Monday, August 11, 2008

Cinnamon and sugar and softly spoken lies

A while back, a woman of Slavic descent knocked on my grandparents' door to ask a favor.  The woman explained in broken English that she lived with her family in the apartment building next door and they were going on vacation for a weekend.  She pointed to a hamster cage at her feet and asked my grandparents to watch her son's hamsters for the weekend until they came back.  She offered a full bag of food and extra bedding for the creatures. 
 
My grandparents are incredibly naive and sweet.  They agreed to watch the hamsters.
 
Yesterday, over a month after the stranger dropped off the hamsters, I noticed that one of them was looking pretty bad.  My sweet, naive grandfather said, "You think he's sick?  Oh, I hope he doesn't die before they pick him up."