I found myself really missing Cinnamon.
I had fish to watch in an aquarium
but it just wasn't the same.
You couldn't take them out and hold them
and she had liked to sleep under my chin
while I watched television in the evening.

So I went back to the petshop
and they had two new babies.
They were very little and it was hard to pick.
I had really wanted a girl but the
little boy was so cute and I picked him instead.

I named him Corky. He was wonderful.
I always felt Corky thought he was a person,
or at least a dog.

He was much more outgoing than
Cinnamon had been and since my carpet was very old
in the apartment, I would let him run around more often.
He used to fly around the room at top speed and I often
wondered if the people downstairs thought I had a cat.

He would sleep next to my stereo speakers.
He seemed to like soft rock music and classical.
He wasn't crazy about heavy metal or country western.
A little hairy music critic.

He made a lot of noise for a little piggie.
When I would go to the kitchen for something
he would try to beat me out there
and start his little squealing for food.
He greeted me each night and if I got up
in the middle of the night for anything,
he would get up too and felt we should have food.
So I would give him some lettuce or a stick
of celery and go back to bed.

Once I had to go out of town
overnight and I had to leave him home alone.
I left him two bowls of his
dry food and two water bottles.
I also left him a lot of
fresh food that morning.
If his eyes could have gotten bigger,
they would have that morning.
When I left he was chewing hard and furiously.
I laughed to myself and thought he probably
ate all day until it was gone.
I returned the following night and everything
was fine but he gave me a really loud squeal
of delight that I was home.

He also liked ice cream and wine.
He didn't get either very often but
would lick the wine off my finger
I put the ice cream on a piece of paper.
He would eat some ice cream and
then eat some of the paper and keep doing
that until nothing was left.
I didn't realize at the time that milk products
aren't very good for them.  

In 1988 I was on a transplant list to receive a cornea.
That day finally came and I had my surgery.

That morning he didn't greet me as joyously
as he usually did, but I didn't have time,
because I had to get to the hospital.
It was outpatient surgery but I ended up
having to stay overnight.

We got a lot of snow that night and
I had not brought a coat with me that day
so my mother went to my apartment to get my coat
and Corky didn't greet her as he usually did.
She feared he was dead but he looked out to greet her
and she gave him some fresh foods.

 When I got home later that day the fresh foods
were still there but he was eating his
dry and still drinking water.
He still didn't seem right on Monday
but was still eating some and I was having trouble
with the transplant and returning to the doctor every day.

When I went to bed Monday night, after saying good night,
I just had bad feelings and I got up about
half an hour later and he was "gone".
That fast, I never really said goodbye.
I felt terrible and was crying when I called my mother.

 She was fearful of my transplant.
Every time I thought about him I would cry and
Mom asked the doctor if it would hurt me,
just saying I had lost a dear friend yesterday,
which was so truth.
A grown woman crying for a little guinea pig.
Many would laugh but I was really
shocked and missed him very much.

But I decided because of the transplant and my allergies,
I wouldn't get another guinea pig and
I would see if it made a difference with how my eyes were,
but my boss didn't know and that Friday he and my friend
came to see me with a box.
In the box was Joey, my next and final guinea pig.

You can read more about
corneal transplants at the following web sites: