Day 123: Mr. Tubbs

Growing up we never had many pets. There was an occasional goldfish that, like all goldfish, quickly died and was buried in the swirling waters of the toilet bowl. I remember once having a frog. He was mine for only a few days because I didn’t know how to feed the thing--I guess I wasn’t good at catching flies. The pet I had the longest and the one of which I have the most memories was Mr. Tubbs. Mr Tubbs was a gerbil. He was a good little gerbil and the most faithful of friends. He lived in my room and we had many weeks of fun together...until he ESCAPED! Now it isn’t a good thing to be of the rodent species and live under the same roof as my mom. It is even worse to be an escaped rodent living under the same roof as my mom. As soon as he disappeared she ran to the store and came home with a mousetrap. My only true pet and mom was about to catch him in a mousetrap...poor Mr. Tubbs. After a few days we found the little guy just minding his own business in my closet. Luckily we found him before the mousetrap did. From that time on, Mr. Tubbs was banished from the house and sent to live in the garage. He seemed to do alright in his new home at least until it came time for me to attend scout camp. I entrusted him to my family’s care and went away for just a few short days. While I was gone I missed my little friend and dreamed of being together again. Finally scout camp came to an end and I arrived back home. As I dropped my bags and walked into the garage, I was horrified. Mr. Tubbs’ cage was empty. He was gone. Where did he go? How did he escape? I have been told many unconvincing stories about how “he just disappeared”. I don’t believe it. I can only imagine his fear and horror as mom took him back to the field behind our house, opened his cage door, and shooed him away into the lone and dreary world (Mom its time for the truth to come out!) He was never seen again. I hope his life was happy. I wonder which cat ended up eating him.

The Italians here in Adraskan have a pet. I think they inherited him from the Americans who were here before them. It is a turtle. I don’t know where he came from or why they painted on his shell. Maybe he is their secret weapon against the Taliban. He seems to be loved and in good hands. Today they took him out and were feeding him some apple when I was introduced to the little guy. Oh the memories it brought back of the days when I had a little friend. The joys of having a pet. Hopefully the Italians won’t go out camping anytime soon...we would hate for their turtle to “disappear”.