Marco nodded and watched Dr Whiskers tear apart a piece of paper towel they’d put in the cage earlier The little guy shredded it in no time adding little strips to his already built up nest of wood chips and shredded paper It’s like he can’t decide what he wants to do Rodrigo exclaimed I can’t wait to see what he does next Marco actually could wait and given the choice he would have But to not seem like a lame older brother he stuck around for a few minutes watching with the rest of his family When he looked up at the clock he noticed it was getting close to 6 00 p m Are we going to eat supper tonight Marco asked Sí Marco his dad replied never taking his eyes off of the cage even for a moment At suppertime 8
Dad it’s almost six Marco said No it’s his dad replied looking away to glance at the time on his cell phone Oh boy You’re right Marco’s little brothers looked at each other in shock It was as if they couldn’t believe how much time had passed since they sat down to watch the wacky adventures of Dr Whiskers Let’s order some pizza Rodrigo suggested so we can keep an eye on our little buddy Yeah Felipe agreed I have to bring him back to school tomorrow so I don’t want to miss a second That’s a great idea their dad said He looked up at Marco Sure Marco said He didn’t really care what they ate His stomach just wanted 9
something He wondered if anyone else would’ve thought about supper if he hadn’t mentioned it Pizza works for me Perfect his dad said tossing him the cell phone Can you call and order it You know what the boys and I like Yeah okay Marco sighed All he wanted to do was get back to his micro-bot command module project He was just about done and even though he wasn’t sure how he knew Dr Whiskers had thrown a huge monkey wrench into his progress As he dialed the phone number for Joey’s Pizza the living room erupted into excitement as the hamster did something else extraordinary Marco moved his wheelchair into the kitchen to dampen the sound a bit The girl who answered the phone asked if he could hold a moment While waiting to place 10
his order he listened to the conversation among the hamster fans I don’t want to bring him back tomorrow Felipe announced with a little bit of sadness in his voice We should buy one of our own Papi Rodrigo replied Don’t you think Dad What their dad asked Sorry I was just watching him bury himself It’s so cute how he does that What did you say Yeah Marco thought Because he’s trying to hide from your goofy faces for a moment or two As the Martinez brothers continued asking if they could buy a hamster of their own Marco hoped that their dad would do the smart thing and tell them it was too much work and responsibility 11
