This fiction story is inspired by real events from the lives of my two guinea pigs, Oreo and Snickerdoodle, who were rescued from Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, in late 2021.
The Life of a Guinea Pig
Oreo sniffled. His human family had taken him and his brother, Snickerdoodle, here to die. Oreo didn’t really know where “here” was, but it was probably something like the wilderness. It was late fall, and soon he and Snickerdoodle would freeze to death in a cold, lonely place, with no food, no water, no shelter, no nothing. The last thing Oreo saw before his family took him away was a small brown puppy yapping at them. Oreo could only speculate, but he suspected that the puppy was to be their replacement. It was a terrible day to be a small, fragile, soon-to-be-preyed-upon guinea pig.
Because Snickerdoodle was brown, he could camouflage a bit better with the forest around them, but noooo, he just had to have their only hiding place, which wasn’t even really a hiding place, just a tiny twig that didn’t even cover a square inch of either of their bodies. Oreo was black and white, the exact opposite of their surroundings, so if a hawk or another predator came, he would be eaten immediately. Oreo started to cry. But then, a mysterious guinea pig appeared out of nowhere. It looked almost exactly like Oreo.
“Don’t be scared!” the new guinea pig oinked. “Ahhhhh!” Oreo screamed.
“Oh, come on, I just told you—you know what, never mind. Don’t be sad that your humans abandoned you here, because I’m you from the future! Everything will be okay! You’ll get rescued by a kind human, who will take you to your forever family!” Future-Oreo oinked happily, jumping for joy.
“But what about Snickerdoodle?” Oreo asked. “Yeah, what about me?” Snickerdoodle whimpered.
“Oh, don’t worry! They’ll take Snickerdoodle too!” Future-Oreo said. “Bye! Don’t forget what I said!” He oinked as he faded away.
You can read the rest of Nova’s piece at https://stonesoup.com/post/stone-soup-monthly-flash-contest-winners-roll/.
About the Flash Contests
Stone Soup holds a flash contest during the first week of every month. The month’s first Weekly Creativity prompt provides the contest challenge. Submissions are due by midnight on Sunday of the same week. Up to five winners are chosen for publication on our blog. The winners, along with up to five honorable mentions, are announced in the following Saturday newsletter. Find all the details at Stonesoup.com/post/stone-soup-monthly-flash-contest-winners-roll/.
