My Write A Book

Gwen's First Christmas

Hello! My name is Gwen. It's not a nickname or anything, just Gwen. I am a guinea pig who lives in a pet store in between isles three and four. I'm also not lonely! I know a very wise bird that I talk to when I have questions. He's been around for at least three generations... I think. (There's a lot of gossip that goes around the pet store.) Whenever I ask him if it's true, he just says "Perhaps". Did I mention I have apartment neighbors? Chip and Nugget, the hamster twins, live in the apartment cage below me.

They're really nice and all, but my very best friend is a husky named Storm. He's a really playful puppy and is as curious about the world as I am. What's really cool about him is that he has one brown eye and one blue eye. If you're wondering how a dog and a guinea pig could have possibly met in the first place, then let me just tell you that his cage is very close to mine. Actually, all of the young, small, dogs are pretty close to the "small rodents" section.

This week was going by as pretty uneventful (as usual), until today. The pet store employees put up strange items throughout the store. Trees with tiny green needles were strung with lights and topped with a glowing star, small bushels of berries were pinned to walls, pretty flowers (apparently called poinsettias) lined the walls (plus one that was attached to my cage!), and silver bells that jingle extremely loud replaced the regular bell above the entrance door.

I'm pretty much okay with everything they set up so far... except for something I'm almost positive is watching me. It's a large, plastic figure of an old man wearing red. He has a bushy, white beard, and a potbelly that hangs over his belt. I've heard stories of this man. He breaks into people's houses at night by entering through the chimney, shoves as many cookies as he can into his fat mouth, leaves boxes full of mysterious (and possibly dangerous) items, then crawls back up the chimney without a trace. I've watched him at night to make sure he's not doing anything suspicious, and I think I saw him move slightly. Once.

This morning, a young couple walked into the store. "How about a fish?" The man pointed to a small, lonely, goldfish. "No", replied his wife, "Their lifespan is much too short." (The goldfish did not like hearing that.) "Perhaps a chameleon?" His wife shook her head. "They eat crickets. I couldn't live in a house with constant chirping." "Cat? Bird? Snake?" "No, no, and- Peter, get that over sized, scaly worm away from me!!!! We need a small, quiet, normal house pet." The lady's eyes bounced all around the room. When she saw me, she immediately rushed over.