If you can't take the heat, leave the kitchen. Aspiring chef Candace couldn't, so she had decided to quit and slit her wrists. While her big brother Peter fought to keep her in the game, her little sister Millie whispered a wish to D's snake. And, boy, did she get it.

AN: Thanks for reviews, I'm glad someone out there is enjoying my stories. Now, is the warning really necessary? This is rated T, as should be the case with any story about getting what you wish for mixed with a fair proportion of what you deserve. That combo is usually enough to damn anyone, and it's actually my favorite curse. If you have reptile issues don't bother reading this one. I'm finally doing a PSOH with my favorite animal –snakes- and I'm dedicating it to a friend who dropped out because of a rat problem. I picked my master degree for purely practical considerations- I wanted a dainty little paper that would help me get a promotion to pay my mortgage and keep up with my nasty eating-three-times-a-day habit. But for her the decision came down to fulfilling a childhood dream. Still, she allowed herself to be run away from her bliss by this… asshole. And then she came to me talking nonsense about wanting to quit it all… and I mean ALL. In the end I was able to talk her out of it while keeping my poker face on. But all the while I wanted to cry out: AGGGH! So not only am I claiming full responsibility for this little story; I'm taking pleasure in it.

Pet Shop of Horrors

Derelict: Part I

"Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day-to-day living that wears you out." Antón Chéjov

Candace was hurt. Peter had found her lying on the floor and had forbidden Millicent from entering the room. Then he had left with their sister wrapped in a blanket and he'd told Millie to go to Miss Robertson's and wait for him there.

Millie was usually a very well-behaved little girl. She thought her older siblings had enough trouble without her being bad. She hadn't meant to disobey Peter, but she couldn't take her eyes away from the bathroom's floor. She hadn't done it in a while but she had started sucking her thumb to stop the tears. She had sat with her back leaning against the tiled wall, watching the water running from the faucet they had forgot to close erase the big red stain while she embraced Mr. Buttons, the bunny her Mom had sewn for her before she and Dad had gone to Heaven.

Sucking her thumb had only helped for a while. As soon as she thought about Mom and Dad being in Heaven tears started streaming down her cheeks. She sobbed; she didn't want Candace to go to Heaven. Peter had told her Heaven was pretty and Mom and Dad were happy. Millicent loved Candace and she wanted her to be happy, but she wanted her to be happy here, with her and Peter.

Millie cleared her nose on her sleeve and remembered she was supposed to go to Miss Robertson's. She stood up and walked the few steps that separated her home from her neighbor's. She had already ringed the bell when she noticed she had left the faucet running. She ran back and closed it, when she came back Miss Robertson, who knew Millie wasn't the sort of girl who goes ringing bells to bother her neighbors, was outside waiting for her.

"What's the matter, lightbug?"

Millicent began telling her and couldn't help the tears that started flowing once more. Without another word Miss Robertson, who insisted on being called Claire, picked her up and let her into her apartment.

Claire was a biologist. She had told Millie that meant she studied life. Millie thought that was a lot to study, she had trouble enough learning what 3 times 4 was. But she liked Claire's home because it had lots of plants and animals, some were really cool. Usually Millie could spend the whole afternoon looking at them. And when Candace had classes and Peter was late from work Claire had no problem with babysitting her little neighbor. But today the marvels of Claire's apartment couldn't hold her attention. Millie couldn't even drink her cocoa or eat her cookies. That was odd, because Claire baked some really good cookies. Millie thought that perhaps it was because she felt so full with sadness that she couldn't take in anything else.

Claire looked at her little neighbor and scouted her apartment for something that she could use to distract her. A green spiral caught her eye. It was a snake, thin and long that was leisurely climbing up a branch in the terrarium. That might do the trick.

"Look Millie, see that branch there is moving!"

"That's not a branch."

"Do you know what it is?" Claire had taken the snake out and was letting it wrap around her fingers.

Millie just nodded wide-eyed. Claire held the snake over her head and waited until the little girl whispered: "It's a snake."

"Yes she is. She is a rat catcher."

"She can catch rats?" said Millie automatically taking on Claire's habit of talking about her animals as if they were people. The little girl sounded skeptical. Right after their parents had died, before the insurance company had paid the check, they had lived in some nasty places and Millie had seen rats. They were big and scary. The snake was really little, so her disbelief showed through her question.

In one of Peter's rare sharing moods he had told Claire about the rat incident, so she nodded sympathetically: "Well, not yet. She's a baby now, but someday she will. Want to touch her? Her skin is really smooth and cool."

