life without mother and father

Standing in the drawing room at the Chateau De Healy.
A fine dust on the fittings and furnishings.
The ancient gold ormeleau clock shining grandly and dully on the mantlepiece.
Incongruously posited beside it, the perfume atomiser filled with water that my mother used to spray her plants.
The room is still and sad.
Even the budgies are silent.
All chirped out.
Fur Ham, the hairy hamster, is nestled in the palm of my hand.
Fur Ham.
AKA Action Jack Hamster.
Normally he never stops moving.
He can keep up a non stop round of running, shunning, biting, fighting and shiteing for up to four hours.
But he likes to nestle in a palm
He regards human beings as off road vehicles for hamsters.
So just occasionally he figures he owes it to himself to live a little by taking a break from his life of non stop action, hunkering down in my hand and watching the world go by.
I stand looking at the still room.
It's missing a woman's touch.
Or at least the touch of a man less indolent than I.
How are we going to cope with life alone?
Absent mindedly I dust the ancient gold ormealeau clock with Fur Ham.
With my other hand I casually atomise the budgies.
"I suppose if we all pull together..." I murmur softly.