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 T'was
the night before Christmas
T’was the night before Christmas and all through
the house not a creature was stirring not even a
mouse…. Actually, the real story goes… it was
about a month before Christmas and inside a 1996
Subaru there WAS a creature stirring and it
wasn’t a mouse at all.
It all started on a normal afternoon at the shop.
Thomas, our service advisor, handed me the phone
with a customer on hold and said “you’re gonna
love this Mike”. I picked up the phone and it
was Charlene, one of our customers. She asked me
if there was any way a rodent could get out of her
1996 Subaru Outback? I was a bit perplexed. Get
out of the car?? We often get calls asking if
there was any way a rodent could get in the car,
but not out of the car. I thought about it for a
moment and replied that the only way it might get
out is through the heating/ventilation system. By
now I was just a bit curious. Why would my
customer ask if a rodent could escape her car? I
had to ask. She quickly brought me up to speed. It
was her daughter, Annelise’s 12th birthday.
Charlene was transporting home what was to be a
special present for her daughter that evening. It
was a hamster (later named Frodo after the Lord of
the Rings character)! It turns out Frodo was on a
quest for freedom. Somewhere between the pet store
and home, Frodo tenaciously gnawed his way through
2 cardboard boxes and escaped inside the car. From
the sounds of the pitter-patter, the hamster had
made it into the heating system behind the
dashboard.
As any loving, dedicated mom would do, Charlene
determined there could be only one option. Rescue
the hamster for her daughter’s birthday. She
called me and asked for any ideas. I told her she
might be able to gain access if she removed the
heater fan blower. She collected up her tools,
flashlight and portable phone and set out on her
mission. I talked her through removing the glove
box assembly to access the heater blower. After a
few minutes and some contortion under the dash,
she was able to get the heater blower loose, but
it just wouldn’t come out all the way. As I was
helping her along she would update me on the
scratching behind the dash. “He’s on the
drivers side”, He’s up by the windshield,
claw, claw, claw…”
I had talked Charlene as far along as I could, but
we both agreed it was about as far as we could go
with over the phone instruction. It was time to
get serious. I went into the shop and chose the
lucky technician that would be enlisted to head
our hamster rescue operation. Bruce Ganyo was our
man. I wish you could have seen the look on his
face when I briefed him on his mission. Once Bruce
realized that I wasn’t off my rocker he headed
out to Charlene’s for the rescue. Upon arrival
he was able to hear the hamster loud and clear. He
was impressed by the work Charlene had done so
far. She disassembled her vehicle to the point of
having blower motor ready for removal. Bruce
tugged and twisted the blower motor the rest of
the way out but by then the little birthday boy
had gotten smart and headed for higher ground. He
was holed up clear on the other side up under the
dash. Bruce acted quickly, moving to the other
side of the car, completely removing the
speedometer/tachometer housing in record time.
Once the speedometer was removed Bruce was able to
see that his little friend had worked his way out
of the heater to a little nest of wiring up under
the dashboard. Bruce was a bit shocked when he
first saw the hamster. Frodo was much bigger than
Bruce ever remembers hamsters being. Bruce thought
to himself, “There’s no way I’m going after
that thing with my bare hand!”, especially once
hamster began to hiss and growl now that he was
cornered. Bruce then wrangled up an old ski glove
to attempt the extraction. With a stick in one
hand, a ski glove on the other and Charlene
standing close by with a new escape-proof box,
Bruce moved in swiftly. He pinned the hamster down
with the stick while he blindly maneuvered his
hand up into the crevasses of the dash. The
growling, hissing and squealing built to a
feverish pitch and then, with the swoop of the
glove he was caught. Bruce moved swiftly to put
fierce Frodo into his new box before the layers of
ski glove were chewed through.
Bruce and Charlene both breathed a sigh of relief.
Mission accomplished. Bruce began the task of
reassembling the dashboard while Charlene went to
put the hamster inside the house. By the time he
had the dashboard was reassembled Charlene had a
plate of freshly made chocolate chip cookies
waiting for him. Fortunately for the rest of us
waiting on pins and needles, Bruce brought them
back to share while he told us his story.
Merry Christmas and a happy holiday to all of you
especially all of you hard working moms that will
go to any length to see their children happy!
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