Millie cautiously extended her arm, clutching Mr. Buttons with the other; ready to take it away if the snake made any sudden movement. She was a brave girl; she'd had to learn to be one. So she barely trembled when she felt the green reptile climbing up her wrist. It was really smooth and not all that cold. It felt nice. Letting go the air she had been holding, Millie gave Claire a small smile.

Claire's smile fell right off her face while she answered the phone. It was Peter, he sounded exhausted. That didn't bode well; usually the guy never took his mask off, least of all to show weakness. He was a hedgehog, not a surprise considering what he had gone through. But despite being emotionally distant he had managed to grow on Claire. No surprise there either. She liked them weird and had a huge Florence Nightingale complex. When she was little she was the kid that's always picking strays and bringing them home. She had a knack for getting hurt creatures to trust her. This particular hedgehog was more reluctant than most, but even he sometimes put down his needles and let her pet him.

She tried to comfort him. She couldn't. He was too angry. Angry at his sister for putting them through this after the hell they had lived the last couple of years since their parents had died in a car crash. But most of all he was angry at himself, that guy carried the world on his shoulders. He was furious at his inability to pay for better health care that could mean the difference between his sister's recovery and her…Shit! Was the guy crying? Probably not, she had never seen him doing that.

"So how is she doing?" Claire asked, mostly to see if he had hung up.

He laughed bitterly: "She lives, if that's what you're asking."

Candace had come through and had been confronted by Peter's inquiring gaze. She had started crying and told him. All her life she had wanted to become a chef. Against all odds she had earned a scholarship to fulfill her dream and now she had lost it. She had failed, and she couldn't face it.

"So that's why you quitted? You didn't cared Millie could find you?"

"Oh my God! Did she?"

"No, but she could have. I found you. Let's thank god for small mercies." He'd tried to keep the anger and hurt out of his voice but he hadn't managed. Of late anger seemed to be the whole scale of his emotional range.

Candace couldn't look him in the eye while she muttered: "Peter, I'm sorry…I."

That's when she'd confessed there was more to it. A guy, he was Candace's teacher and had become something else. That hadn't stopped him for ridiculing her in front of her classmates whenever he could. If you listened to the bastard, Candace was clumsy, plain and totally inadequate. Afterwards he told her he only did it so no one would suspect. He was married.

"What a rat!" Claire gazed nervously at the bed. Nothing, fortunately she hadn't woken up the little lightbug. Millie breathed softly. She took the phone and went out to the living room.

"She finally realized he had no intention of leaving his wife so she was leaving him. As a parting gift he gave her an F as a final note and he wrote a comment: Unable to perform satisfactorily the tasks presented to her."

"Fuck!"

Peter answered once more with the bitter laughter: "I wanted to kill him. I'm not joking. I thought about buying a gun and blowing up his face."

Claire felt a knot in the pit of her stomach: "Peter! Where are you?"

"Where else? I'm in the waiting room at the hospital. Don't worry, I won't. As much as this guy deserves it; I have bigger fish to fry right now. Besides, I can't afford the fucking gun. I'm on a tight budget here."

"God!" She could never tell if he was joking or if he meant it. But Claire hoped this was just another outburst of his dark sense of humor.

Whatever the case Peter went back to the brusque tone he used when he had to ask for help: "I'm not going anywhere tonight. I need you to keep an eye on Millie, and maybe come here tomorrow so I can go take a shower and change my clothes."

"Sure. Call me when you want me to go." And then is when Claire should have said her goodbyes and not meddled in other people's business. But it was in her nature to speak up her mind so she said: "You know, Peter, blowing up his face is a really stupid idea. But Candace should report this bastard to the school board."

"Yeah, well, now she has bigger fish to fry too," said Peter and after a brief goodbye he hung up.

Claire pushed the off button of the phone with all the frustration she couldn't let out any other way and went to fix some coffee. That night she wasn't going to get any sleep anyway.

Millie squinted half asleep. She knew what had harmed her sister. Without waking up she cowered under the covers and tried to erase the image of this giant rat that was coming to get her too.


The next morning, as soon as the sun got up, Claire and Millie began pacing the apartment like caged beast. They both jumped whenever the phone rang. They got two wrong numbers before Peter's call. Claire didn't need to go. Something had come up. Candace needed surgery. When she fainted she had hit her head against the bathtub and she had a subdural hemorrhage. The doctors explained that was a blood clog in her brain. They were going to drain it and Peter wasn't going anywhere until they did. So he told them to stay put.

