Tuesday, January 15, 2008

What Really Happened?

We were going on vacation.
Just my mother and me.
Going to Lincoln, Nebraska.
To see my aunt Blanche and uncle Carroll.

I had to leave Chipper behind.
Chipper was my hamster.
Brown and white hamster.
He had a metal cage with an exercise wheel.

I left him with a friend.
A trusted friend.
He promised to feed Chipper.
Chipper would be fine.

I forgot to tell you.
This was August, 1961.
I was 13.
Chipper was 2.

Well the vacation was fun.
We went swimming.
We went to museums.
We played miniature golf.

I stayed in my cousin's room.
He was away at college.
I found his copy of Lady Chatterly's Lover.
All the best parts dogeared and underlined.

I sat in my uncle's den.
I read the National Geographic.
I played with the collie.
I played with the neighbor kids.

The vacation was over.
We took the Greyhound home.
We changed buses in Omaha.
I had chicken fried steak at the lunch counter.

We got home at 7:33 pm.
I called my friend.
He said Chipper was dead.
Had died a few days ago.

They took Chipper to the dump.
They took his metal cage to the dump.
His exercise wheel was at the dump.
The hamster pellets were there too.

I asked how he died.
They found him that way.
In the morning.
Just curled up in the cedar shavings.

I felt devastated.
The explanation did not sound right.
Something was missing.
They were not telling me everything.

I grew up.
I forgot about it.
Until this morning.
Until I talked to a guy in the hallway.

This guy is a disabled Vietnam Vet.
He reads a lot of books.
He watches a lot of television.
And he walks ten miles a day.

Said he saw a tv show on Oswald.
Talked about the conspiracies.
Who shot who?
Who knew what and when?

It got me to thinking.
About the friend that watched Chipper.
He later worked for the government.
His dad worked for the Post Office.

Remember it was 1961.
Castro was in Cuba.
The Drifters were playing in a club downtown
And Kennedy was in the Whitehouse.

The Cuban missle crisis was soon to come.
The war was escalating.
Kennedy was killed.
Gulf of Tonkin.

Fast forward.
Thru wars.
Thru assassinations.
Thru conspiracies.

Always the unknown.
Who did what where?
When was it to be revealed?
Why does the memory select and reject?

Putting things together.
Shredding the results.
Scanning the remants.
Sending the attachments.

What really happened?
That day Chipper was found in the cedar shavings.
Brown and white hamster.
Would I ever really know?

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey punk! I tell you what happened to your rodent. Whiles you was on your vacation me and Mr. S. broke into your friend's house and stole your little rat. We was paid by some guy with a black patch over his right eye. $500 for a rat! All we had to do was replace it with one that was already dead.

9:57 AM, January 16, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just to add to what the last guy said. The guy with the patch had a big grey Olds. I followed him in my blue Falcon. He drove to the airport and took a chartered DC3. I walked into the airport and asked an associate of mine where the plane was going. He said Omaha. Strategic Air Command. So I called another guy that I new at the base down there and when the DC3 landed and followed the guy who had your hamster. Took him to a building that required Top Secret access. That is all that I know.

10:17 AM, January 16, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your post was forwarded to me by a friend. After I was kidnapped by Mr. S and his friend, I was indeed spirited away to Omaha. There I was given large doses of some experimental drugs for 2 years. They changed my diet. I grew to over 5 feet long. Then I was taken to a lab in Maryland and given a species change operation. They made me human. But I want to thank you personally for how nicely you treated me while I was a hamster. I still like to sleep in a pile od cedar chips whenever I have the opportunity. After my operation I was involved in many clandestine operations. I am now retired and live modestly.

10:33 AM, January 16, 2008  
Blogger Fred Garber said...

Thanks for the comments! I always knew that you were out there somewhere Chipper.

10:38 AM, January 16, 2008  
Blogger Patry Francis said...

"What REALLY happened?" It's one of the queestions I ask myself all the time...

Glad to hear it's been solved, at least for Chipper.

2:01 PM, January 20, 2008  
Blogger Fred Garber said...

Yes Patry...It worked out well for Chipper! One of my favorite questions is "huh?".

12:07 PM, January 22, 2008  
Blogger Beth said...

Too bad about Chipper. Too bad you'll never know, but these stories are a good substitute for the truth.

6:26 PM, January 25, 2008  

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