Louise's New Pet
Bob was cleaning the counter with Linda preparing burgers in the back. Just then, the door opened, revealing the kids, but something was odd; Louise's face.
Louise's face was showing off a huge smirk, as if she had just beaten the world's greatest wrestler in a match for the title. Bob looked up, and looked up in confusion, wondering what was making her so happy.
"Dad, do you remember that bet we made a week ago?" Louise asked, with Tina and Gene flanked behind her.
"Uhhhh…yeah?" Bob responded, with a suspicious tone and look to go with it. Louise was up to something, but the question was what?
"Well, read it and weep!" Louise exclaimed before handing Bob some paper. Bob looked at it, and a few seconds of looking at it drained all the color from his face.
"This…cannot…be real," Bob mumbled out nervously while his hands were shaking so much, that the paper in his hands was shaking as well. Louise's smirk grew even wider in response to Bob's reaction.
"Oh, it's real alright. I got an A on my book report. Wait…not only an A, a 100% on this book report!" Louise cheered while jumping up and down. Linda popped her head out from the back upon hearing the news.
"Wow, great job, Louise! Do you want me to cook your favorite dinner as an award?" Linda asked. Louise thought about it, knowing that it's not every day they had lasagna. But, Louise had other things on her mind.
"That sounds great Mom, but Dad's going to get something even better to celebrate. Right Dad?" Louise answered, looking back at Bob with a wink, causing him to groan. Before Linda could ask what was going on, Gene piped in.
"Dad, what's going on? Did you lose another card game to Louise?" Gene asked. Bob rolled his eyes and sighed before answering, remembering how he lost $100 to Louise after losing to her at Go Fish.
"No Gene, I learned my lesson from last time. We had a different type of wager," Bob clarified before beginning to explain what happened.
Flashback (1 Week Ago)…
Bob walked into Louise's room, hearing from Jimmy Pesto in one of their daily arguments that Louise's class had a book report due by the end of the week. Jimmy Pesto made it a point to brag that Ollie and Andy had already finished their book reports, and showed them to Bob. So, Bob decided to see if Louise had anything done. However, all she saw was her playing video games.
"Louise, don't you have a book report due next week?" Bob asked, surprising Louise. Louise looked back at Bob and started scratching her head.
"Uhhhh…I…don't know…what you're talking about. I…never…heard of a book report before," Louise responded, trying to get back to her video games before Bob took the controller out of Louise's hand.
"Louise, Pesto told me about the report. Have you even started the report yet? Have you gotten a book yet?" Bob asked. Louise scratched her chin before pulling out a random book from her book shelf. This happened to be the manga edition of Good Luck Girl.
"I could…do a report on this manga. It's hilarious, and the anime is even better!" Louise answered, her voice indicating that she was about to go on a tangent on Good Luck Girl and how awesome of an anime it was, but Bob cut her off before she could start.
"Your teacher will let you write about a comic?" Bob asked, noticing that Louise had face palmed.
"It's MANGA! Not a COMIC!" Louise corrected, being annoyed at people making this type of stupid mistake. "And yes, my teacher said that any book is fine, as long as it's not one of those books with only twelve pages," Louise explained, as she put the manga down on her desk.
"So, you're going to finish your report by the due date?" Bob asked. Louise's face then changed into a sickened face.
"Well…I don't really do reports. I mean, reports are soul sucking, and I happen to want to keep the new soul I got," Louise replied, causing Bob to groan and shake his head.
"Louise, you need to do this report to pass your class," Bob countered, but Louise still looked unsure. Bob then got an idea. "OK Louise, I'll make you a deal; if you can do a report on your co…manga, AND get a good grade on it, meaning a B or an A, I'll get you whatever you want, within reason," Bob offered. Louise's ears perked up.
"Whatever I want huh? OK, when I finish my report and get a god grade on it, I want you to get me a pet," Louise answered. Bob was hesitant, knowing that pets can be a costly venture, but then he realized that Louise will probably lose interest in the report quickly.
