We picked her out of the pet store one week after the wedding of my oldest brother, David. Things had finally wound down (a bit) from the wedding excitement. It was a Sunday. For some reason, only Paul, Josh and I went to mass; although I do believe that our old neighbor, Ryan, came with us, too.
For the record, I think we ran into Conor at mass and asked if he wanted to pick out a guinea pig with us, but he declined.
I’m not sure how it was decided that that would be the day to pick out a new guinea pig. But it was. And ever shall be. Amen.
Paul, Josh, Ryan and I drove to a pet store after mass and looked at the guinea pigs in the cage. But, none of them were right, you know?
So then we determined to look at another pet store and we stopped at our house on the way home and convinced Christine to join us as we searched for the newest “member of the family.”
It was decided that I would be the designated “pig-holder” at this pet store. I was wearing long sleeves and would hold them to test the cuddle quota. So, we walked in. Five ADULTS. And we squatted by the window which is very clearly set at a child’s height…because that’s who buy guinea pigs generally.
There were three guinea pigs. One white-and-black, one that was white-and-something (brown?), and one that was black with bits of brown…and the black-and-brown one was sitting on her own.
As a side note: we should have known. We should have known then that she was independent.
But, we wanted that. We knew we only wanted one guinea pig, and she seemed like she could hold her own.
So, we called the salesclerk and she let me hold all of them. I held the black-and-brown one twice and said, “I think that this is the one we should get.”
We all agreed and the salesclerk left to find the proper paperwork. It should be noted that, at this point, the black-and-white one came over to bite the one we wanted and Ryan yelled at the cage, “OREO! NO!!” until the clerk stared at us in shock.
But! We filled out the paperwork and brought her home in the cardboard box where we could be friends forever.
From henceforth, she would rule our home.
