic needs of life.  I had to clear Fluffy's move into our apartment with my husband and it was then that HE decided to call Fluffy...Harry the Hampster.

I still remember that hot June day, with Harry in his cage on the back seat.  To think that I actually thought he was going to 'escape' and crawl all over the car was quite silly.  But I couldn't help myself, and I kept looking back at the cage all the way home.    Harry, having NO IDEA that his life was going to undergo a HUGE change and being nocturnal, slept all the way there.

 He was a lonely hamster.  I really didn't notice him and in fact did not really want to even touch him.  He didn't have a real name.  I think the students called him, "Fluffy" but I was not interested in this small mouse-like creature and told the students to leave him alone.  My priority was teaching not small animals in the science lab.  But teenagers are teenagers and every class began with one or two students trying to grab "Fluffy" and rudely disturb his sleep.  He was after all nocturnal.  

How did Fluff survive?  Well, he kept himself lodged in the tube that lead to his sleeping area that way the annoying fingers of teenagers couldn't grab him and subject him to too many hands.  Despite the constant noise of the class room and the attempts to grab him (when they were bored), Fluff managed to adjust to his environment.  His only friends were Cheryl and Leslie, the custodians.  They were slowing killing him with kindness by feeding him ketchup potatoe chips and spending time with him on their lunch break.   

To be continued......