Natasha and Samantha's
First Big Adventure

I wasn't there until the very end, but I'm pretty sure that this is how it went:

'Tasha, looking over the edge of the bunk bed: "Our Boy left us on the bed again. I'm getting bored."

Sammi: "Well, I'm going to go hide in my Pillow Spot and wash or maybe take a nap."
Samantha heads for the pillow corner.

'Tasha: "No! I wanna get down on the Floor and 'splore. I can see the Floor from here. I see lots of stuff to play in. Maybe there's Food, too. I like Food."

Sammi: "I like Food too. But we're way up high. Even Our Boy has to use a ladder to get up here. If we try to go way down there, we'll get Owies. I don't like it when I get Owies. Besides, how can you even see the Floor? I can't see it. I can barely see you!"

'Tasha: "Well, you're nearsighted. I see how you sway your head to try to see things. I don't have to do that. I can see. Besides, I'm a princess. I'm a blue rat. I came from a Real Breeder. That makes me special. Mom said so. Princesses can see good."

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Sammi: "Well, Miss Princess, you eat the same Food as I do, so I don't see anything so fancy about you. But I'll tell you this: Even if you do get down to the Floor without getting Owies, you are going to get in trouble. You know that Mom always says NO when you get on the Floor when we're playing on the Couch. I don't like it when Mom says NO. I don't like it when Our Boy says NO. It hurts my feelings."

'Tasha: "You're such a baby."

Sammi: "I am not!"

'Tasha: "That's enough talk. You can stay here if you want to. I'm going down. I want to get On the Floor and play. I want to find Food."

Sammi: "But how? You may be a princess, but you are still small like me. And it's eleventy-six tall up here."

'Tasha: "I've been planning for this for a long time. Whenever we're On The Bed, you always go to the Pillow Spot and wash or sleep. I pretend to be playing, but I've always been looking and 'sploring, too. Come over here, look!" Natasha goes up to where the bed meets the wall, and peers down the crack. Samantha myopically looks too, but sees only a dark blur. "See that? That's a Couch under Our Boy's bed! That means we can jump down to that, where it is soft and we won't get Owies. Couches are close to the Floor. We can get On the Floor! I've figured it all out! We can play on the Floor with all the Toys, and maybe find Food!"

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Sammi: "But won't we get in trouble with Our Boy or Mom or Dad?"

'Tasha: "Naw. We're too cute!"

So Natasha carefully picked her way down the Big Bunk Bed, clinging to the sheet here and sliding down a pole there until she reached the futon couch below. "C'mon, Sammi! I'm on the Couch! It's easy!"

Sammi wasn't so bold, but before long she found herself on the Couch, too. It really surprised her, because she didn't think she could do it at first. Maybe Natasha was right, after all. Maybe she wasn't going to get any Owies at all. Maybe Mom and Dad and Their Boy wouldn't get mad and say NO. She started to feel very brave. She began to realize that you didn't have to be a princess to be brave. She looked back at Natasha and said, "Now what? Did you find any Food yet?"

'Tasha: "No, we have to get down to the Floor, first. And to do that, we just have to go over here, and there, and then it's just a little jump down to the Floor. . .like this!"

Sammi: "Hooray! We're On the Floor!! Let's play! Let's find FOOD!!"

Sammi, quite against her usual nature went far afield, crossing Her Boy's entire room until she came to the Place That Has Clothes In It. She didn't find any Food, but everything in here smelled like Her Boy, and she liked that. Natasha went 'sploring all around under the Couch. There was lots of Toys there to climb under and through, but no Food, either. She was just beginning to tire of her 'sploring Under the Couch and was on her way to find Samantha, when she heard Mom say in her high pitched singsong voice: "Girls!"

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ACK! It was MOM!! She FOUND us! Natasha considered running away and back under the couch when she realized that it was no use, and she stood still and waited for Mom to pick her up. Mom looked at her with shock, realizing that Natasha was On the Floor. Their Boy came up behind Mom, and was doubly shocked to find that Samantha had followed Natasha's lead and found her way to the Floor. Mom and Boy looked at each other with shocked, worried faces. "What are we going to do NOW that they can climb off of the bed?", said the looks in their eyes.

Mom and Boy were speechless. All they could do now was put the girls back in the cage. But they knew that the situation was not over.

After Mom and Boy left, Samantha turned to look at Natasha and said, "At least Mom didn't say NO." The gleam in Natasha's eye lasted a long time.