Going home

Meet Lulu.

The children at the Quest School for Autistic Children wanted a classroom pet.

After much discussion with the educators and therapists it was agreed.

The class went shopping (Bloomingdales Pet Shop) after a funfilled morning decided on a Dwarf hamster, great, inexpensive (£5), we already had a suitable cage (donated) and perhaps another £10 for the sawdust, food and accessories. Mission accomplished!

Unfortunately, about 3 or 4 months later the children were tired of their pet, Lulu was no longer fun to play with, cleaning out the cage was becoming a chore and Lulu was spending more and more time inside the confines of the cage. It was decided to find Lulu a new home.

Hampsters of course aren’t goldfish (no I wouldn’t flush a live one down the toilet but simply drop it in a mates tank) what to do?

We asked around if anybody wanted a free hampster, no takers. Too expensive to advertise for sale, in short we couldn’t give it away.

One of the children told me to ‘take it home.’ Take it home? What go let it free somewhere, where is their native habitat anyway? ‘No’ she said ‘take it home, back to Lulu’s home!’

The penny finally dropped, the Pet Shop!

I put Lulu in a shoe box, punched holes in the top and went back to Bloomingdales with the children, the assistant took one look at my box and said ‘sorry sir, we don’t buy pets from the public.’

‘We’re not selling’ I said ‘we’re giving it away!’ I placed the box on his counter and started to walk away.

‘But, but, but’ I heard behind me ‘don’t worry, I said, my phone number’s on the box, if there’s a problem tell the owner to contact me’

How’s that for logic and the autistic mind?