Boomers Great Adventure

I wrote this story for my grandkids back in 2004
and I was inspired by the story about their missing hampster they had. I envisioned this story happening to him. I thought that some of my readers would like to see it again. Someday I want to have a printer print this up into a real book form as a memory for my grandkids.

BOOMERS GREAT ADVENTURE! (a children's story)
by Paula Bagnasco

DEDICATED TO MY GRANDCHILDREN:DARIN, AMBER, SARAH, AND Matthew

COPYWRITE 9/15/2004

Illustrations copywrite September 2004 to January 2005

Boomer and Nicky were two fat and happy little hampsters who live in a habitrail cage at Darin and Amber's house. They had a carefree life, filling their pouch like mouths with seeds and running around the tunnels. They loved sleeping soundly in their litte upper chamber. When awake, they spent a lot of time chewing long and long on their mouths full of seeds and getting fatter and fatter.Occasionally Darin and Amber would takie them out and play with them, allowing them to run up and down their arms or cuddling by putting their cheeks aganst their soft fur. Boomer especially liked rolling around in his big plastic ball so he could explore more of this outside world. He discovered that it was much bigger and more wonderous the more he explored.He saw huge, strange animals that would occasionally sniff the ball and then dissapear somewhere into another room. It wasthe dogs that lived there who were interested about this strange little creature in the plastic bubble was. They could'nt smell it, whatever it was, so they never bothered trying to get at it. Boomer was glad these strange creatures didn't try to eat him.

Boomer in ball/ Dog

On Saturday, Darin would clean their cage and make sure they had fresh food in their bowl. Boomer was sitting in his upper chamber munching some of his seeds, but when he stood up nice and tall, the lid fell off the top of the chamber. He saw that he could escape and thought, "Gee! I can go out and see some of the world. What an adventure this will be!" So at that, he climbed out and down the table cautiously. Soon he scurried along the floor down the hallway.

Boomer escapes

When he reached the living room, he scooted behind the media center and hid for a little bit, then quickly headed for the kitchen. There was some familiar things he had seen from his bubble, but there was also so many nooks and crannies that looked intriging. He was never able to explore there before. He hurriedly ducked into the crack between the stove and cupboards into a strange, dark world he have never seen before. There was tall drawers he climbed into and out of, and he was having a merry old time exploring the new space. In one drawer was a big bag of bird seed, so he packed his cheeks with some, so save for later on in his journey.Upon climbing down the last drawer he explored, Boomer saw movement in the dark and went to see what it could be. It scurried along the wall and Boomer followed. Suddenly there was a little light in the area coming from a small mouse hole in the wall and that's where Boomer met Buddy. Buddy was a Daddy mouse who has been occupying the interior of the wall with his nest of 5 little baby mice. In the corner, Buddy's wife, Sarah guarded the babies who peeked out from behind her. Boomer tried to introduce himself to Buddy. Buddy just stood there looking at him with a strange look on his face. Buddy was wondering just was was this strange animal with the big cheeks was standing before him.Buddy said, "What are you? And what are you doing here?" Boomers stepped up and told him, "I'm Boomer the hampster and I'm out here exploring this new world I found. What are you?" "I'm Buddy and we're a mouse family. We've been living here searching for food to feed my family here." Said Buddy as he motioned behind him. Sarah was in the corner sheltering her babies in the nest and she pressed herself further back into the darkness.

Boomer meets Buddy and Sarah.

Buddy retorted, "We don't like strangers, and we sure don't like stranger that are not like us!""Well!" Boomer said, "I don't want any trouble. I'll just get on with my adventure, and I won't bother you or your family. Nice to meet you Buddy." At that Boomer was sidestepping slowly toward the mouse hole in the wall. Suddenly a much larger, dark figure stepped out of the shadows to block the way.Bart was blocking the exit. "I say IF you go, WHERE you go, and WHEN you GO!" Bart exclaimed. Boomer froze in his steps while the big ferocious King mouse snarled in his face. "How did you get in here, and where were you going?" said Bart. "I just escaped from my home cage and was exploring this new world." shuddered Boomer, gulping. Suddenly Bart grabbed Boomer by the neck and squeezed, forcing a volcano of seed to spew from his cheeks into a pile on the floor. "And what have you got here!", exclaimed Bart.

