The Now Empty Cage – William, Grade 7

The Now Empty Cage – William, Grade 7

 

The Now Empty Cage

The cage, which was made up of “construct a shelf” materials, cardboard, plain purple duct tape, and cable locks, was building up dust. Behind it stood a growing and leaning twelve-year-old money tree, whose leaves had turned so dry and yellow that the softest puff of wind could crumple them. Some of the leaves were bitten, some burnt from sunlight, and very few were still in good shape.

The cage itself was white. Anyone who looked at it could see that it used to be inhabited by at least some loved animals. The very faint smell of two happy rodents living in the cage was still there. Scattered a bit unevenly across the cage was what used to be wooden pine shavings, which were now just dried and processed light golden brown powder, with some larger bits of the shaving here and there, as if no one had touched the cage in years.

There, on one of the edges, fastened in place by cable ties, was some sort of blackish-grey metal rectangular pyramid with an open top, which was made with small round metal bars. The open side of the half rectangular pyramid was facing the edge. It was originally designed to contain stationary, but instead, it was holding dried and faded yellow-green timothy hay. Right under the half pyramid was a pile of disintegrated timothy hay mixed with the fine powders of pine wood shavings.

Two guinea pig houses stood at the back corners of the cage. One of them was on the left, and the other on the right. The left one was light green and in the shape and form of an igloo, with the inscribed outlines of its bricks slowly fading. It had many small bite marks all over it, and since it was transparent, the bites stood out. The one on the right corner was something not designed for a guinea pig but was used as a house for their kind. It was a stubby stool bigger than the igloo. The top was pink and had carved outlines of stars at the side, and a dog in the middle. The sides were milky white, with nothing else on it.

A few years back, the cage had been filled with life and noise. It had been home to two guinea pigs named Cashew and Walnut. Cashew was a female, with her fur all white except the face and rear end, which were a golden yellow and brown mixed together. She was careful with what she ate, and loved running in circles around the perimeter of the cage, and made a lot of noise. Walnut, on the other hand, was male, with his fur mostly brown, with two vertically white streaks on either side and hazel on a little part of his rear end. He was almost always hungry and eating, and loved flattening himself to look like a pancake in the middle of the cage.

That’s how it was. Now, I feel depressed whenever the cage gets into my field of vision. I loved the guinea pigs, especially walnut, for his fatness. I loved the way they would climb up the cage when the leafy greens were brought to them, the way they would shove their heads or entire bodies in the timothy hay pile, and the way they would run, then trip, then just sit there.

Whenever I see the money tree, I have to blink back tears. The pigs were attached to that tree. They used to spend long periods of time at the back of the cage, nibbling at its sweet and sticky leaves. After that, they just dragged themselves back to the houses and took a short nap.
>