Milo’s Way Through

Jamal drew three stripes on his cardboard tunnel. “This is the best hamster tunnel ever,” he announced.

He set it beside Milo’s habitat in the living room. The tunnel had a wide door at each end and stood as tall as Jamal’s knee. On the floor nearby was Milo’s safe play area, with sturdy sides all around it. A cardboard hideout sat in one corner.

Milo had come to live with the family that week. His habitat had bedding to burrow in, a wheel, water, food, and a cozy place to rest. Jamal liked to sit beside it and watch Milo sniff the bedding, then scoot beneath a little bridge.

“Hamsters like to explore with their noses,” Mom had told him. “And play outside the habitat needs to be safe and supervised.”

So Mom checked the play area before Milo came out. She made sure the sides were secure and cleared away anything Milo could nibble that wasn’t meant for him. Then she stayed close by.

Jamal opened his notebook. Across the top of a fresh page, he wrote:

MILO’S TUNNEL TEST

Under the words, he drew a picture of a hamster zooming through a tunnel, with a little flag at the finish.

Mom carefully let Milo into the play area. Jamal placed his striped tunnel nearby and sat with his hands in his lap.

“Ready, Milo?” he whispered.

Milo sniffed the floor. He sniffed a corner. He sniffed the cardboard hideout. Then he toddled around the hideout and tucked himself behind it.

Jamal waited.

Milo came out, sniffed the same corner again, and walked along the hideout’s edge. He went around one side, then the other. His whiskers quivered as he explored.

But he didn’t go near the tunnel.

Jamal peeked at his drawing. The hamster in the picture was already at the finish line. In the play area, Milo was still making his own map, one sniff and one small step at a time.

Jamal picked up his pencil. Beneath the first sketch, he wrote:

FIRST TRY: Milo explored the hideout. Tunnel: not yet.

Then he watched to see what Milo would do next.

Milo did it again. He sniffed the hideout’s corner, followed its long cardboard side, and turned around the back. Then he came out and began the same little trip once more.

Jamal leaned forward. “He keeps going around it!”

Milo paused at the hideout’s edge. His nose moved from side to side. He sniffed the floor, sniffed the cardboard, and continued on his way.

Jamal looked from Milo to the striped tunnel. It stood all by itself, far from the route Milo liked. Maybe the tunnel wasn’t the problem. Maybe it was in the wrong place.

He opened his notebook and drew a quick map: a square hideout, Milo’s wiggly path along its edge, and a tunnel beside the path.

“Mom, can you check if I can move the tunnel?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said. She checked the play area again and nodded. “Let’s make sure the new spot is clear, too.”

Jamal glanced at the striped tunnel. “I think I’ll try this plain one instead. It has no marks for Milo to nibble, and the openings are wide.” He showed it to Mom. She checked that it was clean, smooth, and had no staples or sharp edges.

Together they set it beside the hideout, where Milo had been walking. The tunnel rested on the floor, with one opening near the path and the other facing out into the play area.

Jamal stepped back. He kept his hands still and gave Milo plenty of room.

Milo came along the hideout’s edge. He sniffed the cardboard, then the floor by the tunnel. He stopped at the opening.

Jamal held very still.

Milo put his nose inside. He sniffed once, backed up half a step, and sniffed again. Then his front paws went in. His round body followed, and his little tail disappeared through the opening.

For a moment, the tunnel was quiet.

Then Milo’s nose poked out the other side.

“He made it!” Jamal whispered.

Milo stepped out, circled around the hideout, and returned to the tunnel. This time he walked through without stopping.

Jamal grinned and wrote in his notebook:

SECOND TRY: Milo found the tunnel on his own path. He went through it twice!

Mom smiled. “Looks like he has made it his own.”

For a little while, Milo explored the play area as if he were checking every part of his map. He followed the hideout’s edge, passed the plain tunnel, and went through it again. Each time, he sniffed before stepping inside.

Jamal watched quietly. He no longer tried to coax Milo toward the tunnel or call him from the other side. Milo seemed to know where he wanted to go.

In his notebook, Jamal drew a new picture. He made the hideout a big square, then added a curving line for Milo’s route. At the edge of the page, he sketched the tunnel with Milo halfway through it and his nose poking out the other side.

“That’s exactly how he looked,” Jamal told Mom.

Mom nodded. “You watched carefully.”

Jamal added three tiny lines beside Milo’s nose. They showed the sniffs that had helped him find the way.

Milo went around the hideout once more. Then he stepped through the tunnel and paused in the middle. His whiskers brushed the cardboard. A moment later, he came out and sat near the hideout.

Jamal put his pencil down. He liked his first drawing, with the flag and the speedy hamster. But he liked this one best. Milo wasn’t racing to a finish. He was exploring at his own pace.

When playtime was over, Mom stayed beside the play area while Milo went back into his habitat. Jamal watched him settle among the bedding and nose around his cozy spot. The tunnel stayed in the play area until the next supervised playtime.

“Good night, Milo,” Jamal said.

Milo sniffed the bedding and tucked himself into his resting place.

Jamal closed his notebook. On the last page, his sketch showed a small hamster in a plain tunnel, nose peeking out, ready to choose his own way through.

Then Jamal padded off to bed, pleased that Milo had found a path that felt just right to him.