Did you ever play that game, with a child, where you wiggle each toe and describe how the little piggies went to market, or stayed home?   My toddlers loved it!  Seriously, they thought it was the greatest thing since cupcakes were invented, and that was before the grand finish where the last ‘piggy’ ran all over them tickling them.

Well, call me crazy, but today’s post on ‘Showing someone making a difficult decision’ was inspired by that nursery rhyme.  Oh, and this video.

Because how can you not feel inspired by a guinea pig escape artist?

Miss Pancake was feeling pretty pleased with herself, as she munched the hay her owner had left beside their cage.  It wasn’t on today’s menu–that hay had already been eaten.  But a wise piggy always kept a trick or two up her sleeve.

She gave a little twist of her head, and jerked another big chunk free.

“Mmmmm…”  Truly, being able to eat the hay outside her cage made it taste even better.  There must be something about the confines of a cage that made in instantly less interesting.

She smiled to herself, and gave the bag a little rustle, just to enjoy the sound.

Speaking of sounds…what was that?

Miss Pancake’s head came up, and she froze.  The stillness was so complete, even her eyelashes didn’t dare quiver.  She held the pose, listening.

There was nothing.  Perhaps she’d just imagined it.  Going back to her hay, she buried her face in it once more, sighing with pleasure.

“That’s right,” a wicked voice purred from somewhere close.  “Just a few more bites.”

“Wheeek!” Miss Pancake squealed.  She looked around in alarm, but it took her several seconds of her heart pitter-pattering before she thought to look up–and discovered Selina, the cat, sitting on the window ledge right above her.

“How long have you been there?” Miss Pancake asked, breathlessly.

“Long enough to see your tummy start to bulge,” Selena said, with a toothy smile.  He almond-shaped eyes had a hungry gleam, though Miss Pancake knew she was well fed.

“Soon,” Selena went on in a purr.  “You won’t be able to fit back inside.  Then we’ll see what games we can play, won’t we?”

Miss Pancake gulped, the hay suddenly dry.  Come to think of it, hay eaten outside her cage really couldn’t compare to the tender aroma of that eaten safely inside.  Turning on her heel, she raced back to her cage and squeezed inside.  After all, a piggy liked to keep a trick or two up her sleeve, and that meant staying trim enough to fin in, as well as out.

Many thanks to our more adventurous guinea pig, Pancake, for providing the video and patiently munching a piece of lettuce while I interviewed her for this story. 🙂

And speaking of making decisions, I’ve decided to make a change of my own.  There are few universal truths, but ‘Life is Busy’ seems to be one of them.  In the spirit of streamlining some of that busyness, I’m taking a possibly permanent hiatus from hosting Flash Friday.  We’ll go one more week, then the beginning of August the Flash Friday linky page will get converted to a page for Flash Friday Favorites, and from then on I’ll be participating in the Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  Hopefully my awesome friends who’ve participated in the Flash Friday blog hop will join me there, and if not, you’re always welcome to leave a link to your Flash pieces in the comments.  And thank you so much for reading and writing with me!

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