Our New Pet

The guards here have befriended Davey, or at least most of them (for this, his Spanish is the best of all the kids). Of course, he has his favorites, and those are the ones who keep their eye open for treasures in the garbage or recyclables for him. It seems like once a week he comes home with something, a newspaper clipping of a motorcycle, a single bicycle glove, a newspaper made into a Pilgrim hat and cape (see picture), part of a magazine that has English and Spanish words, and this week, he came home with something again...a new pet!



Escargot, anyone? Meet "figger", our newest slimer (so named because Davey "figgered" out how to take care of him). She arrived near dusk, a gift from one of the guards. The kids were all convinced she was pregnant and going to have babies at any moment, so it was hard for them all to fall asleep that night. Finally they did.












Day 2 with Figger...Davey was so excited he woke up at 6 to start preparing Figgers breakfast! It takes a lot of responsibility to care for a snail. Go figger, they like lettuce, carrots, oats, and need to eat pieces of clean eggshell for the calcium to keep up their own shells. It seemed like he spent the whole day re-arranging Figgers snail-arium. More dirt, leaves, different leaves, rocks, water, sticks, dump it all out, start over. By the end of the day, there was dirt everywhere it seemed.

We have a very sweet lady, named Esperanza (which means hope), who helps with the housework and also lets me practice my horrible Spanish on her. Well, Davey loves a good joke, and he caught on right away that she does not like snails. He got a damp paper towel, and came up behind her and touched her arm with it. She screamed and about went through the ceiling. And then laughed and laughed. Later she was vacuuming in the girls bedroom, and Davey was twirling around with Figger in his hand. Figger flew out of his hand, and Esperanza saw it land on a pile of clothes, but she quickly pretended to vacuum it up. Davey and Meleah came running upstairs to tell me. I caught her wink as I walked into the room, but we let them spend several anxious minutes examining the clear canister of the vacuum before we let them find her/him/it.

Day 3...the novelty of Figger has worn off. Today Davey got it out of its cage to add some water, and now it is gone. Everytime I step on something crunchy (which happens more often than I'd care to admit in this house), I think there goes Figger. David may sing Figger-o-figger-o-figgerrrr-oooo at the funeral! But seriously, one minute she was on the landing and the next she was gone. I've looked everywhere, and there's no figgerin where she is. Davey took the news pretty well, "that's OK, can you buy me another one?". No wasted tears on her, at least.