"Ba ba is gone!"

Hi, friends. This is the story of a hamster... family.

A while back this semester, someone gave the school two little hamsters. They live(d) in a little purple cage. One is(was) a boy one is a girl. They have Chinese names that I don't know. I thought I liked hamsters. Then I met these two hamsters. Maybe it's not their fault. Maybe it's just what comes of being left out in the reach of small children too often and being poked at with pencils and chopsticks. But these hamsters are what they are, and that is VICIOUS. I really don't like them at all. I tried to hold one a couple times and they just go berserk and bite, bite, scratch, and bite if you try to put your hand in and pick one up. Nasty little creatures.

Well, to our great surprise one day, the news was announced that there were some new hamsters occcupying the cage. Yes. They had babies. I never had noticed that the mother was even expecting, but suddenly, there were seven little squirmy, eye-less, pink, and hairless little babies. Hmm.

Well, after a bit of research, it was decided that the father should be removed from the cage. But where to put him? I wasn't around for this initial decision-making. I discovered the solution for myself when I walked past the hamster-housing classroom at one point and noticed a small, wood-shavings covered tupperware container with the lid popped open... and no hamster. Wait. There he was... running around the counter top. I didn't know if this is what was supposed to be happening.

I went and got Tina who does a lot of our organizing and paper work and helps out with everything in general. They are kind of her hamsters I think. She knows a bit of English, but not a ton. She seemed alarmed to see the father ("father" in Chinese is "ba ba") running freely, so I immediately went in search of a new plan. I soon found a rather large and tall plastic bowl in storage in the office. I offered it and it seemed everyone agreed that would be a good solution. A little home of wood shavings, and lids with food and water were set up for the father and he was put into his new home (not by hand of course since he's vicious.... I think a cup and some cardboard were used).

So then there was a Tuesday morning that rolled around. We have a meeting in the classroom where the hamster cage usually lives. On my way out of this meeting, I glanced into the large bowl to take a gander at the daddy hamster. Well, there was no hamster. Hmm.

I walked into the office and asked another teacher. They suggested that perhaps Tina had reunited the family in the purple cage. I went and found Tina. "Tina, did you put the dad hamster back in with the mom and babies?" "No," she replied with a quizical look. "Where is the dad?" I asked. Tina indicated in the direction of the bowl. "No, I just looked. He's not in there!" I didn't know what reaction to expect... if she would be upset or sad... I didn't know. She suddenly looked concerned, but then smiled, and exclaimed, "Ba ba is gone!"

It was HILARIOUS.

We have no idea where this ba ba ran off to.... there has been no sighting of him since. Perhaps he is happily befriending the rats of the land while his offspring begin to sprout hair and get eyes.