A Home For Bandit: Chapter Three

              Chapter 3: Pete’s House

Pete's apartment was so fun to explore!

  At first Squiggly (renamed String Bean) was scared. But Pete was so kind to him that eventually he loved Pete just as he had loved Billy.
  Pete lived in a small apartment. There were only four rooms. String Bean found lots of fun things to play with and Pete didn’t even seem be angry when the ferret chewed his newest issue of ’Cycler City. As a matter of fact, Pete was mad because he had wanted to tape the motorcycle poster to his wall. But he didn’t hit String Bean or yell at him.
 
  Pete just loved String Bean. In fact, Pete couldn’t have loved him more if String Bean had been he only companion. But the ferret was not Pete’s only friend.
  Soon after String Bean’s arrival, someone else arrived. An attractive young woman rang the back doorbell. When she went inside, Pete began to speak to her. “Hey, Jojo! You’ve got to see String Bean!” “Why are you so excited about me seeing some legumes?” Jojo said confusedly. “No, no, String Bean is my ferret!”
  Jojo and Pete walked into Pete’s living room. They popped a DVD into the DVD player. They ate supper as they watched the movie. After the movie, Pete called out: “String Bean!” The ferret ran into the living. Jojo instantly picked the ferret.
  “Oh! You’re so cute!” she cried. “Hey, thanks!” Pete said. “Not you, the ferret!” “Don’t you love me?” “Of course I do, Petey darling!”
  “So, Petey, why did you pick this ferret?” “I guess it was just love at first site!” “Just like it was with us!” “Yes, I know.”
  Jojo visited rather often. One time she came in when Pete was walking String Bean on a leash. “Oh! Can I take him for a walk outside?” “Yes, but make sure no one is coming first.” “Why not?” “Some people here don’t like ferrets.”
  Jojo took the ferret for a walk, glancing down the hallway. A woman came out of the elevator. She saw String Bean before Jojo could hide it. “Whose ferret is this?” the lady yelled.
  “I’m walking it for my boyfriend.” Said Jojo. “And who might that be?” She sure is nosy! Thought Jojo. But she said, “His name is Pete.” The lady walked off.
  Jojo didn’t think anything of this strange encounter, so she took String Bean outside.
  The ferret was as good at walking on a leash as any good dog would be and Jojo was having a great time. Once it began to get dark she returned the ferret to Pete’s apartment and left.
  The next day Pete had a visitor. The owner of the apartment knocked on Pete’s door. “Do you own a ferret?” the tall man inquired of Pete. “What ever gave you that idea?” “Mrs. Lorie told me.” (Mrs. Lorie loathed ferrets) String Bean ran up at just that moment.
  “Don’t you know that this is a ‘No Pets Allowed’ apartment?” Before Pete could answer the other man said, “You have three days to get rid of the ferret.” “And what if I can’t?” “You get the ferret out of here or I’ll make you get out.”
  When Pete and String Bean were alone again, Pete cried out as loudly as he dared: “Why, why, why, can’t Mrs. Lorie mind her own business!”
  The first person he asked to take String Bean was, of course, Jojo. “Much as I hate to refuse,” said Jojo, “I must, for my mother hates ferrets, and want to stay at home for a while longer until…” “Until what?” “Nothing.”
  Pete felt like crying. In the few months that String Bean had been with Pete, the young man had grown to love the ferret very deeply. Pete posted an advertisement online. No one responded to it.
  The day when String Bean had to be gone came and String Bean still did not have a new home.
  Pete remembered reading that ferrets are a member of the weasel family. “Why couldn’t String Bean live in the wild?” So Pete and Jojo released the ferret in a nearby park.       They were both extremely sad to watch String Bean run off.
String Bean, not knowing that he was being abandoned, was elated with his new-found freedom.