Chapter 1 : Card Trick
All of the pets were surrounding the giant TV in the day camp area. They were scrunched together and staring at the TV with eyes as wide as they could possibly get. But how else could they act? He was on TV.
Heroic music played and the star of the show appeared. Shahrukh the famous mongoose actor! He looked like Sunil, in Blythe's opinion, but had green eyes and white stripes on his ears and his back. Everyone loved Shahrukh. He was a talented actor, played in great movies, and in some of their opinions… was not that bad to look at. It seemed that every pet had unanimously chosen Shahrukh as their favorite animal actor. It seemed that way.
Far off in a corner Sunil waited for just the right moment to make his appearance. He had timed it so that once the heroic music began to play he would jump right in front of the TV. Then he would stand with his hands on his hips while staring slightly into the sky, magicians hat on and cape flowing. That was sure to make all the pets interested in his next trick. Sunil rubbed his paws together with anticipation. It was almost time.
All the pets clapped and cheered for their hero Shahrukh. Suddenly a mongoose jumped in front of the screen. It was not Shahrukh. They all sighed with relief on the inside. Even though Shahrukh was a great actor he was not the best pet. Constantly ordering them around and treating everyone like they were his servants caused him to get on the pets bad side. But they were annoyed that they were being interrupted while watching their favorite movie. Shahrukh may have been an enormous jerk, but he had some amazing talent.
"Sunil, what is it now?" Russell said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Yes, you are interrupting our movie." Zoe chimed in while fluffing her ears and looking at herself in the mirror.
"I have a magic trick that is sure to blow everyone's minds sky high, but I will need a volunteer." Sunil said with a flourish and struck his pose.
There was an awkward silence for a couple minutes before two very enthusiastic "ME! ME! ME!" were shouted out from the crowd. Vinnie and Mango were jumping up and down next to each other. Both of them wanted to help their buddy out with the trick. Vinnie raised his hand as high as it would go, while Mango continued to bounce upside down.
"Sorry Mango, but it is Vinnie's turn to assist me." Sunil said apologetically.
"Fine, good luck Vinnie. Blow them out of the water Sunil." Mango shouted out words of encouragement to the two performing the trick.
Vinnie stepped next to Sunil. He felt confident after Mango had wished him luck. In fact, he was much more confident than he would have been if any of the others had done the same thing. He giggled slightly. She did have that affect on him. If she only knew. Coming closer to Sunil, Vinnie saw that in his paw he held a stack of cards. It was unlike Sunil to call only one pet up for a card trick, usually those involved all the pets. Vinnie looked at Sunil questioningly but Sunil only shook his head slightly and mouthed the word 'wait'.
"Ladies and gentle pets, I Sunil the Great, will perform a never before seen trick. With this small deck of cards I will guess what my friend Vinnie here is thinking of. I will use my magical abilities and my physic powers for this trick." Sunil said with great confidence, giving a flourish with his cape as well.
Vinnie on the other hand, lost all of his confidence in that one moment. Sunil was going to show what he was thinking and he was thinking about a certain pet in the room. Quickly he picked something to fill his mind, anything at all to fill his mind. Come on Vinnie. He thought, beginning to panic. He saw Sunil shuffle his deck of cars while muttering some magic words.
Sunil shuffled the cards while muttering his magic words. He was feeling great. This trick was going to go perfectly. Once he finished he would throw his smoke powder and the card would appear with a picture of whatever Vinnie was thinking of. Sunil wondered to himself what the card might show. Knowing his pal Vinnie it probably showed some kind of food, or maybe a new dance step. Sunil shrugged and continued to shuffle. It didn't matter, he knew that this trick was going to be perfect.
Vinnie looked as Sunil stopped shuffling and turned to him. He was holding a card that read the three of hearts. Vinnie groaned on the inside. The trick was about to happen. Smoke suddenly filled where they were standing. Vinnie couldn't see anything. He closed his eyes shut and quickly thought of something, anything other than Mango. Once he opened his eyes he saw something that shocked him. Sunil was holding up the card, but the back was facing the crowd. Sunil's eyes were sparkling with excitement. The trick had worked, now he just had to show what Vinnie had thought of. But as he glanced at the card his grin faded and was replaced by a mixture of hurt and confusion.
Oh man. Vinnie thought.
"What does it show Sunil?" Penny Ling asked with a worried face.
Sighing, Sunil turned the card around. On it was a picture of Shahrukh. The mongoose actor was smiling a smug smile and wearing the outfit he had on during the movie. Sunil tried to keep the hurt out of his voice, after all the trick had to go on. He took a deep breath and continued.
"Presto! Vinnie had been thinking of… Shahrukh." Sunil said with a half hearted flourish.
"Did someone say my name?"