Autumn

53: When Dotti's missing

"I'm just so bummed, you know?"

"We know, honey," Maggie said as she dumped some sugar into Julien's tea. "She'll turn up."

"But what if she doesn't? What if Dotti never comes back?"

"She's only been missing for a few days," Theodore said, picking up a freshly baked oatmeal and raisin cookie. Maggie was a goddess in the kitchen. And while it had been an extremely sombre time for Julien and he was doing his best to support his new friend, he could not help but reach for the biscuits every few minutes. "Hamsters are resourceful. They go missing all the time and show up again."

"But what if she gets hungry?"

"You've been leaving food out for her and unless one of your housemates has been eating bits of carrot on the floor, then I think it is safe to assume she comes out of hiding when she's hungry," Maggie said, placing Julien's tea in front of him. "Now, have something to eat and drink. You have been low on energy."

"You guys are the best. I don't deserve you," Julien said. He was hunched at his place on the dining table, but he straightened up a little and smiled. "I appreciate you guys."

"We appreciate you too," Theodore reassured him.

"I hate to interrupt your healing circle, or whatever this is, but I am starving."

Theodore looked up to see Ada, one of their housemates. Theodore was worried he would be the quietest out of everyone he lived with, but Ada definitely topped the cake. No one actually knew what she was studying and she was never around when the house did group dinners. She was either at class or working and was never really in the mood to socialise.

"There are cookies here," Maggie said.

Ada perked up at the mentioning of cookies and made a detour back to the table. "Those would actually go really well with peanut butter. Let me just grab my jar from the fridge."

"Who keeps peanut butter in the fridge?" Julien asked.

"Julien, I swear to god." Ada looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "It's a perfectly normal thing to do. It extends the shelf life if you store it in the fridge. And it tastes way better cold. If I have to explain that to you again, I will eat your cereal."

Julien zipped his lips.

Ada made her way to the fridge and rummaged around its contents. A moment later she said, "Someone ate my peanut butter. What a dick."

She popped her head up and looked over the open fridge door. Theodore and Julien instantly placed their hands up in surrender. Ada's icy glare slid over to Maggie.

"Don't shoot me, I don't even live here," Maggie said.

Ada sighed; a long and tortured sound. "Well, I'm off to the mini mart to buy more."

"While you're there, would you mind checking to see if anyone has taken one of the slips attached to the missing posters I have in the mini mart community board about Dotti? I put my number on there, but so far no one has contacted me. I just want to know if people are seeing the poster."

"The one where you're advertising for people to watch your live stream showing off all her hats?"

Julien shook his head. "No, not that one. She's still missing."

"You know I hate rats," Ada said.

"She's a hamster."

Ada waved him off dismissively and headed for the door. "Look, no promises but if I remember then I remember."

Although Ada never expressed any interest in hanging out with the other housemates and appeared to be mildly annoyed most of the time, she did small things around the house that made Theodore think she was softer than she made herself out to be. She watched Julien's live streams whenever she wasn't working and always bought gluten-free pasta for one of their other housemates who had Coeliac disease. She left notes on Theodore's door to remind him of things he would otherwise forget and did extra housework when one of them was having a bad day.

And even though she claimed to dislike Dotti, she always left her salad scraps for her.

"I hope those flyers work," Julien said, once Ada had left. "Especially since I paid a fortune on them."

"Eight dollars is not a fortune," Maggie said.

"It is when coloured printing at the library is seventy cents a page," Julien said.

"I don't even think she's left the house, man," Theodore said truthfully. "She's probably found herself in a cupboard or something, just hanging out."

"Honestly, a group chat with your housemates would probably be the most effective," Maggie said.

"Oh, no need to worry about that. He created one at three in the morning and spammed everyone," Theodore said, taking out his phone. "No one was impressed."

"I was panicking, okay?" Julien admitted.

"I know it's stressful, but we will find her," Maggie reassured him, patting Julien's hand. "Now, I've got to dash. I will offer free coffee to anyone who has any information about Dotti."

Julien seemed pleased with the idea.

Maggie stood and gave Theodore a quick kiss. "I'll see you later tonight?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

She gave him a heart stopping smile. "Can't wait. Please make sure Julien eats."

With that, she left. Theodore and Julien spent the rest of the afternoon searching every nook and cranny of the house for Dotti, but had no luck. Eventually they decided to give up and make some dinner. And by dinner, Theodore made some sandwiches with whatever sandwich meat and salad he left in the fridge.

Although Ada was only supposed to get peanut butter, she didn't return that night. She did, however, post in the groupchat with a photo of the missing hamster photo. None of the little slips had been taken, but someone had drawn on a pair of very thick, angry eyebrows on the photo of Dotti.

Theodore wasn't sure if it was the eyebrows or the gesture, but it made Julien smile.