Easier said than done; Claire couldn't stay still and neither could Millie. What to do? Go to the movies? Sure, as if they could concentrate on it while Candace was lying on the operation table. Then what?

"Tell me, lightbug, have you ever been to Chinatown?"

Millie had never been there before. Chinatown was bright and crowded and she felt a little bit dizzy. There was so much to see she had let go Claire's hand and now she was lost. She held on to Mr. Buttons as a castaway would to a passing timber.

Padma noticed the little girl at the verge of tears that bravely held onto her plush toy instead of crying for help, so she tugged D's sleeve and pointed her out to him.

"Are you lost, little one?" asked D leaning gracefully towards the girl in the blue jeans and pink t-shirt till his mismatched eyes were at the same level as hers.

Millie looked up hopefully and then with curiosity into D's eyes, but just for a couple of seconds because she had been taught that staring was not polite. Then she remembered another one of Peter's advices and said holding back a disappointed sigh: "I'm sorry, Miss. I'm not allowed to speak to strangers."

"Well, then we'll introduce each other. I'm Count D and I'm not a lady."

She wasn't supposed to tell him her name but she was also supposed to remain in the same place were she had lost Claire. Count D was not leaving and she didn't want to be rude just ignoring him. And, to confuse her even further, the stranger said he was a boy. Looking puzzled, Millie said: "But you are wearing a dress."

"It's not a dress, it's a kimono," said D with a small smile.

"Boys don't wear dresses," Millie pointed out stubbornly.

"So what do boys wear?" said D with more than a little amusement creeping to his voice. He could almost see the little clogs inside of her head going wildly round and round. What an interesting little cub. Leave it to Padma to spot her in the midst of a crowd.

"Pants, I guess."

"You are wearing pants. Does that make you a boy?"

"No. These are girl's pants. See? There's a flower on them." Millie giggled.

"Ah, but you see, some flowers are boys and this is a boy's kimono."

Millie was pondering that when she noticed the flying bunny and blurted out: "He's just like Mr. Buttons! Only his wings are wrong." Mr. Buttons' were golden.

D noticed the stuffed animal she was holding. Someone had loved this little girl a lot and had wanted to protect her: "Let me see. It is true. Q-chan, look at your twin. Isn't he cute?"

"Millie! Where are you?"

Millie turned around and waved: "I'm here, Claire."

Claire felt relief wash down her: "Oh Honey, I was worried sick. I lost sight of you for a second and the crowd kept pushing me away."

"That would be because of the Qingming."

"Pardon?" said Claire noticing the… man? That was standing besides Millie.

D carried on unfazed: "Qingming, the traditional Chinese spring festival. People honor their ancestors and, since most tombs are back in China or Honk Kong, they burn them offerings. Right now everybody is out shopping and as the saying goes: treading the greenery."

Claire huffed: "What little greenery is left in the city."

The man didn't answered he just looked intently at her with his odd mismatched eyes.

There was something about him that rang a bell. Claire narrowed her eyes and said: "You are Count D, aren't you? This is a freakish coincidence. I came here to purchase crickets for my lizard. She's having trouble digesting what I usually give her and a friend told me about you."

"Oh, then it is a happy coincidence, Miss…?"

"Robertson… Claire is better." Miss Robertson made her feel like an old maid. Then something caught her attention: "Holy Cow! Is that a blizzard?"

Millie looked at her as if she had gone mad. Then she said in that condescendingly polite tone smart children use to correct adults when they don't want to offend them: "There are no blizzards in spring."

"No Millie, the snake. I think it's a Corn Snake and her shading, this beautiful snow white, is called blizzard. But she is huge. This lady and the one you held last night are related, lightbug."

Five minutes later Millie was watching Padma wrapping around her arm and then dangling a section of her slim body forming swings.

'Those two have hit it off really quick', thought Claire while watching them play with a smile on her face.

"Are you a snake's enthusiast, Miss Claire?"

"Well, I'm actually trying to become a herpetologist so I work with them. Millie here has just been introduced to the vice. I'm afraid that's my fault." Claire did work with them but she kept them at home and gave them names. That was terribly unprofessional of her so she didn't go around confessing that to strangers.

The man looked at her with his mismatched eyes. Claire felt a little bit nervous. He seemed satisfied with what he had seen and offered to escort them to his shop. Claire wasn't going to lose Millie again so she hoisted her up and supported part of her weight with her hip.

