It all comes down to Rosy.

When I was a kid, my parents got me a pet mouse. I called it Rosy. It turned out Rosy spoke English. It wasn’t until she’d been with me for a year that I found out. I cleaned her cage and put her back in and she said, “Thanks.” I asked how she could talk. She said she’d been listening to me over the months and just figured it out.

Rosy the mouse and I became very close. We would talk long hours into the night after I’d gone to bed. We bared and shared our souls. But my parents felt that it wasn’t right for a young boy’s best friend to be a rodent and they took Rosy away while I was at school to I didn’t know where.

I was sad and moped for days. In a conciliatory gesture, my parents brought home a dog named Bow-wow-wowser. In an attempt to be kind, I said, “Hello” to Bow-wow-wowser, and he bit me on the nose and wouldn’t let go. My parents drove me with the dog attached to the vet. The vet gave the dog a shot of tranquilizer and he went limp. It turned out the vet gave too strong of a dose and the dog never woke up. We never got another pet.

Just last week I heard that there was a show coming to town called, Rosalinda the talking mouse. I wondered if she was the same as my Rosy. I bought a ticket and went to the show. The show was Rosalinda talking about her life, like the time a cat almost ate her, and her two year relationship with a dog named Hacksaw.

I paid extra for the VIP package where you get to meet-and-greet after the show, so afterwards I stood in line to meet Rosalinda. When it was my turn, I asked her if she used to be the pet friend of a little boy named Brooks. Her eyes got wide and a big tear came out. The same thing happened to me. She leapt off the stool and landed on my chest. I hugged her and she squeaked with delight.

We went to a diner to catch up. I got my usual bucket of fries. She got the deluxe cheese plate. I asked if I could call her Rosy. She said yes. I told her I was sorry I never got to say goodbye. Rosy said sometimes things go bad, but that just makes space for when they get good again.