HAMMY HOUDINI - HE DEFIED DEATH, BUT ONLY ONCE, ALAS...

When I was - oh, I dunno - around ten I suppose, me and my

brother had a pet hamster called  (you'll never guess) Hammy.

The name was  inevitable, both of us having grown up on TALES Of

The RIVERBANK, one of the WATCH WITH MOTHER TV shows

for kids.  Hammy had a cage which was sometimes kept in the kitchen,

sometimes in the garden cellar.  We would watch in rapt fascination as

he raced 'round his wheel for what seemed an absolute age, presum-

ably enjoying himself.  Now I realize it was probably out of

frustration and because he was 'stir-crazy'.

One day, my brother announced that Hammy was dead, and

with the morbid curiosity that most kids are heir to, we examined

the corpse.  Poor Hammy.  We tenderly wrapped him up in a brown

paper bag and gingerly laid him in the refuse bin in the back garden,

then retired back to the livingroom to mourn our departed pet.  But

then I had a sudden brainwave.  "Maybe he's only hibernating" I

speculated, so we retrieved Hammy from the bin and laid him

before the electric fire in an attempt to revive him.

Sure enough, after a while, Hammy came out of his state

of suspended animation and sniffed the air.  What a narrow escape

and no mistake.  I'm unsure as to  just how long Hammy was with us

after his Lazarus impersonation, but one day I noticed he was missing

from his cage in the cellar and a search of the confined space afforded

no joy.  Perhaps a week or so later, I found him dead in our watering

can (in the cellar), and even today I cringe in horror at the thought

of his despair as he waited for a rescue that never came.

I think this time we buried him in the garden instead of the

bin, but at least there was absolutely no doubt he was actually

dead.  No consolation of course, but thankfully he was spared the

awful fate of waking up as he was consigned to the grinding cogs

of a bin lorry and meeting, perhaps, an even worse fate than

the one which eventually claimed him.

Nearly 50 years later, I still think of Hammy on occasion,

and find myself hoping he didn't suffer too much or for too long.

Any Criv-ites out there ever have a childhood pet which they still

fondly remember today?  Resurrect them for a brief period by

telling us all about them in the comments section.

Posted in: Cartoons