I was born into a lovely family. My first earthly sensation
was of groping blindly, hungrily ___1___
my mother's furry underbody, along with five other hungry and
helpless puppies.
I weighed a little more than a pound. I was blind ___2___
I could not walk. All I could do was to squirm, eat and sleep. I
looked like a plump rat of no special color. A day later, one of
my siblings died of colic. I was aware that his cries ___3___
waned, and he died.
Twelve days later, I ___4___
to look less like a plum rodent. I finally opened my eyes for
the first time and saw my surroundings. I was housed in a room
with several cardboard boxes and a soft old blanket was
underneath my mother. My days and nights were taken up with
eating and sleeping.
Then, I finally met my master. He ___5___
in occasionally to look at us but he never ventured near. One
day, my mother had gone out for a run. My master walked into the
room with a container. He lifted me up and put me on the floor
in front of the milk. Then, he ___6___
my nose into the container. It was a sticky and disagreeable
sensation. I tried to wriggle free. I washed my milky nose with
my tongue and to my ___7___,
the milk was tasty. By the next day, I was able to crouch in
front of the container and lapped gawkily at its contents. Much
of the milk was spilt everywhere but more and more of it went
down my throat as I mastered the art of drinking milk. |