Danny and Oliver: A Ferret-Rescue Tale

By Karen Hearing

“Danny and Oliver: A Ferret-Rescue Tale” is the first short story (approximately 4,000 words) of, we hope, many more.

Twelve-year-old Danny McGuire loves his pet ferret, Oliver – but Danny’s parents don’t. They also think he should do more of the things “normal boys” do.

Still, Danny manages to remain fairly cheerful and keep his grades up. Oliver consoles him, his mountain-bike rides bring him solace, and his best friend Mike offers some hard-won advice. It all works out, for the most part, until . . . things go terribly wrong.

But, then, it pays to remember that a rescue ferret can sometimes “rescue” a bad situation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karen Hearing
• Release date: Nov 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301072842

Karen Hearing

An animal lover since she was a young girl, Karen has three dogs,one cat, three horses, one husband . . . and four ferrets. It might be better, though, to say that these ferrets share her home. When you have a pet that combines a cat's curiosity and an otter's playfulness and a dog's silly antics, you can't really say you own it.Karen has been sharing her home with ferrets for about four years (as of this writing – September 2011). They are Rikki, a female albino ferret, and Possum, a male panda ferret, and Loki and Luna. Her adventure with pet ferrets began like this . . .Karen found Rikki, the fuzzball who started her love affair with ferrets, curled up on the ground beside her truck at work on a cold, rainy December night. Karen scooped her up, dried her off, and took her home. (She did do her best to locate the owners.) Thus began her life with ferrets.After having Rikki for about a year, Karen began to feel guilty about not being able to give her the attention she needed (because of work and family and all that). So, in early November, she put on her brightest, most-fetching smile and asked her husband for an early Christmas present. And he said, "We'll see" – which was close enough to "Yes" for Karen.So in a few days they set off to the local pet store to find Rikki a "baby brother." Karen took Rikki with her so she could help pick out her "brother," but Rikki, her furry little mind boogled by ferret speed dating, couldn't make a decision. Karen decided for her, and she made a good choice. Possum is a playmate, cohort in adventure and loving companion to Rikki and both a joy and a trial to Karen.Now, Karen shares her enthusiasm for fuzzy carpet sharks and growing knowledge of ferrets with anyone willing to listen. Ferrets are fairly high-maintenance pets. They require a lot of care, a lot of attention, in-depth knowledge of diet and health issues, and just the right ferret accessories and ferret toys.Karen’s goal is to help people who are in the same boat she was when ferrets first came into her life – that is, knowing almost nothing about ferrets or where to turn for help. She hopes to make the journey a little smoother for other ferret owners. For healthy, happy ferrets are worth it.

Book preview

Danny and Oliver

A Ferret-Rescue Tale

Karen Hearing and Michael Hearing

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Karen and Michael Hearing

This is a work of fiction. The characters (both human and ferret) and situations are inventions of the authors’ imaginations. Any resemblance to real persons, pets, places, events, or institutions is purely coincidental.

Danny and Oliver: A Ferret-Rescue Tale

Danny! Come get this rat out of my room!

Mom, he’s not a rat. He’s a ferret.

Well, it looks like a rat to me. Why couldn’t you just get a dog like a normal boy? Whoever heard of having a ferret for a pet? And it stinks.

Danny McGuire sighed and got up from his homework to retrieve his pet ferret, Oliver, from his mother’s bedroom – from under her bed, he was pretty sure. Coming, Mom. He had begun to wince noticeably now whenever he heard these normal boy comments. He was twelve years old, almost thirteen, nearly a teenager, and his parents were still trying to make him into something other than what he was.

So Danny entered his mother’s bedroom to get Oliver. She wasn’t through, though: "And Johnny Tatum called to see if you wanted to play ball this afternoon – he has a dog, a border