• Book One
    THE HAMSTER TRIO - SERIES

    First Christmas
    By Katalia Rox
    Callie, Nipsey and Zizzi

















    Chapter One

    “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer-” “It’s the most wonderful time of the year-” “Walking in a winter wonderland-”
    Christmas Carols rang through Zizzi’s ears in the pet shop. He put his paws over them, to lessen the noise.
    “Cheer up kiddo. Someone will buy you eventually, and the noise will be lessened in their house.” Another hamster, who was Nipsey, said to Zizzi.
    “I know, but while we’re in this pet shop in the mall, the noise just gets louder and louder!” Zizzi replied. He went into the little plastic igloo, put a piece of bedding in each of his ears and tried to sleep. Hamsters are nocturnal, but in the pet shop, they hardly ever get to sleep.
    Callie sipped the water from the hanging bottle on the cage.
    “Poor Zizzi,” Nipsey said. “He’s so sad.” Callie nodded a ‘yes’ in reply. Callie walked over to the ceramic food bowl, with pictures of candy canes and Christmas trees all over it. She pulled out a sunflower seed and bit at the shell with her teeth.
    “Are you even listening?” Nipsey said.
    “Yes I am… I’m just very hungry.” Callie replied, spitting out a shell and nibbling the insides of the seed.
    “Well, I thought maybe he’d be happy if someone bought him.” Nipsey said.
    “Of course, but how are we going to do that?” Callie asked. “It’s not like humans can understand us really, so we can’t say ‘Buy Zizzi!’ You know what I mean?”
    “Yeah, I know, but maybe if he acts cute someone will take him!” Nipsey squeaked.
    Callie pondered for a moment. “But how are we going to do that, still? He doesn’t act cute, at least in the human’s opinions anyways.”
    “You’ll see…” Nipsey said.
    Callie took out more seeds, wondering how Nipsey’s plan would work.

    * * *

    Nipsey had eventually told Callie and Zizzi the plan once the store closed, at 10 in the night.
    “Sounds easy enough,” Zizzi said. “We’ll try it in the morning. Let’s get rest though; it’ll be a long day tomorrow.”
    Zizzi scampered into the igloo house, with Callie and Nipsey following him inside. They lay down on the bedding and closed their eyes.



















    Chapter Two

    The clock’s hour hand struck 9, and the shop doors opened. An employee turned the shop’s red sign to OPEN. Callie, Nipsey and Zizzi crawled out of the igloo. Zizzi stretched, one front paw reached out, then the other. Nipsey yawned, her small tongue, the size of a 10-year-old’s pinky nail shown, along with her large teeth.
    “Today’s the day!” Callie said. Zizzi nodded. He took a sip from the water bottle, and used his little paws to make his golden fur look ruffled and cute. His ears were perked up, and his eyes shining brightly. Callie and Nipsey copied him.
    “If I were human I’d definitely take you home.” Nipsey mentioned, smiling. She stuck out her little paw in a fist, with the thumb sticking up. Zizzi made a rumbling noise in his throat, equivalent to a human laughing.
    “This will be so great!” Zizzi squeaked, as a girl and her mom walked into the store. The little girl ran over to the cages of hamsters.
    “Ooh! Can we have these hamsters, mommy; one hamster for me, one hamster for you and one hamster for Karin?” The girl said. The mom looked at the cage as she saw the hamsters.
    “How about we pick them up and see if they’re friendly first?” The mom asked, reluctantly.
    “Ok!” The little girl got an employee in the store to pick up each hamster for her.
    First was Zizzi. The hamster licked the girl’s finger and looked at her happily. He squeaked and walked around her hands. “He’s nice! Ok, we know we’re getting him.” The girl said. The employee set Zizzi in the cage. He picked up Nipsey next. Nipsey sat still on the girl’s hand, squeaking quietly, yet cutely.
    “Her too, I like her!” The girl smiled and handed the employee the hamster. He put Nipsey back in the cage.
    Finally, the employee took out Callie. Callie climbed onto the girl’s shoulder and sat there, not biting or anything. The girl laughed.
    “I like them all, mommy! Can we get them all? There’ll be one hamster for all of us.”
    “Alright, if you say so, Remika. We’ll get them.” The mom said. The hamsters were put into a cage which was pre-bought, and was put into the car, a seatbelt on them. “This is great!” Zizzi squeaked.
    “I’m so happy.” Callie said.
    “I know.” Nipsey added.
    The car’s engine rumbled and the car set off to the hamster’s new home.