"Alright, Louise. If you finish your paper, I'll get you whatever pet you want," Bob responded. Louise got up from her chair, and held out her hand. Bob shook her hand, before Louise went on her laptop and started reading the manga.
Flashback Over…
"Yeah it was great and all that, now let's get to the pet shop, Dad," Louise demanded, grabbing Bob's wrist, and tried to pull him.
"Louise, we're in the middle of a work day. We can't just leave our customers in the dust," Bob said, before Louise raised one of her eyebrows.
"What customers?" Louise asked in response, pointing to the empty seats of the restaurant. Bob sighed and then headed out the door, with Louise following in his footsteps excitedly.
"Make sure to hold the fort down, you guys," Bob said before he and Louise left.
At the Pet Shop…
Louise and Bob walked in, with Louise looking around for the pet that she felt would be perfect for her.
"Louise, would you want a fish?" Bob asked, pointing to a fish tank full of fish of all different colors and sizes. Louise looked at the fish, uninterested.
"No thanks," Louise said simply before walking deeper into the pet store.
"But…fish are quiet, don't cost too much money to take care of, and they don't take up too much space," Bob explained. Louise looked back at him and shook her head.
"No way! Fish are boring, I want something furry," Louise explained as she went towards the dogs. She spent a minute looking through the dogs, and shrugged her shoulders. Bob sighed with relief, knowing that the shedding and barking of a dog would not be in his house, but Bob panicked a bit when Louise headed for the cats.
"Louise, cats are sneaky animals," Bob said, but that seemed to make Louise interested in the cats. But, before she could take a more in depth look at the cats, she heard a whimper coming from the rabbit section. Louise left the cats, and went to the rabbit containers. When Louise found the source of the sound, she saw that it was a black and white rabbit with spiky fur. Louise hesitantly went to pick the rabbit up, and the rabbit did nothing but rub it's head on Louise's dress.
"What about this little guy?" Louise asked, holding the rabbit up to Bob, who got freaked out when the rabbit shook violently for a second.
"Well Louise, I'm not against you getting a rabbit, but maybe we can get another one. One that doesn't look like it'll fall over and die any second," Bob answered, causing Louise to glare at him. Louise hugged the rabbit closer to her body in response.
"That's a little closed minded, making fun of this little guy because of his looks. And I don't think you're in any place to talk about hair," Louise countered, smirking when she said that last part, which annoyed Bob.
"Thanks, Louise. Now, let's get to the cashier and leave," Bob said with an annoyed tone laced to his voice. They went to the cashier, and the cashier seemed surprised that the rabbit was in Louise's hands.
"Oh, is that rabbit still here? I thought that Evan was taking him out. You want to buy him?" the cashier asked, being answered by Louise nodding. "Well, alright. I guess I can give you a big discount on the rabbit since he wasn't supposed to be on the shelf," the cashier said, causing Bob to put a light smile on his face.
After paying the $15 for the rabbit, and the additional $30 for all the additional items (the cage, the rabbit food, etc.), Louise and Bob walked out of the store, with Louise smiling at the rabbit, before Bob decided to try and make small talk.
"So Louise, have you decided what you're going to name it?" Bob asked.
"First off, 'it's' a he. Second of all, I decided to name HIM Oreo," Louise answered.
"Oreo? That's a…weird name," Bob responded, wondering why Louise would name her rabbit something like that.
"Well, he's black and white like an Oreo cookie, and he's just the sweetest thing, just like an Oreo," Louise answered, as if reading Bob's mind. Bob chuckled a little bit at Louise's answer, and Louise responded with a growl and a kick to the shin. Oreo started to whine, apparently sensing Louise's annoyance. Louise immediately went to Oreo and petted him on the head. Bob smiled down at Louise interacting with her new pet, and stifled a laugh.
'Maybe this won't be so bad after all,' Bob thought as he and Louise were walking back home with Oreo.