1966 Hamlet and Omelette

When we lived in Paris, my friend Alain (brother of David, who became husband #1), gave me a couple of baby hamsters.  

I had a red hooded jacket that I absolutely adored, and they would stay in the hood.  They lived in a small cage in my bedroom.  The cage must have been makeshift because they always escaped.  Usually they ran around my bedroom because I kept the door closed.  I didn't want our Cocker Spaniel, Benjamin, to eat them.  

At night, though, I usually left my door open so I could hear my dad's alarm (clock radio tuned in to a German station that played military marching music first thing in the morning).  

One morning, while it was still dark and before the alarm went off, I heard a bloodcurdling scream.  I jumped out of bed and ran into my parents' bedroom, where my mother was sitting up in bed, pointing at her pillow.  There, rignt in the middle of the pillow, were Hamlet and Omelette, sitting up looking at me.  My dad was still asleep, as was my sister in her room.  I grabbed the hamsters and ran back to my room.  Fortunately, I made it before a bellowed with laughter.  After that, the hamsters were threatened with death if they ever escaped again.  

Actually, not long thereafter, we realized that Hamlet was a male and Omelette was a female.  Omelette eventually had babies, and then Hamlet killed her and the babies.  It was a massacre.  He was alone after that, the murderer..