Joey
Monday 30 September 2002, 19:45hrs, I am walking down the High Street in
Gillingham, North Kent after leaving the station when I finally got out of my
delayed train from Victoria. I had to wait fifteen minutes outside Chatham
station before the train was allowed to move. By the time I reached home, I
would have missed Coronation Street and I would have to wait for the episode to
be repeated on ITV 2.
As I reached the door and about to put the key through the lock, my 10 year
old son James open the door with a smile on his face, saying, "Hello dad, come
in the dining room." As I entered the dining room, I could see a cage on the
dinning room table and in the cage there was a hamster.
James said with a smile, "It is my new pet Dad." I asked who gave it to him
and James replied our next door neighbour. I asked how did it happen. James
said, "I was playing out and Frank’s sister Jade said to me if I would like to
have a pet hamster? And I said yes please." June came downstairs and into the
dining room, smiling too and said, "Do you like the new arrival?" I asked June:
"Are you and James going to look after the Hamster?" June replied: "No, its
James’ pet and he would look after it". I asked where is it going to stay? And
June said, "In James’ room."
James said with a smile, "The name of the hamster is Joey after the lead
singer of my favourite rock band, Slipknot." The hamster was brown and white and
it is known as a Syrian hamster and it is a common one for pets. There are other
types like the Russian hamster but they look more like mice then hamsters.
I said to James, "Why don’t we call the hamster Snowy?" James smiled and
said: "No, the hamster’s name is Joey after the lead singer of my favourite rock
band." After a while I agreed to Joey being the new hamster’s name. Then James
and I took the cage to his bedroom. We decided that the best place for the cage
was on top of his small wardrobe.
The following Saturday James and I went to the library to get some books on
hamsters. On the way back from the library we visited a few shops including the
pet shop on the High Street. When we got home, we started reading some of the
books on hamsters and we learnt that they like to sleep during the day time and
are active at nights. They like to exercise a lot on the wheel and in one of the
books it said that we should take out the hamster about once a week and put it
in a plastic ball for hamsters with holes wide enough for them to breathe and
narrow enough to stop the hamster from escaping.
Our hamster ball was green in colour and James was keen to put Joey in the
ball. I said we should wait until late in the evening when Joey would be up. The
book also said that it was important that the water bottle is full each week,
and the hamster bowl should always be full with different types of food to eat.
Also the wood chips needs to be changed once a week. Hamsters like empty toilet
rolls as toys. They enjoy going through them and biting the ends of the roll. As
an addition, we added a thick piece of wood for Joey to bit and scratch on in
the cage. This helps Joey to sharpen his teeth and nails.
James wanted to look up on the Internet to find out more about hamsters. I
thought it would be a waste of time because I did not think we would learn
anything new. However, I agreed to let James search on the Internet for hamsters
and I sat down on the chair. James switched on the computer so he could use the
Internet. The search engine pick up many webpages on hamsters and James asked
which one should I look at? He continued to say that they were over a hundred to
choose from. I replied with a smile you decide. James enjoyed looking at the
different pictures of a hamster and after twenty minutes, he had enough and
switched off the computer.
After reading the books and the Internet, we learnt that hamsters tend to
live on average for about two years. We were not sure how old Joey was but we
guessed he was over a year. Hamsters like to like to live on their own and it is
very difficult to breathe them. Joey was clearly a male hamster and he had the
bits to prove it.
Later on in the evening, James took out Joey and put him into the hamster
ball and let him roll himself around on the ground floor. Joey would move up and
down our passage, living room, dining room and kitchen. We tend to leave Joey in
the ball for no more then an hour or when he looked tired.
Sometimes, you can tell when Joey has had enough of the ball because Joey
does not move and can stay in the same spot for a few minutes. That’s is our
calling sign to put Joey back in the cage. When Joey is in the cage, the first
thing he would do is have a drink and then go below the first floor where he has
made his bed. You can’t see him sleeping because he would hide himself with the
cotton or bits of tissues.
On Sunday, James would introduce Joey to his friends when they came round and
James was pleased to have a pet hamster because some of his friends had pets too
and he wanted to be part of that group of children that had pets. Sometimes
James would take Joey in the garden with his friends and let him move about in
his ball while he played with his friends.
