Adric got to travel alot with Cheri. She took really good care of him. In fact, Adric rode shotgun in Cheri's car--all the way out here to Phoenix, with his seat belt on for the whole trip. Adric even went to Roswell, New Mexico with us--and he was very good.
One night I got drunk and fed him a whole handful of frozen peas. I kept saying to him "Shhh. You can't tell your mom." As it turns out, Cheri was awake and watching the whole time. And it's okay, because I was still drunk, and he still got a handful of peas.
I do have one "claim to fame" with Adric; one morning I tried to teach him how to catch peas in his mouth. He was pretty confused during the whole training session, but he made some real progress. He would even play dumb at times, pretending that he couldn't see a dropped pea right beside his own foot. He was always cute, and he was especially funny that morning.
I always considered Adric capable of rational thought. I saw him as a comedian (like Chris Rock or Leslie Nielson) trapped inside a guinea pig's body. I figured that before he died--he would come and thank me for never back-flipping him, and tell me to take good care of Cheri. But he didn't.
To tell the truth, I didn't even know he was sick. I know that he got over a major illness back in Athens, and I thought that by now he was the Energizer Bunny Pig, and that nothing could stop him. I was wrong.
So listen up--all you guinea pigs: Even in a house full of love, with lots of frozen peas, and no back-flips, you can still die suddenly. So; run fast, 'wheep' loud, and chew the edges off of alot of poems, because you never know when the long, safe car ride is going to end. We will all miss you, Adric, and we think of you every day.