Bonnie's New Home

[baby_snow_white]

Mary smiles and has pieces of celery in her teeth. "Which hamster was that?" She nods and dips the celery into the jar of peanut butter and then puts it on the plate. Mommy, did Jayme tell you about April and Gina? They can't eat peanut butter. They get sick and their skin gets red and bumpy. Jayme had to rush them to the hospital to keep them from getting worse."

[robehouse]

"Really? It sounds like they are allergic to peanuts. I will have to watch what kind of snack foods we get in. Sometimes they are made on machines that make peanut snacks."

When Mary has dipped all the celery in peanut butter she picks up the plate. She leads Mary back up to Jayme's bedroom and sets the tray down on the table next to the hamster cage.

"Go ahead and see if Bashful will eat the treat out of your hand."

[baby_snow_white]

Mary looks confused. "What does allergic mean mommy?" She takes one of the celery off the tray and opens the cage door. Mary puts her hand in the cage and suddenly Polka Dot starts to stir. Polka Dot comes off the wheel and over to Mary. "This isn't for you. This is Bashful's piece of celery. Bashful jumps on Polka Dot and bites his ear. "Listen you two. There is no need in fighting. There is enough for the two of you." Mary picks up Bashful and holds him in her hand. She feeds him with her other hand. "Mommy, will you check on Polka Dot and make sure Bashful didn't hurt him when he bit Polka Dot on the ear?"

[robehouse]

Tracy watches as Mary puts her hand in the cage with the celery. She watches Polka Dot start over then Bashful biting his ear.

"That was not cool, Bashful." Tracy picks up Polka Dot and checks him over. There is a red spot on his ear but it is not bleeding. She pets Polka Dot a couple of times and puts him back in the cage.

"I guess Bashful feels that you are his owner and not Polka Dots. I guess you will have to be careful. Do you think I should get the other girls to feed their own hamsters?"

[baby_snow_white]

Mary nods. "Mommy is right Bashful. There is no fighting or biting in the house. We all have to get along. You have to share the cage with Polka Dot. So you need to get along with him. You don't want to be put into the big cage with all the other hamsters do you? No I didn't think so. You didn't like it in there with all those hamsters." She lightly strokes Bashful's fur as she talks. Mary nods. "Yes I think so. They need to be part of feeding their hamsters. I've probably bonded with my hamster more than the other girls have with their's. Pets are to be loved and played with. Not just looked at in their cage and the only time you pay any attention to it is when you feed it. That is no way to treat a pet or a child."

[robehouse]

"I think you will have to teach Bashful to be patient with Polka Dot. He was just doing what hamsters normally do."

"Okay, I am going to go downstairs and tell the other girls they can feed their hamsters a treat."

Tracy goes downstairs to the living room. "Mary and I made up some treats for the hamsters. They are on a plate in Jayme's room. You can go up and feed your hamsters a treat."

[baby_snow_white]

Mary nods. "Yes I am going to have to. I will not put up with Bashful being mean to Polka Dot. They are roommates."

Hannah looks at Tracy. "If Mary made the treat. It is probably poisonous to the hamsters. She can't do anything right." Bonnie stands up and looks at Hannah. "I've had about enough of you and your attitude. You know that Mary can do things without messing them up. You got upset when we was laughing at you for crying. How do you think we feel when you pick on us and say mean things to us? It hurts us too. If you can't say something nice. Then keep your mouth shut."

Gina smiles. "We will never hear another word from her."

Bonnie shoots Gina a look. "I don't need your two cents worth. Your comment just now was uncalled and not needed at all." She walks out of the living room and goes up the stairs.

All the girls had a shocked look on their faces. April looks at Tracy. "Mommy, what is wrong with Bonnie? She has never yelled at us like that. She is always so soft spoken. Bonnie was acting like a totally different person. Like someone took over her body." The other girls nodded in agreement.

[robehouse]

"Bonnie's right. You don't like the way Hannah talks to you so you shouldn't talk to her like that."

"I don't know. Maybe she got tired of you girls talking the way you do."

"I still have celery and peanut butter treats upstairs for your hamsters. Why don't you go up and give them to your hamsters?"

[baby_snow_white]

The girls run upstairs to Jayme's room. They see Mary setting on the floor infront of the cage and the plate was empty. April looks at Tracy after she came upstairs. "I thought you said there was celery and Peanut butter treats for the hamsters? There is nothing on the plate." Mary turns around and has peanut butter all over her face and fingers.

[robehouse]

Tracy looks at the empty plate and then at Mary's face. "Looks like the big hamster ate all of them. I will go down and make some more."

Tracy walks down to the kitchen and gets out some more celery and cuts it up into little pieces. she smears peanut butter on the celery pieces and then brings them back upstairs.

"Okay, here are the treats. I made extra in case you want to try some yourself. Everyone except April and Gina can have some. I don't want to run to the hospital tonight."

[baby_snow_white]

Mary nods. "Yes I did. I tried to resist,but I couldn't. They was too good not to eat."

The girls except for April and Gina takes the plate and goes to the playroom to feed the treats to their hamsters. April looks at Tracy. "So Jayme told you about our allergy to peanuts? I don't know how we are going to give our hamsters their treats without touching the peanut butter."

Mary shakes her head. "No I told her April while we was making the treats." She thinks for a moment. "I can do it for you. I wouldn't want the two of you to blow up like big balloons." Mary runs out of the room to go to the playroom.

April looks at Gina and Gina looks back at April. "Who was that and what happened to our Mary?"

Gina looks at Tracy. "Mommy, did you give her a personality change in the kitchen? She rarely talks and never offers to help out with anything."

April nods. "That is true. She stands in the background and blends in to the surroundings."

