My ferret Eddie was born on the 24th of August in the year of 1991. I found him in a petshop about 6 weeks later and brought him home. The little creature grew fast and soon he became very rowdy (as all young ferrets). It didn't take long until I knew who ruled the roost. He did of course! It actually took some time before he showed me some affection at all, but from then on we were the nearest friends.

As time went by Eddie got more and more sociable. He didn't bite strangers that hard anymore, just a little bit because it was so funny. He never bit me, I don't know if the reason was that he cared about me or the fact that he knew how hard I could bite back. Probably both. However, shortly even my father and his girlfriend looked upon him as something more than "your badsmelling animal".

Although Eddie now was a very nice pet and got more and more calm the older he got, he had some bad habits that he would never give up. For instance waking me up at 5 O'Clock some spring mornings by jumping into my bookshelf and kick down the contents on the floor. As the contents in question were binders made in plastic, it was impossible to ignore the sound. After some hours fighting I had to get up and Eddie was always very proud about what he looked upon as his victory. That it was my alarmclock and the compulsury school attendance which drove me to begin the day, he pretended never to understand.

Anyway I can't say that it wasn't wonderful to have him around in the morning. He followed me to the toilet, watched me take a shower, nagged for his morninggruel, got some hugs and plenty of kisses on his nose, and finally, as I left, went to bed again. I got jealous every time... but adored him.

As I finally got to know that Eddie had cancer so that we must let him die, I was completely in despair. What made it even worse was that I was abroad and therefore couldn't be there for him, say goodbye to him. That was really hard to get over and I couldn't sleep well for at least a month. They say time heals all wounds and in a way it's right. The more time passes, the more I'm able to appriciate the moments we shared instead of cry all the time. Still I never missed someone that much that I miss Eddie. He died 20:20 on August 10th 1997, exactly two weeks before his sixth birthday.