Second Chance

So. On Tuesday I put the guinea pigs up for sale on the local online classifieds. I asked Mel before I did it. She's a bit tired of taking care of them by herself since she's such a busy teenager now, and so she was okay about it. The other children are starting to protest and get nervous, but since Mel's the only one that really takes care of them, she is the only child that I listened to. Last night we got a phone call from someone to buy them. I didn't hear the message until this morning when he also called my cell phone. Hmm. It sounded like an old man which concerned me a little bit that they would not be used as pets? (No offense intended for old men) But I visualized some guy that has a python he's gonna feed them to... But I told the kids I had an offer and to prepare themselves to be pet less.

Then I went to the computer to do a little bit of research on the buyer before I called him back - looked up his name on facebook - nothing. Googled the phone number, and that made my heart skip a beat cause it came up as a Mexican restaurant in Layton! And I turned on red alert and the sirens went off in my head - No!!! They're gonna serve up the guinea pigs for dinner!!!! ...But then I remembered "wait, that's Peru, not Mexico...." Still, made my heart skip a beat and now I don't want to sell them to him. I called and left a message, then he called back and I re-said what I had left in the message. I was not honest and told him we have someone else "coming to look at them at 2" and that someone else is my neighbor's kid who is going to come look at them when she comes over to play - although that 4 year old has no intention to buy them. Sorry, I just panicked - I need more time! The kids need more time too. Wes and Abi looked quite crestfallen as they walked out the door to school. Wesley has been giving them hay the past 2 days and says in a cute little decrescendo-ing voice as he goes out to feed them "I'm going to go take care of the guinea pigs so that we don't have to give them away..." as the door closes behind him. And Hyrum too ~ he was the last to leave (late start Friday) and as he said "Don't sell the guinea pigs!!! We'll start taking care of them EVERYDAY! Starting TODAY!" This attempt to sell them might work in my and Melodie's favor. They are cute little things, I'm not in a rush to get rid of them I guess. Sure, the long hair gets a bit messy since the kids don't clean them and they get all gunked up on the underneath side. But I still believe they are the perfect pet for a family with kids. Maybe we'll keep them a bit longer... but I'm not going to tell the kids yet. We'll see what kind of oaths to be better pet owners I can get out of them first.