It was like seeing Moses parting the waters. People let him through and gave him small curtseys. Heck, he was definitely more than a Pet Shop manager. Or else the Pet Shop was a lot fancier than she had been let to think. Claire counted her money mentally. Could she afford the 'especial' crickets? Forget about the snake. She gave Millie a pained look. The kid was smitten with the blizzard. She was whispering softly to her. And Claire had to bite her tongue not to tell her snakes can't actually hear you, they feel vibrations but no sound the way we understand it.

The serpent's head was suddenly pointed towards her. Claire was so startled that she almost let Millie fall. The Count took Millicent from her arms and held her as if she weighted nothing. Boy, the man was stronger than he looked. Claire was a big girl and carrying Millie hadn't been easy.

Claire had been a bit of a tomboy when she was a child. She still could scare people when she meant to, even sometimes when she didn't. Most men were actually smaller than her and felt intimidated by that. Except Peter, he was half a head shorter and still managed to make her feel delicate and feminine.

'Christ!' She thought that he had really scared her last night when he had told her about the gun. 'Please, let him be fine,' she prayed.

She felt the blizzard forming loops around her arm. Apparently the snake had stayed behind when the Count took Millie. It was as if she was trying to sooth her. 'Yeah right. You should know better than to believe that anthropocentric crap. And you should know better than to get attached to things you can't get in the end. That's really stupid, girl. And I'm not talking solely about the snake. You know how that story goes. You get close to someone and then when they go you end up with your butt in the air. Been there, done that. Don't really care to repeat the experience.' She hadn't even noticed she had begun caressing Padma.


They were having tea and Millie was playing with an assortment of cubs and puppies. Claire wasn't sure what had happened but she had ended up telling this complete stranger all that had happened to her neighbors in the past two days.

"I really don't know how much she saw or understood for that matter."

"Children usually understand things better than adults do, is only as they grow that their sight gets clouded" said Count D with a Mona Lisa smile that made Claire even more nervous.

"Well, ain't that great? Whoever designed this world is a sadist. Still, I'm not sure if she can handle it."

"And what is it to you, Miss Claire? What's this child to you?"

"Me, well, let's say I'm a friend of the family." That sounded pathetic even to her. What was she to her neighbors? She knew what the oldest one thought: convenient and temporary. Millie found her intriguing in an 'odd snake lady' sort of way. And Candace had always been sort of a mystery, so quiet and shy that one was. "I'm their neighbor, but I care for them... All of them."

Talk about circumstantial. If they had been given an option, would they still have picked her up for sharing their life? Because she would have, ever since that day, two years earlier, when she had seen the sullen and hurt trio moving next door and start fighting to rebuilt their life she had opened more than her door to them. And out of all the people in the world she wouldn't have hesitated to choose them. Claire sighed, turned around to stop facing those inquisitive mismatched eyes and dedicated herself to the safer task of watching Millie and Padma play.

Padma was telling Millie that snakes are ancient and proud people. At first the little girl had been a bit scared.

"You can talk?" she had asked with a somewhat shaky voice.

"Yesss, daughter of man. We've been talking long before your kind hasss." Padma had said. Then she had told Millie how snakes share an ancient wisdom no human can even begin to imagine.

But as Padma told her the tale of her kindred, correcting some misunderstandings that had gone down through the ages, she relaxed. So much that she ended up telling her about Mom, Dad, Candace and Peter.

"Ssso what do you want, cub? Do you want the rat dead?" Padma put her tongue out to feel her better.

Millie denied: "No, but take him somewhere far away. Like my cousin's mouse. She had babies and one of them was drowning in the water so George had to save him. The mommy got angry and she hurt the babies. Uncle Mark took her to the forest. Take him someplace where he won't be able to harm anyone else."

"That's it really?" Padma probed the girl and found out she didn't know Uncle Mark had drowned the mommy in a bucket after she killed her own cubs. Still, Padma had to ask, it was part of her job: "Are you sure that's all you want me to do?"

Millie thought hard about it, she disliked rats so much. But she didn't want anyone to get hurt, not even a rat: "Yes…and I want Candace and Peter to be happy again…and Claire too."

Padma nodded and called out for her sisters. Millie couldn't understand what they were saying, they were talking weird. Millie wasn't even sure talking was the right word; they were hissing and wriggling all over the lawn.

"What do you say ladiesss? Should we give the cub what she wantsss?"

Takshata rolled her red rings and said: "Seems fair. I'll take the boy."

