"How's the snake?" Mr Pet-store owner asked.
"It was delicious", Jared said, patting his tummy and smiling
"Oh, don't say that!"
"Actually, we're here to buy a rat. It's time for it to eat" I knew a sale would please any storeowner.
"Okay, I'll get a live one in the back"
"Live?! Aren't those dangerous for the snake?" The warnings from snake books we had read were fresh in my mind.
"Take it out if it doesn't get eaten. Anyway, yours has always gone for a live one."
The storeowner returned shortly with a totally unsuspecting black & white rat with large ears, and graying whiskers. It had beady, albeit innocent-looking, alert eyes. It was at least a foot long from nose to tail; and looked bigger than the snake was round. It was sniffing around, grateful for the fresh air and relatively open space. My heart sank, knowing that this lovely creature would be dead by the end of the day. "Take it back," I said. "Give us an ugly Rat!!!"
Should we have even named the Rat?
No comments:
Post a Comment