    Chapter Three

    “Ooh, Christmas eve! I’m so excited!” Nipsey squealed. The hamster cage was next to a fireplace, with the logs crackling and warm. The cage was also decorated, a little Christmas tree affixed to the top, and apple peel like edible tinsel on the bars. Callie chewed some of the “tinsel” and stuffed it in her cheeks.
    “I’m saving this for later!” Callie beamed. Zizzi laughed, and took some of the “tinsel”.
    “Mm, this is yummy!” Zizzi said. Some of the red peelings hung out of his mouth as he nibbled some of the apple, and had some in his cheek pouches.
    The hamsters heard Remika running with a cookie shaped like a flower in her hand. She stuck it through the bars and Zizzi grabbed it. He bit off chunks and stuffed them in his cheeks. He licked his lips, as a small present in white, with a little red bow on it was set next to him.
    “Open it tomorrow morning.” Remika smiled. “I hope you understand what I said. It’s a nice little gift.” She skipped away.
    Nipsey squealed again. “This is great! I love it here, they’re so kind.”
    The little 2-month-old hamsters beamed with joy, and settled down to sleep for the day.

    * * *

    Night came, and Callie squirmed out of the igloo.
    “Night time, it’s so quiet and perfect for playing.” She mused. Her eyes closed as she sat on her hind legs for a moment. “Much less noise then that old pet store.” Nipsey squeaked.
    “Aiee!-” Callie yelled, “Oh, it’s just you. You scared me there.”
    “Sorry!” Nipsey said. “When’s Zizzi going to get up anyways?”
    “Well, just let him sleep. After tonight there’s a big day where we’re probably going to get woken up a lot. We should rest soon, with Zizzi.” Callie replied. She hopped on the wheel and started running in it, the wheel squeaking and squawking as she ran.
    “You’re hurting my ears!” A voice called out, who was Zizzi.
    “Sorry. Just wanted to have fun and tire myself before I go to sleep.” Callie said.
    Callie hopped off the wheel and sipped some water, then took a seed and stuffed it in her cheek. She crawled into the igloo to rest more. Nipsey followed her inside.





















    Chapter Four

    The hamsters went to sleep in time. When they woke up, there were presents under the nicely-decorated pine tree.
    “Santa Claws must’ve come! He even left presents under our tree!” Zizzi squeaked. Remika came walking over to the cage.
    “Good little hamsters. You guys can open up your present from me, and Santa Claus!” She said happily.
    Zizzi made a little noise and started clawing the white present. Nipsey bit at a present’s bow, and Callie looked in a hamster-sized bag with wrapping paper inside for a present.
    Callie pulled out a nice treat for the cage-
    “Oh boy, chewing sticks! I’ve been meaning to sharpen and grind my teeth!”
    The hamsters looked at the present and then each of them chewed on them for a minute.
    “Great, this is high quality stuff!” Nipsey said. Zizzi nodded, then the two of then continued working on their presents.
    “Ooh, this is nice!” Nipsey said, as her present unwrapped.
    “What is it?” Callie asked.
    Nipsey held up a plastic ball with a jingly bell inside. The ball was colored purple, and the bell was golden.
    “It’s very pretty!” Zizzi said.
    The white present was still not fully unwrapped, so all of the hamsters pitched in.
    Zizzi continued clawing the wrapping paper, while Nipsey and Callie tried undoing the red bow.
    Karin and Remika peered over the cage, with their mom too. They eagerly watched the hamsters at work.
    Wrapping paper littered the cage, so Karin opened the top and took out the remains. Callie pawed Karin’s finger, and Karin laughed.
    “I’m glad we got the hamsters, right mommy?” Remika said.
    “Of course I’m glad, sweetie.” Her mom replied.
    Zizzi finished unwrapping the present, with Callie and Nipsey’s help.
    “This is so nice!” Zizzi said, along with the other two.
    Inside the remains of the wrapping paper lay a small item. It was a sign reading:

    Beware the Christmas hamsters
    Callie, Nipsey and Zizzi
    12-25-09

    “I think this was the best Christmas ever.” The hamsters squeaked in unison.

    THE END