[robehouse]

"I'm sorry, I guess I should have brought up some plain celery for your hamsters. I'll have to remember to do that next time."

Tracy walks over to the playroom to see the hamsters eat their treats. "Be careful girls. Hamsters go crazy when it comes to treats. Bashful bit Polka Dot's ear. He is alright though."

"I guess having something to take care of like her hamster helped Mary be more outgoing."

[baby_snow_white]

April nods. "That's ok. I'm sure our hamsters like the peanut butter on their celery. We just can't feed it to them." She shrugs. "I guess so. I kind of like this new Mary."

Bonnie looks at Tracy. "Bashful bit Polka Dot? I didn't think he would do that. He seemed too shy to hurt anyone. Just like Mary is too shy to do anything to anyone."

[robehouse]

"Yeah, Mary and I were surprised when Bashful bit Polka Dot. She did it because Polka Dot had got off the wheel and started towards Mary who was holding the treat in her hand. I guess you never know about hamsters or people. Under the right circumstances, anyone can do almost anything."

Tracy keeps watching the girls feed the treats to the hamsters.

[baby_snow_white]

Bonnie nods. "Yeah I guess you are right mommy." She goes back feeding her hamster the treat."

Jayme rolls over to Tracy. "Did I hear you right. Polka Dot was attacked by Bashful? Did he get hurt?" She looks over at Mary. "It seems Mary has came out of her shell. It was about time. All it took was something alive to take care of and care about."

[robehouse]

"Yes Bashful bit Polka Dot's ear. I picked Polka Dot up and checked him over. He seems to be alright. You can go check for yourself if you want to. We are going to have to keep an eye on those two for sure. It's been a while since the bite and it might be more visible now."

[baby_snow_white]

Jayme nods. "Yes we are. I hope this was a one time thing and is not going to be a daily thing when it comes to feeding time." She leaves the playroom and goes to her room. Jayme opens the cage and takes out Polka Dot. She looks at Polka Dot's ear. It was red and bloody. "Oh you poor baby. Did Bashful bite you? Well you don't look to worse for wear. I think you will survive. I don't know what happened and I don't really care. You and Bashful are going to have to get along."

[robehouse]

"Me too. We will have to watch and if they appear ready to attack the other one we need to step in."

Tracy comes over to the two cages and reaches into one of them. She pets some of the hamsters a few times, being careful not to touch the ones that were still eating. she was afraid they might bite her, thinking she was trying to steal their treat.

[baby_snow_white]

Jayme nods. "Yes we are going to have to step in and put a stop to it before one or both of them gets hurt."

Bonnie looks at Tracy. "Mommy, Are you afraid of the hamsters? You seem scared to touch them. You don't have to worry. Our hamsters are more behaved than Mary's hamster."

Mary looks at Bonnie. "It wasn't Bashful's fault he attacked Polka Dot. I think he thought Polka Dot was going to hurt me. So he was protecting me. Don't say my hamster is not behaved." She storms out of the playroom and goes to Jayme's bedroom. Mary takes Bashful out of the cage and starts to rub him. "Bonnie said you was not well behaved,but you are very behaved aren't you? Yes you are. Bonnie doesn't know what she is talking about."

[robehouse]

"No, I am not afraid of the hamsters. They are cute "

Tracy sits back and watches the girls play with their hamsters.

[baby_snow_white]

Bonnie nods. "Ok mommy." She goes back to playing with her hamster.

April looks at Tracy. "Mommy, can you be the starter? We want to race our hamsters so they can get some exercise after eating their treats."

[robehouse]

"how are you going to race them? put them in the balls first?

"okay, 0ne, two, Three, GO!"

[baby_snow_white]

April nods. "I guess we can. I thought about just letting the run on the floor."

Bonnie looks at April. "If we are going to race. We should ask Mary to bring Bashful to race with us."

Gina shakes her head. "Do we have to? Bashful might attack our hamsters if he loses."

Bonnie nods. "Yes we have to. He is part of the family and we can't leave him out."

April looks at Bonnie. "Says who?"

Bonnie looks at April. "Says me. We are not going to exclude him from the races."

Gina looks at the two of them. "There is an easy way to settle this. We vote. "Have many want to include Bashful in the races?" Bonnie and Jayme raise their hands. "How many don't?" The rest of the girls raised their hand. "Sorry Bonnie and Tracy. You was outvoted."

Bonnie nods. "Fine if you are not going to include Bashful. Then Renegade is not going to race."

Gina nods. "Fine then." April and Gina puts their hamsters in the balls and sets them on the floor. They give the balls a slight push when Tracy says go.

[robehouse]

Tracy listens to the girls talking. She shakes her head.

"Bashful only bit Polka Dot's ear because he thought Polka Dot was going to take the treat from Mary. He is not agressive normally."

Tracy watches as April and Gina put their hamsters in the balls and set them on the floor. After the girls push the balls the hamsters start rolling across the floor.

[baby_snow_white]

April nods. "That might be true mommy, but we don't want to take that chance. Bashful might attack all the other hamsters like he did with Polka Dot."

Jayme hears something at the door and looks over just in time to see the back of Mary running off. She looks at the girls. "Bonnie, this is not aimed at you,but I hope all of you are happy with yourselves. Mary heard what you said about Bashful. You all should be ashamed for yourself. I don't believe Bashful is agressive either. If I thought he was. I wouldn't keep Polka Dot in the same cage as Bashful. Animals don't think like humans do. They have simple minds. Bashful thought Polka Dot was going to take his food and he did what was instint to him. He attacked Polka Dot to get him away from his food."

Gina's hamster gets to the wall first. "Yah my hamster is faster than April's is." The girls take turns racing their hamsters and Gina's hamster was faster than the other hamsters.