Pets

Written for Lamia of the Dark's Return of the Daily Weird Prompt Thing

Prompt - turtle

There comes a time in every parent's life when their child starts asking for a pet. Melody had been wanting a pet for a while now, going from her mother to her father, repeatedly asking them if she could have a pet.

"No, I've told you before, you're not getting a pet," said Scabior.

"But daddy, I want one," Melody whined. "Mummy has a kitty. So why can't I have a pet too?"

Scabior told his daughter that she couldn't have a pet because most magical creatures were too dangerous for little girls to play with. However, his wife disagreed, stating that flobberworms were perfectly safe and made good pets for children.

"We're not getting 'er a flobberworm," said Scabior. "I don't want one of those things spitting up mucus all over the 'ouse. An who ever 'eard of anyone 'aving a flobberworm for a pet?"

Despite her husband's refusal to get their daughter a pet, Draconius decided to take Melody to the pet store anyway. She waited until Scabior left for work, then surprised her daughter by telling her they were going to the store to get her a pet.

The pet store offered a wide variety of strange and unusual creatures. There were two-headed parrots, rabbits that had sprouted horns from the center of their forehead like a unicorn, a winged cat that Draconius could have sworn she heard talking as she walked past its cage, and a variety of pastel colored fuzzballs known as pgymy puffs.

At first Draconius thought the pygmy puff might be a good choice for her daughter. But they were a bit more high maintenance, requiring lots of grooming and exercise. She couldn't see someone as young as Melody taking a pygmy puff for a walk, or trimming its nails.

They moved on to the aquatic section, where they saw a large tank of fish that had the ability to glow in the dark.

"Do you want one of those fish, Melody?" Draconius asked. "You could keep it in your room and use it as a night light."

Melody looked at the fish and made a face. "No. Fish are slimy and yucky." She then noticed a tank full of turtles, and ran towards it saying, "Mummy, mummy, look at the cute little turtles!"

The turtles in the tank had brightly colored shells. Some of them were black with purple spots, while others were patterned with checkers or stripes. But the one Melody liked the most had a shell that was greenish-blue.

"That one, mummy," said Melody, jumping up and down excitedly in front of the tank. "Can I have him, mummy? Can I? Can I? Please?"

Draconius bought her daughter the turtle, as well as the food and supplies she needed to take care of it. She knew she'd have some explaining to do once her husband got home from work. But for now all that mattered was that her daughter had her pet turtle and was happy.

Scabior was tired when he came home, his feet aching and sore from days spent running and tracking people through the woods. It didn't help that it was the dead of summer, with temperatures rising into the mid nineties.

All he wanted to do was come home, eat, take a shower, then lay down in bed and sleep.

He pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table with a weary sigh. His wife was in the process of making lunch. She hadn't told him about the turtle yet. She figured it'd be better to tell him after he'd rested up a bit.

Scabior closed his eyes, resting his head against the back of the chair as his wife set a plate of muffins and a bowl of cold soup on the table in front of him.

"Scabior," Draconius said, nudging him gently in the shoulder to get his attention. "Lunch is ready. I'll go finish changing the sheets and making the bed while you eat."

"Alright, love," Scabior muttered sleepily. He was really looking forward to relaxing in his nice, soft bed after lunch.

Suddenly he felt something wet splashing against the side of his face. He heard his daughter giggling. And when he opened his eyes, he saw a tiny turtle splashing around in his bowl of soup.

Melody was sitting across from him, a wide grin on her face as she watching the turtle splashing in her father's bowl.

"Turquoise wanted to go for a swim, daddy," she said, smiling at her father.

Scabior frowned, watching as the turtle dipped beneath the surface of the liquid in the bowl, causing the soup to spill out onto the table cloth.

"You know, Melody, some people like to make soup out of turtles an eat them for lunch," he said, glaring at the tiny turtle that was still splashing soup all over the kitchen table.

Moments later, Melody ran screaming down the hall, carrying her turtle as she ran towards her parents' bedroom.

"Mummy!" she yelled as she ran. "Daddy's gonna make soup out of Turquoise and eat him!"