Bart chokes Boomer

Bart growled angrily, "So your stealing food from us!""Oh no!" cried Boomer, " I just found it up there.." Boomer motioned up to the drawer space he had just climbed down from. " I was just saving it for later, when I get hungry." Boomer sighed meekly. "Any food to be found her is OURS!" choroused Bart and Buddy."You will pay for this!" Bart snarled. "Cheeks like yours might come in handy for hauling a day's meal to us. I'm not letting you go anywhere."For the next three months, Boomer was chained up by the neck in Bart's house under the dryer. Bart only set him free to seach for food while Bart stood in the dark shadows watching and waiting for him to bring a pile for him and the others.

Nightly the dogs of the house were put into their dog crate by the people to sleep. Boomer then would be on the hunt to find anything he could haul back to feed the mice. The more he brought, dog nuggets, bids of food from the cupboards, or any morsal of food from under the table, the more they wanted. The baby mice were getting bigger, and always cried that they were still hungry.Boomer started saving a few scraps of food in his cheeks, and when Bart wasn't looking, Boomer would drop a little extra for the baby mice. Sarah could only smile at Boomer as he went by, while the baby mice would cover the pieces with their bodies so Bart could'nt see.

Boomer knew that Bart was very powerful, and he didn't think he could win a fight against him. Boomer had been a fat, lazy little hampster and never had to fight anything in his life.After searching all night and bringing all he found to the mice, Bart would grab a big armfull of food from the pile Boomer deposited for himself. Then Boomer had to be chained up again and follow Bart back to his bed consisting of a sock under the dryer. Bart would drop a few crumbs in front of Boomer, then crawl up in his nest of dryer lint and sit and glare at him while munching on his goodies. The chain was fastened to a pipe next to Bart's head and any movement make the chain clatter against the pipe. At the slighest jingle on the pipe, Bart would sit up and growl at Boomer.

Boomer longed for the days when he felt so safe in his cage, munching his seeds and playing with his good pal Nicky. "Will I ever see Nicky again? Will Darin and Amber ever hug me, and play with me again?" Boomer wondered.During the day he could hear noises and movement throughout the house, but Boomer was sure that Bart heard it also. Boomer could see Bart's outline in the darkness, sitting and glaring at him.Boomer worked so hard, and Bart and the other mice demanded more and more from him each day.

Little did Boomer know, that his hard work was making him stronger, and was no longer a fat and lazy hampster.

One Evening while searching for more food, he could clearly hear the voices of Darin and Amber sitting in the dark living room laughing at some movie on television. Boomer ventured a little farther than normal in his quest to find food, while Bart stood nearby watching him. Boomer was listening to the kids voices, "I just got to try it!" Boomer exclaimed.In one quick leap, Bart attacked Boomer, trying to grasp Boomer by the neck and raking his claws in Boomer's forehead. "Oh no you don''t!" cried Bert. Boomer easily shook Barts now fat, lazy body off of him, sending Bart sliding across the floor. Boomer ran faster than he had ever run before in the direction of Darin's voice.

Boomer escapes to Darin With one great leap, Boomer was up on the edge of the couch and he scrambled ontoDarin's lap. "Boomer!" shouted Darin. "Where have you been so long?" Darin quickly picked him up and turned on the light to look at him better. "Oh! He's hurt!" yelled Darin. Darin then washed his hampster's sore head and hugged him against his cheek. "We've been looking for you for so long!" Darin murmured.

At that, Darin put Boomer back into the cage with Nicky while he watched them snuggle together at their bowl.After a good meal and a big drink, Nicky and Boomer climbed up together into their chamber and huddled close together for a long nap. "I've had enough adventure for a while, it's good to be home."

THE END