Adventures in Parenting
X Pets X
Kagome stared at the blue-trimmed storefront. Shiro had been begging for a pet since a little boy in his class, Arthur Steinwell, brought his family of hamsters to school two months ago. He'd claimed that he didn't care what kind of pet he had as long as he had one, but she knew that he'd been eying the puppies in the pet store window since he was three. Damn that Arthur Steinwell.
Sighing, she clutched her purse to her chest and stomped across the street to stand in front of the window full of excited, hyper puppies. Oh, why did she have to be such a pushover when it came to her son? 'Because you're a good mother and you spoil the crap out of the kid,' she grumbled mentally.
Wanting to cry, she dragged her feet into the pet store and resignedly walked up to the teenager behind the counter. The pimple-faced boy looked up at her and smiled, self-consciously tugging on his red smock.
"How can I help you, miss?"
Kagome slanted him a slight glare. Who was he to call her 'miss'? She was a mother, for Chis'ssake! She at least deserved a 'ma'am'.
"My son is begging for a pet," she said.
The teenager sighed sadly, catching on that she was off-limits. Nodding his head, he smiled weakly back at her. "What kind of animal does he want?"
Kagome pursed her lips in thought. She stared around at the birds, fish, rodents and other domesticated animals. What would be easy to take care of and within her price-range?
She glanced up at the gangly boy. "What would you suggest?"
"Well, how old is he?" he asked, a little in shock that someone was asking for his advice.
"Well, he's five and really energetic. But I don't think that I want another ball of energy bouncing around to run after all the time," she said thoughtfully. "I want him to be able to feed it and care for it by himself, so one that doesn't require that much upkeep and can be can survive a forgetful kindergartener. It should be sturdy."
The boy gazed around the store thoughtfully. "Well, fish die pretty easily, but they're easy to replace too. If you want something cheap and easy, I'd say go for a goldfish," he suggested, leading her over to the fish tanks.
Kagome stared into the tanks at the colorful fish swimming around. That seemed too… impersonal. She glanced up at him. "What else you got?"
"Um…" he walked over to the hamster cages, but Kagome shut that down with a firm 'No.' She did not want a constant reminder of that child that put the idea in her son's head about a pet. 'Besides,' she reasoned in her head. 'They bite and smell.'
"Parakeet?" the teenager asked.
Tapping her chin, she stared at the large birdcage in the middle of the store where the birds were kept. One of the small yellow birds lifted its tail and pooped. Another blue and grey one screeched loudly and flew about the cage in a flurry of feathers. Kagome balked and backed away. Birds were a no-go.
The teenager sighed. This lady didn't like any of his suggestions and he was running out of animals! "What about a cat or a dog?"
"Shiro hates cats, just like his father. I had to get rid of my old cat, Buyo, when I had him. And he loves dogs, absolutely loves 'em, but that's too much responsibility for right now… And we're running on a tight budget," Kagome muttered the last part out, half-ashamed of her predicament.
They both stood by the counter, silently mulling over the different types of animals that would be suitable. Finally, the clerk snapped his fingers in triumph and jogged to the back of the store towards the fish tanks again. Kagome followed after him, trying to dodge the chew toys jutting out into the aisles from their shelves.
"Hey, we already ruled out fish, remember?"
"This isn't a fish," he explained as he reached into a tank. "It's a –"
Kagome screamed and ran to a different aisle. "Don't get that thing near me! It's disgusting!"
The boy just stared at her confusedly. "What? It's just a tarantula."
"No, it's a spider! I hate spiders!" Kagome cowered further away from the furry arachnid.
"Oh, sorry…" he put the tarantula back in it's tank and perused the shelves of tanks in front of him. "How 'bout a snake? Little boys like snakes."
Kagome shot him a flat stare from around the corner of the aisle. "No."
"Uh… lizard? You just feed them crickets."
She walked up to stand next to him and stare at the reptiles sunning themselves under their heat lamps. They seemed easy and like something a little boy would like… Dragons and sharks were dream pets for boy Shiro's age. Kagome shuddered and diverted her gaze when she watched one eat a cricket. Crickets were disgusting…
Then, her eye caught a small black thing swimming in a tank. It didn't look like a fish… She stepped closer and realized that it was a turtle. "Hey… what about a turtle?"
"That's a pretty good choice too. They're simple, easy to take care of for the most part… And they'll eat essentially anything. We recommend goldfish or dry turtle food though. It's a good first pet for little kids, I suppose."
Kagome stared down at the tiny aqueous reptile. It'd stay in one place because of its tank. And Shiro would really like choosing pebbles and fake plants and stuff to put in the tank. He could feed it himself and change the water… It was perfect! Smiling up at the store clerk, she nodded her head.
"That sounds much better. Thank you…" she glanced at his name tag. "Jonathan."
Jonathan smiled bashfully. "It was nothing…" he mumbled.
"Now," she said, turning to the array of tanks, food, and… turtle toys…? They had those? She mentally shrugged. 'I guess some people really love their turtles…'
"You can help me with picking out some stuff for my new turtle."
Well, there's number three. I kept changing my mind about whether it'd be a puppy or a turtle, but dogs can be so expensive and take up so much time. And lots of people do dogs, myself included in past pieces I've worked on. So a turtle it was. I like turtles. Except when you feed them goldfish… That part's gross. – Hope