“Yep. I think Roberto is making you food. Go relax and I’ll take care of it.”
“How will I ever be able to sleep in there again?” she shrieked.
Okay, this lady had barely made the effort to string two words together all week, and now she suddenly was Chatty Kathy?
“It’s eating my Corn Nuts!”
Lance pinched the bridge of his nose and made his way into the kitchen.
The rat in question was sitting in the middle of the pantry floor and was indeed snacking on an overturned package of corn nuts, but the rat wasn’t a rat at all.
It was a little beige hamster.
Lance pursed his lips against a laugh, lest he scare the little critter off.
It didn’t seem to care about him much. Currently, the little rodent was stuffing it’s cheeks full.
Meh. He liked corn nuts too.
It was a cute little thing. He looked around the kitchen and in the recycling bin, he found an empty snack box. He knew exactly where this little thing had come from, and Brock was about to be so happy.
Quiet as a mouse, he padded into the doorway of the pantry. The hamster looked at him with beady, black little eyes, but kept chewing. Its tiny hands were curled up into little fists against its chest. He was going to have to show Birdie this thing. She would freak out, but probably not like the screamer. He had a feeling Birdie would think it was cute.
The hamster tensed as he stepped into the pantry. It was clearly pretty tame, which further fed his idea of where this thing came from.
“Hey there little guy,” he crooned as he slowly knelt closer. Don’t. Run.
The hamster took off like a shot, but he was ready. He shoved the box over it and scooped it right inside, then upended it.
Feeling proud of himself, he looked inside, and the critter leapt at his face. He squawked and shoved it back inside, then closed the flap. He could hear the little claws scratching around against the thin cardboard.
Immediately, he could hear chewing. Crap.
Panicking, he looked around. Dang, this woman had every child snack known to man. He set the box down and, in a rush, he pulled some crackers, cereal and more corn nuts and a fruit roll up and shoved it into the barely cracked top of the box before he shoved the thin cardboard flaps closed once again.
He stood there frozen, hugging the box to his chest as he listened for chewing sounds.
And there were chewing sounds, but this time, it was the hamster eating.
He chuckled. Little critter sure was easy to distract.
He grabbed the box of cereal and made his way outside.
The woman in black was still standing behind the sapling, shivering—with fear or with cold, Lance hadn’t a guess.
“Got him!” he called, holding up the make-shift hamster cage.
“You put that giant thing in that tiny box? And what are you doing with my cereal!” she griped.
“Keeping the hamster distracted with food. Your house is cleared. I’ll pick up more…” He read the label on the cereal… “Donut O’s, when I’m in town.”
“You said hamster. That thing was huge.”
“He weighs maybe an ounce,” he called over his shoulder. “A little boy lost him here a couple of months back. He will be happy to have his little friend home. Your cabin is cleared. Enjoy your day!”
When Lance glanced back at her, she was just staring dumbly at him, but he didn’t know what else to say. Go inside and get warm, or stay out in the snow all day, but if she gave this place a one-star rat-review on Yelp, he would sign up for an account just to argue it.
Lance took the stairs up to the main lodge two at a time and pulled open the door. Warm air blasted into his face. “Dude,” he called to Brock. “Guess what I found?”
