Sunny
As I walk into the room a quite rustling touches my ears. I hear the urgent squeals of a
small creature from the large metal enclosure on the low table to the left of my door.
I kneel down and take the neon orange vegetables from my hands. The creature
approaches breathless. I hear his thoughts "Where have you been? Did you bring me
carrots? You'd better have" The creature gentle nibbles the end of the baby carrot, to
ensure it is food, and not a finger or something it is sound to nibble on. Then it rips the
cylindrical vegetable out of my hand an runs triumphantly around it's habitat, hopping
and leaping with joy at it's prize, and then it hides, to devour it's prey the weak and
defenseless baby carrot screams silently.
As the creature is coalksed out he lays upon my chest and scrambles next to my face,
nesting his soft nose beneath my chin. He makes a noise affectionately know by those
who own the domesticated cavy as a ‘chubble’, and strange pig like weeping noise. The
sound of interest. He speaks in little movement to me as the tears slide down my face,
tears from the hot burning pain in every joint in my body. He nuzzles close and spreads
out his warm tiny body, speaking louder until I hear the broken words “Are you alright?
You look tired? Those humans don’t understand you like I do. You’re just like me.
Except bigger, and bald. You’re just a guinea pig, in a human’s skin.”
I feel so connected to this creature who a year prior I saved from a small dirty terrarium
at a pet store in Freehold. He is small enough to fit in my hands but large enough for my
other pets, my cats, to not see him as prey. He is white, with a strip of black fur that runs
over his midsection. Three of his feet are white, but his left paw is black. He has large,
sweet eyes, that plead kindness, in most low light of my home they seem black, but get
him in the light on a good day and they shine grey blue.
I’ve had many animals in life: several fish, cats, rabbits, and a very misfortunate
hamster that ripped it’s own eyes out for some reason unbeknown to me. But one thing I
do believe in my life, is angels, guides in life come to us in the form of animals.
It’s strange, but I feel that my pets know me, and see me better then anyone else ever
could. But with my cats, I do care for them but, I’m not they’re only means of survival. If
I simpley allowed my cats to live outside alone, they would survive, not that I would ever
want that for them. But my guniea pig, he fully depends on me. Guinea pigs are actually
pack animals, and if you don’t own more then one, they most often become very attracted
to their human counterparts.
The reason I choose this certain pig is a funny story of fate as well. I had wanted a
guinea pig for sometime. I had been doing research on care, behavior and then I came
upon an article on animal cruelty. Most large chain pet stores, such as Pet Co. and Pets
Mart, use breeding mills, and do not provide proper care to their smaller animals.
Unfortunately, I had deluded myself into thinking I could walk into the pet store and
simply look. There a few rules in my family, and one of them is “Never let Danielle near
a pet store, pound or shelter, because she cannot just look.” I have a very funny habit of
wanting to take anything home with me. Hence why we have four cats, a guniea pig
and a fish.
As I walked into the store, my fiancée and I made a bee line for the guinea pigs, and
there he was, moping in the back of a cage alone. When I knelt down outside of the tiny
dirty tank, he ran to the front and stared at me. The light caught his blue eyes, and I heard
him the that way I cannot explain. “Please nice human, please save me, and I’ll love you
forever.” And the whole ride home, and for the next day straight I cried for this little
creature who had put his strange little paw upon my heart. My mother couldn’t take my
sobs, and she knew I meant well, so the next day we ended up at the store again, and low
and behold the cavy I wanted was still there. The lady pulled him out of the tank and he
literally leaped into my arms. And I knew he was my friend. I named him Mikey after
Michael the Arc Angel, because of his beautiful blue eyes.
And now as he sits on my lap sleeping happily as I type this, I can tell you this: Animals
are smart, endearing and innocent. They are better then any human for one reason, they
love unconditionally. It is this lesson, of coming beyond bounds one can understand and
loving no matter what, that we must learn from the creatures around us. I think this is
what is meant when one says “to find the creature within yourself,” Well my creature, is a
humble, gentile, guinea pig.
