Monsters in My Bedroom

Joshua Conteh

Monsters in my bedroom

There are two monsters in my bedroom. They are looking at me even as I type. What they find so curious about my face I probably would never know – maybe they think I’m attractive. With their red eyes, black and golden bodies, and sleek tails, it’s hard to differentiate them from burnt marshmallows. But I admire how comfortable they look in their cage. How did I end up with two gerbils? What possessed me to even purchase them in the first place?

It all started about 3 months ago. I was taking out the garbage and I happened to see a baby rabbit trapped in the fire escape for my basement. Me being the angel I am, managed to save this little critter with a bucket I saw lying around. But what struck me was the innocent look in its eyes. The look saying “I don’t know what I am doing here, but I am scared and I want to go home.” That day I took my sympathetic self to the pet store and purchased a gerbil. Right there on the spot. No second thoughts or negotiations. To top it off, I bought another one the next day to keep the first one I had bought company. Little did I know the pandemonium I had let into my home.

They are two male gerbils. One is called Rene and the other Remy. Yes, I love them dearly. But right now they are tearing up every piece of fabric they can find. To top it off, they have a very decent living space. They occupy a 28 x 32 aquarium tank, jam packed with chew toys and little snacks that they demolish every day as I refill their home. The aquarium has little chips in it from their constant gnawing at the sides of the aquarium which they stopped doing as they grew out of it. The base of the aquarium is a mixture or gerbil bedding and toilet paper to soften their sleeping quarters. But the thing that really sets them apart from all their other gerbil companions is their running wheel. Instead of running on it….they chew it. Right now, Remy has seen me look at the wheel, so to intimidate me he has started nibbling on it. The wheel is made out of a very hard plastic, coated in a protective casing – which clearly hasn’t done any good. The wheel is of a sky blue color with little ridges in it so the little critters can get some grip while running. They have now exited the aquarium and are now running on my slippery tile floor like prisoners who have seen the prison door ajar.