Honey's Sweet Serenade

Honey, a creamy golden American guinea pig, had a wheek that was unlike any other. It wasn't shrill or frantic; it was a rising-and-falling, melodic 'wheee-ooo-wheee?' that sounded like a question. She sang it whenever she heard a familiar voice or footsteps, whether it was mealtime or not. It was a greeting, a check-in. She would stand at the front of her cage, nose through the bars, singing her little song. It was impossible not to smile and talk back to her. The silence when we come home now is the hardest part; no sweet serenade welcomes us anymore.