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January 13, 2002

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* Flash the Hamster *
This little dust mop looking thing was a teddy-bear hamster named "Flash". I bought her when I still lived at home. I didn't know why she was on sale for only $2.00 until I got her home. It appeared that she had been in a fight and had a large, open wound in her hind leg where a bone was totally dislocated from her hip and protruding out of the skin. She was evidently dying and I didn't have the heart to take her back or discard her so I performed a little home surgery on the little fuzzy critter. I set the bone back in place, cleaned and stitched up her wound and, after some time, she actually regained the use of her leg.
She once got both her front teeth caught in the lid to her cage and broke them up pretty bad. I was able to water down her food so it was soft enough for her to eat it until she healed.
Some time after high school I moved to Montana and Wyoming and took her with me. Once, while on a bus trip back from Wyoming to Oregon, late at night, she somehow escaped from the little box I had her concealed in and went out on an adventure throughout the bus. I was awakened by the screams of an elderly black woman and an angry bus driver. The driver was quite displeased with me and threatened to kick me off the bus, but after a while he allowed me to remain for the duration of the trip as long as I kept the little rodent contained.
Having her for several years she had become very tame and affectionate. Although I let her roam free she kept herself to the confines of my bedroom for the remainder of her life.
And now for all you Star Trek fans........Although she seemed like it, she was no "Tribble" at all.