Rodent Spotlight: Gerbil

Sometimes, I have a bit of trouble finding fictional references for some of the less mainstream examples of rodents. Gerbils certainly fall into that category, and I haven't the foggiest idea why. They are a popular pet, for goodness sakes! I do have one in particular I can mention, however.

I have been referencing "The Welkin Weasels" books in the last couple of blogs because they tended to give fairly good examples of some of the lesser known rodents. There was a fun character within "Windjammer Run" who was a gerbil named Narky. He was quite the troublemaker as well!

Narky was also both a coward and a malingerer. That is to say that he would often pretend to be very ill in order to get out of doing work. I must admit that there is something remarkably cute about something tiny causing everyone a headache. Even though the character is out rightly annoying, something about it keeps your attention!

Now, in real life, gerbils are actually frail, little creatures who need special attention so that they will remain healthy. They are also very social and friendly to big humans like you and me. However, I can't help but imagine if the greatest villain on earth was something as small as a gerbil. Let's call the little guy Meanstreak.

You see, Meanstreak was like any other gerbil--living a life of comfort and pampering... or WAS he?! In reality, the whole thing was a façade! He was actually an evil genius planning some pretty mischievous thing the world over. Don't believe it's possible?

Well, Meanstreak actually had a secret laboratory under his cage where he would invent terrible devices, hack bank accounts, and post disreputable remarks about hamsters on Twitter. Even when Interpol went looking for him, they never quite suspected that it was a gerbil doing all that mischief-- even WITH a name like Meanstreak.

I suppose in the end, every villain is found out sooner or later. Even the rodent world has their own James Bond. It was probably a rat by the name of Johnny Teeth. It wasn't hard for Johnny to find Meanstreak since the gerbil had almost exclusively hired women to be his hentchies. You know how rats are with women. I suppose the little guy just wanted to feel loved.

Now, I want you to ask yourself something. If you uncovered that all these dastardly deeds were committed by a cute and frail, little squirt, would you exact righteous vengeance... or just give him a loving cuddle? I, for one, love the idea of keeping an cute, evil pet; although, it might be best to sleep at night with one eye open.

Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoyed it, leave me a comment below, or you can email me at tooie@tooiekangaroo.com. Mwahaha!