2:45 in a pet store, where best friends are sold. But this is no ordinary pet store. Because this particular pet store happens to be located in… the Twilight Zone.
"Welcome to the pet store, how may I help you?" The sales assistant asked.
"We are interested in buying a pet for Billy." The parent said.
"Of course, I'm sure we have what you're looking for. Please follow me." Billy and his mom followed the sales assistant to the back of the store. Billy ran to a pet cage with one sad looking pet huddling in the back.
"I want this one, mommy!" Billy cried.
"Oh no, that one is very disagreeable!" The sales guy said.
"May I interest you in this one?" He pointed to a happy pet pressing its nose on the glass of the cage.
"No, no, I want this one!" Billy pointed. "Mommy, lets get this one!"
Inside the cage, the pets were going wild.
"Oh, I hope they pick me!" One of them cried.
"No, no, they should pick me! I'm better than you!" Another cried.
"It looks like they're gonna pick him!" One nodded at the pet in the corner.
"Lucky…" Someone said.
The one huddled in the corner gasped when the shopper turned to point at him.
"No, no, I can't be taken!" He cried.
"That's the way it is." The first pet said.
"But don't you think it was ever different?" He questioned. "Maybe we were the ones buying pets."
The first one scoffed. "Yeah, right, and we also landed on the moon." The other pets laughed. The one in the corner blushed, and shrunk back in the corner even more.
Why do they always laugh at me? He wondered.
"Why don't you want to be bought?" One pet sneered. "You like it here in the cage?"
"Well, no," He said.
"Then what's wrong?" Another asked.
"Don't you ever wonder what it would be like to be on the other end of the leash? Maybe we were free once. You know, not kept in cages like… like criminals. They act as if we have a choice when we become… what we are." He said.
"Sure, boy…" One pet said.
"I have a name." The pet in the corner snapped.
"I think that's more up to the owner." A pet said. "What's you 'name,' then?" She added.
"Nic." He mumbled.
"Nic?" They laughed, but stopped suddenly. Everyone looked up as the cage opened and the salesman reached out to Nic.
"No!" Nic shouted and bit the worker. The worker pulled back, scowled and tried again. Nic tried to bite him again but he pulled away again. "Don't touch me! Get off! I won't let you take me away!" He shrieked.
The pet shop worker reached for his walkie-talkie. "We have a problem with one of the pets. We need sedatives ASAP."
Nic stood up. "I won't let you take me! Never! We used to rule! We're not pets! We are-" Suddenly, Nic fell to the ground, knocked out cold.
"I am so sorry about all of this," The pet shop worker said, removing the needle from Nic's arm. "Do you still want this pet?" He asked.
Billy's mother shook her head. "Certainly not." She said. "Come along, Billy." She added.
The salesman shook his head and glared at Nic. "This is the last time. We'll have to send him somewhere else." He said to the security officers. "Let's put him in the vanwhile he's still out." He suggested. The security guards picked Nic up and carried him outside.
Nic opened his eyes for a moment as he was being carried outside. He saw the sales monkey watching him leave. He saw the shoppers that had tried to buy him – two goats. He saw a dog that worked in the pet store standing outside and he heard him yelling to animals passing by:
"Humans for sale! Humans for sale!"