Obituary

Burli, my beloved pet and fellow died today, in the high age of over 5 years, exceeding the life expectancy of a gerbil.
He was a lovely gerbil. When he first met Buschu - my single female gerbil I had at that time - he easily made friends with her. At first, she always ran away from him, he ran around a bit and ran towards her again. That went on for about half an hour, when I decided to put them into the transport box, so she couldn't run away. In the transport box, he slowly approached her, his head bent down. He put his nose under her snote, flattening himself completly. She started to sniff around his snote and inspected him. About a minute he let it go on, then rose back up.
From that moment on, they've been together. Ten very lovely young gerbils were soon after the result of that bond, 4 of which I kept.
From what I can tell, he was a good father to them. At least for instance I one day found him and his sons and daughters happily sitting on my bed, chewing on my bedding. He escaped his cage many more times. He was an outright expert at escaping. But never to run away, he always came back.
Another day, I walked into my room, at the moment I opened the door I heard my mom squeal, a second after something whooshed between my legs. Apparently burli had escaped once again from his cage and made it to my mothers working room (which at the time was the room besides my bedroom) and couldn't go back because I had closed the door. I don't know how, but he must have noticed that the door was opened and ran back.
One morning I found him waiting besides the cage. He - of course - was escaped from it, but as it seemed couldn't get back in. So he had waited by the cage until I put him back in. He didn't make any attempt to run away when I grabbed him.
He also very much loved crackling things. In my new apartment he was often allowed to run around freely. When there was a plastic bag or some piece of paper you'd often hear him playing around with it.
Amazingly he once made it into my laundry basket. NB, the basket is about 70cm (28 inches) high, there was nothing next to it to climb. I still don't know how he managed that.

And now he's gone.

Dear burli, beloved pet, fellow and friend
I hope you rest in peace and are reunited with your children and wife