I have had a headache today and so to console myself I played with my hamsters. Both my darlings were white when I bought them, having only the faintest gray stripe down their backs. But Barbarossa has slowly been turning gray around her nose as well, though Wynne has stayed as white and round as ever. They are quite funny little creatures, though I'm not sure Barbarossa hasn't lost her mind at times. She either had complete faith in my ability to catch her or no depth perception whatsoever because she squeezes out of my hand like a bar of soap whenever the chance presents itself and drops headlong toward her demise. (She has yet to hit the floor.) Wynne is much more cautious. She would never dream of jumping, and I can always see her little hamster brain ticking away as she nears the edge, weighing her chances of making it to the ground in one piece.
Despite Barbarossa's impulsive nature, she is the only one of the two who will stay in the palm of my hand. When I lift the roof off their house and brush away the sawdust, they both look at me with half-closed eyes, roughly woken from their sleep. When I pick Barbarossa up and hold her in my hands, she will snuffle a bit--I feel her pink nose on my fingers--and then lay very still. Today I buried my nose in her soft fur and breathed in her sawdusty scent, and because it was dark and warm in the curve of my palm and because she could feel my steady breathing on her back, she fell asleep, perfectly assured of her safekeeping.
She has a few things to teach me about faith.
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