The Call of the Master's Voice

Martin the Orderly heard the screams from Treatment Room 2 and quickly turned his attention in that direction.

When Teddy Mouse the hamster came running from under the gurney that was half in and half out of the treatment room he stepped into action. Calling to his friend who worked as a janitor the two men each grabbed a dust mop and carefully herded the small frightened hamster until they were able to direct it into the janitor's closet. From there they pushed it into the channel drain, a below the floor sink designed to make dumping mop buckets easier. While standing guard to make sure the hamster couldn't get out of the drain, Martin sent the Janitor back to Treatment Room 2 to get the bucket and the shredded paper that was in it. While he waiting he stuffed a cleaning rag into the drain to make sure the small animal didn't fall in there. Martin was just placing a couple of hands full of shredded paper in one corner of the drain bowl when Dixie stepped up to the door with a young boy who held a small cage in his hand.

"Teddy!" rang out echoing through the closet as the young boy got down on his knees to embrace his missing pet. The cage in his hand was placed in the bottom of the drain with the cage door open and a favorite hamster treat inside. The hamster, eager for someplace it knew was safe, ran right up the ramp made by the cage door and into the cage, it then climbed into the coconut shell shelter and stayed there while it's master shut and secured the cage door before sitting cross legged on the floor and pulling the cage into his lap while he talked to the pet he didn't expect to see again.

"We should have called you in the beginning," Dr. Brackett commented as he looked on over the shoulder of the orderly that had proven so helpful through this situation.

"Thank you for not just killing it," the boy responded, his voice filled with emotion.

"Now we'd never do a thing like that to a beloved pet," Dr. Brackett responded to the young boy. Of course extermination was the next course of action but seeing the face on the boy at his feet, Kell was grateful it hadn't come to that.

Detecting that the boy and his pet needed a quiet place to regroup and continue their reunion, Dr. Brackett led the boy and his parents to his office. With the door closed the noises of the hospital were blocked out. Brandon Olsen sat in the chair in the middle of the room and once again sat the cage on his lap and started talking to his pet. He was just about to open the door so he could reach in and pet the small friend but Dr. Brackett stopped him.

"Please don't do that here, I don't want that little friend of yours to get loose again."

"I guess maybe I should find someone I can give her too where she'll be safe." Brandon spoke forlornly.

"Oh, honey," the mother turned to her husband and buried her face in his shoulder. "This is so unfair to our son. Mother just will not leave his door shut and her cat, is just that, a cat, a cat who thinks Teddy is nothing more than a rodent."

"We might could put a lock on Brandon's door but with the broken ankle she's got now she won't be able to climb the stairs to her apartment. We're going to have to rearrange some rooms at least until she gets that cast off her leg and can get around on her own a little better.

"The best place for your mother when she comes home from the hospital is going to be in the den and that cat of hers has already pulled the vent grate off twice trying to get in to Brandon's room." The husband was watching his son with his beloved pet. It had come from a neighbor who's pet had babies, their son had started working with it when it was just a few days old to get it accustomed to his touch and voice.

"Why can't your mother keep her cat in the apartment? why does she have to have it in the house with us, not only does it always try to get at Brandon's hamster it makes Brandon's skin break out when he touches it."

"I've tried to get Mother to leave the cat in the apartment but she just won't. You know how she is."

"At the risk of speaking up where I shouldn't," Dr Brackett interrupted, "since your mother is apparently going to have to move into the house what about letting young Brandon here move into her apartment, at least I'm assuming it is attached to your house."

The boy's father looked surprised at the suggestion and turned to his wife. "Why didn't we think of that idea?"

"That could solve most of our problems," The mother agreed and then got a saddened expression. "Of course our daughter will have a few things to say about that situation. She'll want the apartment for herself."

"After she snuck her boyfriend into her room through the window last month," the father spoke with authority, "She hasn't earned the trust to have her own apartment with a separate entrance."

The father then looked at his son with sternness. "Alright, Brandon, we'll let Nana know what we're going to do and then we'll start moving you in as soon as we get home. Under the following conditions: you will eat all of your meals with the family, and there will be at least a weekly inspection to make sure your room is clean and all of your clothes will need to be brought to the house twice a week for washing. And if you do anything you shouldn't be doing you'll be moved back into the house so fast your head will spin. Understood?"

Dr. Brackett didn't even stay around to hear the boy's answer. This was family business and he had already stepped in more than he probably should. But he did feel relieved that the small creature that had terrorized his Emergency Department was now going home, a safe and secure home.

Author's note: information used in this story came from the Hamster Club web site. It was very informative and after reading it I almost wanted a hamster. However I have two cats, one of which is a pretty good mouser, one medium sized very hyper dog, and two parakeets. That's enough for our house.