wheek!

They sit on our knees, wheeking.  Two fast growing bundles of fur that remind me so much of a peaceful place.

Bertie and Fluffy arrived three months ago.  It all started with a birthday present for our eldest grandson, now aged proud two.  His mother had spotted them on condemned row in Pets'R'Us .. the place they move the stock that never sells.  We bought Ted and Fred, two waif and stray guinea pigs, for little more than a half crown.  Then promptly paid a small fortune to kit them out.

What a surprise when we brought them home.

I used to breed guinea pigs as a child.  Dusty arrived first, a superb specimen of agouti, firm in limb and squeak.  He helped me settle into the new home we downsized to in the wake of my father's premature death.   It was so calming for a confused and frightened ten year old to bring my little furry friend the daily dandelions plucked lovingly from a neglected garden outside.

You might imagine the salty tears that ran down a fresh-faced cheek when dear Dusty disappeared into the undergrowth one day during his regular constitutional on the lawn.  The sun went down, and the cage lay empty ....

Heinz arrived a week later to take his place.  A harlequined beauty, small and demure. And imagine my joy when dear Dusty re-appeared squeaking from the undergrowth a little more than a week later.  We draw a discrete pubescent veil across what followed, but suffice to say a troupe of guinea piglets were the outcome!

Alas, we must put down these childish things.  Age fifteen, I met a girl.  We fell in love and childish things were no more.  The guinea pigs withdrew a distance at the insistence of my new love until ....

It all comes full circle.  Despite her reservations, the arrival of Ted and Fred as temporary visitors to our humbe abode thawed the heart of dear mrs electrofried. They spent much of their first weekend with us ensconced in her tender embrace and consuming prodigious quantities of expensive delicatessent greenage.  The Japanese mizuna took quite a pounding from what I can recollect.

You can imagine my deep and heartfelt joy come Monday when mrs electrofried announced we were off to forage out some piglets of our own. And so, welcome Bertie and Fluffie.


One wife, three children and two grandchildren later the guinea pigs have returned - as always, wheeking!!

best regards,

electrofried(mr)