***
“DING!”
“DING!”
“DONG!”
“Diiiiiiiiiiiing!”
Nyko, the (at this moment) fluffy prairie dog, strummed the bars on his cage like a harp, making beautiful music to his ears. Yes, yes. There were critics of his masterpieces. Father and Mother didn’t seem to like it, especially when all the lights were off and the house was quiet, but that was when Nyko felt most inspired… when Nemesis was asleep. AS Nyko played his “harp,” he pondered Nemesis and his music took on a more somber “Dong!” tone. He stopped for a moment to scuttle quickly to the other side of his house to strum the bars there. He must get this note perfect. “Doiiiiing!” Perfect!
That was how Nemesis made him feel when she gloated in all of the attention Mother and Father gave her. Nyko must have all the attention for himself! Well, sure, she could get some attention, but Nyko couldn’t help getting the stupid pooch into trouble...she just sorta walked right into it. Nyko jumped down from his second story, landing in his cotton ball, half Tee shirt, mostly alfalfa hay, and some stuffed animal limbs bed. He abruptly stuck his head sideways on the center of his bed, rolling his body after his head until his furry butt stuck up into the air. He tunneled into the cotton poofyness and then turned onto his back, his arms and legs sticking up in the air. 
He closed his eyes just as his Nemesis, of course, decided to bound up and crash into his cage.
Nyko chittered and opened one sleepy eye. “What, Nemesis?”
“Nyko! You have to stop your horrible music, Dude.”
“As usual, Nemesis… too late… I have stopped. Go away or I might have to start again.” Nyko would definitely have to play music again if Kyrie gave him another headache. He’d played for hours already because of what Kyrie had done earlier. He was so inspired, in fact, that mother had thrown him out of the bedroom, rolling his giant cage into the middle of the living room, and closing the bedroom door. Yes, he had made truly beautiful music tonight, and Nemesis was going to ruin that.
Kyrie stared at Nyko through the bars in the cage. “You’re done, dude?” She stuffed her velvety, wet nose through the bars and snuffled the air as though she could smell his intentions. Stupid dog, Nyko thought.
“Yes!” Nyko quipped crankily.
“Man… Nyko! I love you! I’m sorry that when Mommy let you out, I bit your butt. I couldn’t help it! My animal instincts kicked in and I was like ‘Wa-Hoo!’ You know, dude, like how you are with your music. I just felt the wolf in me want to hunt!”
Nyko rolled his little blue eyes and laughed, “You, jackbagoodle, have not a single ounce of wolf in you. And my music is NOT from animal instinct.”
“But you love me though, right?”
Nyko sighed. Why must he tell this silly mutt every night he loved her? That’s why she was Nemesis, one of the only inhabitants of Zoomahouse he felt inspired by. “Yeah…” Nyko got up on his haunches and went to her nose. “You made me get out of my bed.” He muttered to her huge nose. He reached out his little hands and started grooming the hairs around Kyrie’s face. “You should be more careful when you eat. You always have crumbs on your face.” He picked them off and flicked his long nails. Nyko put his little nose on Kyrie’s big nose and nuzzled her.
“Okay. I love you, Nemesis. Goodnight.” Kyrie’s eyes shined with puppy happiness and she opened her mouth to…
“Okay. I love you, Nemesis. Goodnight.” Kyrie’s eyes shined with puppy happiness and she opened her mouth to…
Sneeze.
Wet stuff of unknown origins completely covered Nyko’s face. He reared back on his haunches and sat on his butt, rubbing his arms over his face disgustedly. “YECH!” Nyko, the music maestro, was suddenly replaced with in-the-wild Nyko, as he quickly lunged at Kyrie’s extra wet nose and popped her in the face with a quick right hook. Kyrie yelped, she was always such a baby, and looked at him accusingly.
“Why, Nyko?” She exclaimed, her tail in-between her legs, “I love you and I apologized.”
“CHIT! CHITTER! CHIT! CHITTER!” Nyko clicked his teeth quickly, his little paws by his chest like a boxer, at the ready. Kyrie moved in and tried to lick him through the bars, but he lunged at her, clicking warningly as he quickly flicked his hands at her face like a small child trying to shoo away a fly. “You sneezed on me!” He cried haughtily, in between his clicking. He stopped clicking and calmed down as he realized he had to play his instrument again. Sighing, he said, “I guess the ‘wild’ came out in me.” He glared at Nemesis. “You should understand that, apparently.”
“You have wolf in you too? Oh, wow!” Kyrie jumped in a circle, wagging her tail excitedly.
Nyko wanted to smack her again. Idiot, he thought. He turned his back on her, putting his tail up in the air as he walked haughtily to the bars of his cage. He grabbed a bar in his strong teeth and, “DING! DING! DING!” Yes, it was time for an erratic masterpiece, full of angst and vitality. He was going to create the Wolf Song.
“Well… goodnight.” Kyrie padded away softly as Nyko embraced his maestro side and placed all of his wildness into his beautiful new song. From the bedroom, he heard Father as he cried out, “Not again, Nyko! Give it a rest!” Nyko took it as further inspiration that Father approved of his new wild song, and played more rapturously…
“DINGDINGDINGDINGDING DOOOOONG!”
***
And so now you have met Nyko at his best and worst as he drives the whole house crazy at 2 AM with his awful cage clanking! But we love him anyway… Look out for Kyrie’s story next week. Those two just cannot get enough of each other.
I hope you enjoyed your trip to Zoomahouse!
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