| The Sooty and Smudge Chronicles (otherwise known as Smooty and Sudge) |
| Chapter One - The Pet Shop It was a chilly winter's day, February 7th 2003 to be precise, and a Friday too, when Michelle, an exchange student in Switzerland, and her friend Stephanie, a canadian exchange student, walked in to the pet shop in Fribourg to check out rat cages. As soon as she entered the shop Michelle knew that something was terribly wrong. The fish tanks were coloured with algae and other growing stuffs, a lone yellow canary hoped sadly about in a small, dirty cage devoid of toys and mirrors. It's beak was too long from lack of anything to wear it down on and its water was filthy. But worst of all was its left foot, which was deformed like the arthritic hand of an old person. And there, in the middle of everything was a small glass cage, that at first appeared empty, but for a water bottle hanging empty inside. But no, there, huddled in the corner, with no where to hide, were two miserable looking little gerbils. Michelle noticed immediately that their claws were too long, and one of them had barely any hair on what should have been a furry tail. The poor little things were a year old already! At least they lived till 5-6 years of age and had some hope of having a better life! Here's someone I CAN save, thought Michelle. She might not be able to help the bird this time, but with her spare cage at home, she had enough room to house two gerbils... Chapter Two - Gerbils: The First Adventure And so it was that a little later our two littles gerbil heros... sorry... wrong story... anyway, a little later Michelle left the shop with a box under one arm and a sippybottle in hand. Staring out at the world through a plastic peep hole were two little gerbil faces. Free. Free at last from the clutches of the Evil Pet Shop Keeper! It was 4.30pm when the Gerbils left that store in the arms of their new carer. And what an adventure they had next. Michelle had plans already for the evening, and because she couldn't bare to leave the gerbils in that condition for even another day, she took them with her. First it was off for a supermarket tour to buy munchies, then because there was still plenty of time left, they all sat down and shared a pizza. Michelle was glad that no one noticed her slipping pizza in to a cardboard box... she didn't want to get told to leave! Once the pizza was finished it was time for the next part! The Movie. Yes, the Gerbils were off to see their first (and likely last) Movie at the cinema. After buying the tickets Michelle simply walked on in as if taking gerbils to the cinema was normal and fortunately no one noticed anything strange about her box (especially the sippybottle it was wearing!). Safely installed in the seat beside Michelle, with the jackets on top of the box to lessen the noise, the Gerbils watched The Ring. It was a very good movie, all those silly humans doing silly things... Then it was time to go home, but at the train station Michelle, Stephanie and the Gerbils ran in to another exchange student, Jenny. There are lots of exchange students in Fribourg. Their buses and trains weren't for another hour, so they all went out for a coffee. After a good talk it was time to go home. On the train Michelle checked on our little Gerbil friends and found them quite contentedly snoozing. She slipped a couple of fresh tissues in, in case they wanted to snuggle in to something during the walk home. After all, it was winter AND 10.30 at night! Upon arriving home the Gerbils were moved in to a small spare cage for the night, until Michelle could reorganise the cages the next day. The moment the were moved from their mound of shredded tissue paper they came instantly awake. They bounded about the cage as if they couldn't believe their eyes. LOOK! There's a full dish of food, and there's water and even a house to sleep in! WICKED! After much bounding about and exploring and noise our two little Gerbils' First Adventure came to a close and they snuggled up and fell sound asleep. Chapter 3 - The Weekend Saturday morning, when Michelle finally got up she had lots to do. First of all she put the Gerbils back in to their carrybox while she cleaned out the small cage. Once that was done she put Petit Loup and Trecolo, the Dwarf Hamsters in to their normal cage, the one she had just cleaned. Once this was done she could prepare the newly emptied large cage for the Gerbils. Freshly cleaned, she set it up and put the Gerbils in to explore their new, permanent home. The Gerbils were sure they were still dreaming. They still had food and fresh water, and TWO houses, and even another level and this funny thing to climb up to the upper floor, a lader or some such thing. They were so excited they couldn't stay still! They jumped about and destroyed anything in their path. Michelle left them to settle in for most of the day and by evening they were so tired they just curled up and fell asleep. But, on Sunday morning Michelle was woken up at 6.29am by the determined excavation attempts of two little sets of Gerbil paws. Bored already with the inside of their cage our Gerbil friends were wanting to know what was UNDER the cage. Half an hour later she finally had the chance for more sleep, but one thing was noted: Gerbils rise early. Michelle had to go out on Sunday, but that was okay, because it meant that she could give the Gerbils some peace to really settle in and make themselves at home. She noticed one of the Gerbils had a small bit of white fur under one eye and so she named her Smudge. She was still struggling to think of a name for Smudge's sister when she got to Lausanne to visit her old hostfamily, so she posted a message on the NZRC rat group asking for names, and Sarah suggested Sooty, after all, the Gerbils are both black! It was just perfect. And so it was that the two poor little gerbils that Michelle had seen in the Evil Pet Shop Keeper's nasty shop, became the happy, energetic little pair they are now. So they became, Sooty and Smudge. The Gerbils. |
| The Sooty and Smudge Chronicles will be kept updated. As the story grows the earlier chapters will be archived in groups and only the most recent ones will be displayed on the Sooty and Smudge pages. The first three or four chapters are set as a story, the rest will be written from the first person. But first comes the story of The Rescue. |
| This is the Story of Sooty and Smudge. They are Gerbils. Black Gerbils to be exact. They live in Switzerland with their caregiver, Michelle. Sooty is sooty and Smudge has a smudge, but sometimes they are Smooty and Sudge. Read on in The Sooty and Smudge Chronicles. |
| Part One: The Rescue |
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