She observed the first death.
His name was Joe.
Target number one.
He would have no mercy.
Joe had given Charlene with at least one litter of hamsters. Daddy didn't seem to care. He had Mother, after all.
Mother is terrifying.
But Joe.
Joe.
He was a problem. Charlene loved him, second to Daddy.
Joe.
He had made a plan the previous morning. He had prepared it fully well. There was no chance that it would fail.
He had gnawed on a heavy table's leg for hours yesterday. Now it was ready, hanging on by the thinnest of splinters, just barely supported by that and the three other legs.
He spread a rumor. The bravest hamster is the one who can lean on that table leg for a full minute.
If Joe was anything at all, he was gullible and arrogant.
What did Charlene see in him?
So Joe went.
He leaned on the leg.
Ten seconds passed.
The table creaked.
Another twenty.
The table groaned.
At fifty seconds, it snapped. The table fell with a deafening thud, landing on the body of poor, unfortunate Joe, crushing it fatally.
He cheered.
Charlene looked at his body ruefully. Oh, well.
She immediately started to court a different stepbrother.
He scowled.
