Kick and Claire have never had much of a relationship, though they had a lot in common: Sleeping most of the day, noisemaking most of the night, creating messes, and expressing profound disinterest in anyone that wasn’t feeding them. You’d think they’d have been soulmates, but mostly they ignored each other.

Until recently. Kick has decided Claire should spend her mornings with us in our living room, a wish she expresses by pointing at the cage and yelling “LIVIN’ ROOM” at the top of her tiny lungs until breakfast is over and the ferret is permitted some roaming time, carefully supervised by her new best friend.

(Disclaimer: Kick is very flaily and clumsy still, and Claire is very old and somewhat fragile now with her cancer, so they’re never alone with each other of course.)

A.