The Diary of Little Champ, Part II

Hello. I know it has been some time since I wrote in my diary. I am sorry for this, but there is a good reason. Mama has a baby in her pouch. And I am not taking it well.

We thought she might have a baby in there because of her bad mood. But she is almost always in a bad mood, so it was hard to say. I often tried to look in the pouch to see what was happening and then Mama would smack me on the head. She’s very cranky.

But now it is obvious that I have competition for Mama’s love because that competition is hanging half out of her pouch. It’s little and hairless and very ugly, but Auntie tells me I was the same way when she first saw me. I don’t think so.

I admit I’ve been misbehaving. Sometimes I try to smell the ugly thing, or lick it to see what flavor it is. So far, it is flavored BAD. Auntie says I am getting too rowdy, but it is okay because now I am an “adolescent.” Uncle says I am “attention-seeking” because I am jealous of the ugly baby.

Last night Uncle took pity on me and let me play in the bedroom for the first time. I climbed up the curtains, and on the TV antenna, and on the chair and the bed … And then Auntie came home and said, “Champ! What are you doing?” She always ruins my party. Then she put me back in the cage.

I jumped and glided and pushed my face through the bars and tried to escape. No one noticed. I hung upside down and ate a cricket. No one noticed. I tried to eat one of our pouches. Nothing. Mama and Papa were in the sleep pouch without me, and Mama was singing a lullaby to the alien creature hanging out of her stomach. Papa was grooming her, and it was just disgusting.

This morning I crawled in with them and Mama gave me a little lick and I loved her again. Later I will play hide-and-seek with Papa. But I will never love the creature. Never.

[This is the same photo Auntie used last time. It still isn't me.]

liz | 1:00 PM | Uncategorized