James even asked if we would let him have a dog like his friend Peter who
lives seven houses away from us. I said no way because I did not want to be the
one to lose two hours sleep getting up in the mornings to walk the dog and to do
the same thing before bedtime. Also it is simply too much work looking after a
dog. After a week, it was clear to me that if I did not take responsibility in
looking after Joey, I would not know for sure, if he had a full bottle of water,
his bowl was full of food and his cage has been cleaned. June clearly was not
interested in taking the responsibility of looking after Joey even though she
agreed for James to have the pet in the first place.
Every Friday was cleaning day for the hamster cage and I would always make a
point of getting James to help clean the cage before he had his supper. While we
clean the cage, we would put Joey in his ball and let him move freely on the
ground floor. Each time we clean the cage, we would rearrange the things in the
cage to make them more interested for Joey.
One night during a working week, James woke me up at 3 am and he said calmly
that Joey is out of the cage. We rushed back into his bedroom and closed the
door. We looked behind all of the bedroom furniture carefully and we found Joey
behind James’ bed. Joey looked tired and must have walked around the bedroom for
hours in the dark. I looked at the cage and noticed the cage door was open and
it was clear to me that James had forgotten to close the cage door when he took
Joey out to play with a few minutes before going to bed. And when he put Joey
back into the cage, he left the cage door open.
James picked up Joey from behind the bed and put him in the cage and I
reminded him to close the cage door when he has put Joey inside the cage. I said
to James try to get a few hours sleep and I put him to bed. I asked James, how
did he know that Joey was out of the cage. And he replied, I woke up with Joey
on my face. I said you must have been scared and James replied no, should I have
been? I smiled and replied that I don’t know. James said that Joey must have
jump off the wardrobe and made his way to my bed. I smiled and said that sounds
about right and kissed him good night. As I went to bed, I made a mental note to
check the cage door before going to bed for now on.
On Christmas day after James opened his presents, he started to open Joey’s
presents, which were sweets, toys and food. James took out Joey’s bowl and threw
out in the bin the remainder of the food and added Joey’s the new food and
sweets that was part of Joey’s presents in the bowl. He also added fresh water
in Joey’s water bottle and put a few of Joey’s new toys in the cage.
On Sunday 28 June 2003, I notice that Joey was not coming out from the bottom
of the cage. So I put the cage on the floor and open it up and removed the first
floor and I saw that Joey was dead. I put back the floor and left the cage on
the wardrobe in the hope that James would not notice that Joey passed away. That
evening, James was too busy playing outside with his friends to notice Joey.
His Mum, June called him in for his supper, which was always, a few minutes
before 19:30hrs because James like to eat his supper while watching Eastenders
and/or Coronation Street, pending which day it was. Before James’ bedtime was
up, he wanted to play computer games with me. After about ten minutes playing
computer games, James went to bed and he was too tired to notice that Joey was
not up.
Monday morning, James got ready for school as normal and again did not notice
that Joey was not moving around in his cage because he was busy rushing to get
ready. Also James wanted to leave early too so he could get a lift from Ben’s
Mum who lived next door. Ben and James both go to the same school but attend
different classes. James prefers to be driven to school rather then walking.
That day, I decided to leave work early and when I saw James playing outside,
I called him over. I asked James to come inside because there is something I
wanted to say to him. James was curious what it was and I said to him to wait
for me in the garden and James did just that.
I went into the garden carrying the hamster cage and said to James, "Do you
notice anything?" and he replied no. I said that Joey is not moving in his cage
and do you know why? James looked down and shrugged his shoulders and said maybe
he is dead. I replied lets open the cage and see.
I opened the cage and removed the first floor and Joey was laying in a
sleeping position. I asked James if he wanted to touch Joey and he replied no. I
picked up Joey in my hands and there was no movement. I said to James, I am
sorry to say that it looks like you were right about Joey. I asked James, "Where
would you like him to be buried?" and James replied in the garden pointing to a
spot. James got the small shovel and dug a big and deep enough hole for Joey. I
put him in the hole and James covered him up and put a stick in the middle of
the patch to show where Joey laid to rest.
As we went inside the house, I asked James if he would like another hamster
and he replied not right now. James asked if it is ok for him to play out with
his friends and I replied I have no objections but check with your Mum that she
is happy for you to play out and James said thanks. As James was walking towards
the main reception where is Mum was, he turned round and said Joey was with us
for nine months so he must have been one year and three months when he first
arrived. I replied that sounds about right. James also said I still have three
gold fish and I replied with a smile you sure have.
James asked his Mum if he could play out and she agreed. I went to the main
reception and looked through the window watching James playing on his skateboard
with his friends and said to June, James took the news better then I thought.
