Hey little fella

This post is a follow-up to “Gerbil a go-go.“

Present Day: I’m holding in my hand the gerbil‘s copy of the key to our house! I am the Keymaster. Are you the gatekeeper?

Flashback to four weeks ago…

It was a night of uncertainty. The previous day was the gerbil’s move out deadline. When we had gone to bed the gerbil had yet to pack any of his stuff or offer any indication at all he was even peripherally aware a deadline existed at all. We had no idea what might be in store.

We woke up at our normal time to find the gerbil was already gone. Had he moved out or simply switched to daytime nocturnalism mode? I set out to look for clues.

The first spore was found, naturally, in the kitchen. Some of our food had been consumed and the mess was left behind. This proved to be inconclusive, however. It wouldn’t be surprising for him to move out and leave something like that as a going away present. I continued my search.

Forensic analysis estimated the gerbil had departed within the last two hours. The only time a gerbil wakes up that early is when they are actively avoiding detection.

There was no key or note to be found. That was not a good sign.

The bathroom was a mess. None of his toiletries appeared to be missing.

In the driveway was the gerbil’s car, in exactly the same spot where it has remained for most of the last six months.

Finally a search of my wife’s “arts and crafts room” AKA The Nest solved the riddle. The gerbil’s bedding was found on the floor in the middle of the room. Stashed around the room (including inside the dresser drawers) were dirty dishes, utensils and glasses. The gerbil’s stuff (dirty clothing and gym bags of possessions) were still strewn about the room. And, a quick peek inside the closet revealed it was still crammed to the gills with his crap.

Clearly the gerbil had not moved out and had absolutely no intention of doing so. He had chosen to place our relationship in limbo yet again.

Some of the events leading to up this failed attempt at ending FENS (False Empty Nest Syndrome) have still not been discussed on this blog. Perhaps they never will. Some of the intervening events I’ve mentioned during the last four weeks. It is unclear how much, if any, of the omitted events we will choose to publish.

Back to present day…

Last night the gerbil initiated contact. He had been deep in daytime nocturnalism mode for weeks. There had been an incident and he had been scared off.  He still used our home as his base of operations, showering, using the internet, playing with our home electronics and what not. We’d find evidence that he had been in our home. (Dirty towels, wet floors, etc.) Daytime nocturnalism is one thing, but cleaning up after themselves is pretty much out of reach of even the most determined gerbil. This had been going on for weeks so we were quite surprised to hear from him.

The gerbil used text for his communique. This was safest for a shy gerbil afraid of actual communication.

He proffered a deal. He wanted to spend the night and borrow my bike to go to work. (His “job” is another story. Perhaps there will be a post about that.) In return he stated he would return The Key. I was skeptical but gave grudging consent to the plan. It was a long shot but sometimes I like to play the odds if the payoff is great. In this case we were talking about the Holy Grail … The Key.

We stayed up late last night watching movies. We never saw the gerbil. He was obviously still running covert. This morning, however, the telltale sounds of slamming and crashing throughout the house told us he was back. I got out of bed, saw him briefly, he squeaked a customary gerbil greeting then immediately fled out the door and rode away on my bike. I looked but didn’t see The Key left behind.

It must have been about noon when he returned. He came in and voluntarily handed over The Key.

That’s when this happened…

To be continued…