I remember so well on Christmas Eve night, 2005, I walked to Spice's cage. I wanted her to be sitting on my lap as Christmas approached, since Christmas is a very big deal in my family. I opened the cage, expecting to see her sweet, black nose poke out from her hut, then her beady eyes, and the rest of her leap out in excitement, climb up my arm and onto my shoulder. But I saw nothing. I waited for a second, then knew something was wrong. I took the lid of the cage completely off and lifted the hut. She was nowhere in the cage. Shocked, I immediately began looking around and placing her favorite snack (Chicken in a Biscuit) all over the room, hoping to see her crawl out and begin nibbling. Unfortunately, I had no luck. After an hour of searching throughout the house, I slid into bed and tried to go to sleep. It took hours for me to actually sleep because I was so troubled, scared for what might happen to her (I have 2 cats).
The next morning, I woke up. Christmas morning. Even before I opened my eyes, i wondered how my little baby was doing. When I opened them, I looked around the room. My eyes fell upon no other than Spice, who was comfortably curled up, sleeping in the inside of my elbow.

A couple of weeks later, she got out again. A little less worried, I went to bed and took less time to get to sleep than before. Sure enough, I woke up with Spice lying on my neck, tucked under my chin, sound asleep.

Whether she came back to me knowing I"m her source of food or because she felt comfortable with me, this touched me and made me feel closer to Spice. I also gained her trust. I never found out how she got out of her cage. But I wasn't surprised, because she had to be the smartest little rodent I had ever seen (and trust me, I've had many animals, mostly rodents). I miss her dearly and cannot wait to see her again someday.