Hamster Magic Read Free

That’s why we moved in the first place. And what about Mom? She’s taking the year to paint.”
    The children were silent. They didn’t want to ruin their father’s work, and their mother had been wanting to paint pictures for a long time. And now, with a year off from her other job, she could.
    The sun, lower in the sky, streamed through the windows and lit the rafters of the big, shabby Loft, turning them orange. Abner puthis elbows on the sill of an open window and stuck his head through.
    “This isn’t such a bad place, Derek,” he said. “We can have a lot of fun here.”
    The others came to stand beside him. They looked out at the rosy sky, down at the trees that circled the house, and past the trees to the river, glinting like a golden thread in the last rays from the sun. The stone bridge arched above the water like something from a fairy tale, and all the children remembered at once that they hadn’t yet run down to see it.
    Derek slumped. “Okay,” he said. “I guess we could just get motorbikes, then.”
    Hammy rattled the bars of his cage to get their attention. “You don’t understand,” he said unhappily. “I can’t give you motorbikes or anything like that. You have to make a
hamster
wish.”
    The children turned from the window to stare at him.
    “So what is a hamster wish?” asked Tate.
    Hammy sat back and picked lint from between his toes. “Something a hamster would want, of course.”
    Tate knelt on the floor and began to paw through the books she had sorted.
    “We have to wish for something a
hamster
would want?” repeated Derek. He stopped tossing the tennis ball. It fell from his hands and rolled to the middle of the floor.
    “Well, if that’s not good enough for you,” said Hammy stiffly, “then you don’t have to wish for anything at all.”
    “We didn’t say that,” said Abner, “but—”
    “I found it!” Tate held up a small volume.
“How to Care for Your Hamster,”
she read aloud.
    The others looked at her blankly.
    “Don’t you see? This will tell us everything that hamsters want!”
    Abner and Celia moved to either side of Tate, and all three huddled over the pages. “ ‘Hamsters like seeds,’ ” Tate read. “ ‘They like unsalted nuts and chew toys. They love to gnaw—’ ”
    “I don’t want to give up a dog for chew toys,” said Abner. He ran his finger down the page. “Let’s see. They love to climb. They’re desert animals and don’t like to get wet—”
    “There goes the swimming pool,” muttered Derek from behind them. “Celia, move over, will you?” He gave her a little shove.
    “But I want to see,” protested Celia.
    “You can’t even read,” said Derek, edging in beside Tate.
    “I can, too!” Celia cried.

    “Just baby books.” Derek bent over the book. “Hey, it says some hamsters like to sit in their food dishes!”
    Everyone laughed except for Celia, who was mad at Derek and feeling sorry for herself. She saw Hammy’s wounded look and went to stand by his cage. She felt sorry for him, too.
    “Look at what else they like to eat!” Derek pointed to a picture. “Worms! Beetles! That’s gross!”
    “It’s not gross to
Hammy,”
said Celia. She reached out a finger to the paw that Hammy had poked through the bars. “And he likes dog biscuits, too.”
    Hammy looked at her gratefully. “Woofies,” he whispered. “They’re the best.”
    His tiny hamster paw gripped her finger. It tickled, and Celia tried not to laugh. Shedidn’t want Hammy to think she was making fun of him.
    “Wait, I’ve got it!” Derek rolled back on the floor, snickering. “Let’s wish for a hamster wheel! We could take
turns!”
    “Stop it!” cried Celia. “You’re hurting his feelings!”
    No one seemed to hear.
    “ ‘Hamsters like to burrow in wood shavings,’ ” Tate read aloud, “ ‘and hay.’ ”
    “I remember our old hamsters doing that,” said Derek, sitting up. “But I never knew why.”
    “I think it’s