The Disapprovers - the talk

We didn't get much sleep that morning before hoomins got up and started checking on us. We had to pop up and pretend that we could not wait to see them. Doing binkies and pirouettes for nanners was the worst. Every little bit of me violently opposed any notion of motion, my head felt like it was on fire and my eyes felt lubricated with saw dust.

But, do you know what happens when you don't get up all excited for a banana? They watch you. And then they watch you some more. And start bringing treats to see what you'll react to. And if you don't get up all perky ... the carrier comes out. They stuff you in it and off you go! They go all Tom Petty on you, one foot in the grave - one foot on the metal - good luck being a rebel. YOU GO TO THE VET!

We got our snorgles and head rubs, and we promised to stay out of trouble. We watched our hoomins finish their morning routine and go to work.

We slept like logs. Except for Abby, she could not rest; she was so excited to hear what happened. After we more or less came to, she got the full scoop. Suzy and Molly did the talking while I sat and nomed my hay biscuits, gazing off into space, deep space, feeling agitated every time I had to say something.

 
Now we had to decide if we want to go back and explore that piece of board or should we forget all about it? ... and what about that sneeze?  That sneeze that was nothing supposedly ?

"Major!  Care to join us?," asked Suzy. "Major... hello? Ground to Major bun!"

... oh, sorry guys. What's up?

"I think it's time to talk about what do we want to do next," said Suzy. "We know there's a solid slab of concrete under the house. If we want to have a way out into the wild, we have to consider alternatives. Do we rig something to open a window in the basement? Do we hope the hoomins adopt a dog and let him or her use a doggie door that we could appropriate?" she continued.

"Maybe we could put together a slide, out of one of the windows here?," threw in Molly. 

Then we sat in silence for a while.

"I'm really bummed out over that concrete. I was looking forward to having a nice, long, big dig. We could have it come out right next to the blueberry bushes in the back," I sighed...

"Us too," said Suzy and went on, "let's go for it one more time and really rummage through it; look what's under that board, and check the place from corner to corner. We'll just plan it a little better this time."

"Does anyone know if our ratty friends have ever gone 'splorin' anywhere?," I asked.

***

Frankie and Freddie lounged happily, content in their little burrows. Frankie was all bundled up with a cup of hot chamomile and lemon grass tea in one paw, inhaling its aroma, holding a bundle of tissues in the other.

"I thought they'd never ask, " said Frankie. And sneezed. 

It wasn't the dust that made him sneeze. Summer colds are the worst. Because they "do not compute" the same way as  seasonal colds do. Summers are for playing around, sitting by the river, enjoying fireflies; not nursing colds.

Frankie took a sip of his tea and continued "... we love all the exploring we get to do.  I'm very curious to see how far they'll go. They're young and brave. Some more than others for sure, but they need to discover stuff for themselves. They need to experience how those explorations affect them, how they make them feel, how they change their perspectives, how the world changes it's tune.


They need to mess up and recover from it just to see what that's like. And we love to keep our eyes on them!

- Thank you Renee!

PS: Follow Suzy, Molly, Abby Mr. Toes Frankie and Freddie on FB!