Shankapala shook her golden scales and laughed: "You always pick the boys…You're sssuch a ssslut." Takshata hissed at her but Shankapala ignored her: "I'll take the girl in the hospital."

Ananta slid her long dark blue body raising her big head: "No, I'll take her."

Padma used her older sister privilege: "I had thought the rat should be for you. You've always liked the hunt. The girl is too weak. She needs a kinder touch than yours."

Ananta laughed: "She doesn't need gentle, or I wouldn't be interested. She has had gentle and look what that brought her."

Padma looked at her sister. The dark blue seldom spoke but when she did she was usually right. Padma hated that. Nevertheless, she decided it was better to be safe than sorry: "Go to her then, but Shankapala is keeping an eye on you. You'll both have the girl and the rat."

"Haaaahhh! I don't need a babysssitter," protested Ananta.

Shankapala sniggered: "I love you too, sisss."

Padma turned to the youngest, Jaya. As usual the green was distracted. She was brushing her hair not paying attention. Padma cleared her throat and said: "That leaves you the other girl."

"Do I have to?" asked Jaya without really looking at their direction, today her hair was just the way she liked it.

"Yes you do, you lazy green. Plus it's easier that way."

"Easier?"

Padma had to curb her impatience at her younger sibling. A few more spins on the karma wheel and she might become tolerable. 'Breathe, whitey,' she said to herself, 'and then have a long hard look at your own lacks before you judge others.' So much for the higher road, Jaya was entranced by her own reflection in the carps' pond and Padma couldn't help giving the green a poisonous look while she pointed out: "Yes, easssier. You go to the snake she keepss locked and tell her to go hike for a couple of days."

Jaya looked at her vacantly.

Padma counted mentally to ten 1…2…3… waiting for the dumb green to catch up. Then she realized that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, so she finally said: "She's green too, Jaya. You can pass yourself for the snake she keeps at home."

Shankapala started laughing but Padma stopped her with a warning glance. Takshata covered her laughter with a fake cough that fooled no one.

Jaya looked resentfully at the three of them, and then she turned to Ananta the second oldest for support. The look on the dark blue told her she was barking up the wrong tree: "And what are you doing, ssisss?" she asked looking resentfully towards the white one.

Padma ignored her tone as best as she could. Still, she raised her upper body and swung a little to let her know she was nearing the end of the rope: "Obviously I'll take the little girl. Any objections?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

They all remained silent.

"Then it's settled. Come on, ladies! Move your rings, get that mojo going. The Cold Food Festival has two days left."

It's a cliché, but vengeance is a dish which people of taste prefer to eat cold and, sure enough, snakes are people of impeccable taste.


Candace was floating in a river, a warm pulsing river. It was so easy letting herself be carried away by the current, so easy not to fight it.

"Why fight when it's useless? Jussst like you."

Candace got up and opened her eyes. The river was waist height and she could stand up. She almost fell down when she saw who was talking to her. A python, big and black with its yellow eyes locked in hers.

"This can't be happening. I must be dreaming."

The python chuckled: "Not your usual dreams for sure. Yours are usually these silly sugary-coated fairy tales in which everything turns out fine. Well, you aren't that smart so it figures you would believe in happily ever after with all that has happened to you."

Candace wanted to cry: "Who are you? Why are you trying to hurt me? I haven't done anything to you."

The python laughed: "That's it, Candy. You haven't done much in this life, not really. You aren't much of a doer, you are a doee. In this world you are either hunter or prey. And you have lunch written all over you."

"Hey, back off creep! You don't know me. You don't know anything about me. I want to wake up now. I want to go home. Crawl back under your rock. You ugly beast!" shouted the girl as she waddled her way to the shore.

As Candace faded from the river bank, Ananta smiled. She had been right. The girl had more guts than were apparent at first sight.

In the operation room they all let out the air they'd been holding. For a minute there the girl's heart had stopped beating. But now she was back and was mumbling something that sounded vaguely like a curse. They checked the anesthetics and adjusted the dose.


Peter was lost, walking in a forest. What was he doing there? He needed to be elsewhere, if he could just remember where. He came to the shore of a pond with a small waterfall. Then he saw Claire. She was naked, singing with her ugly voice under the water.

Peter felt inundated by tenderness, something that had started happening with increasing frequency when he thought about Claire. Out of pure habit he tried to push aside the feeling and then he realized the girl couldn't see him. She liked to sing when she thought no one was listening. It wasn't only that she didn't have a nice singing voice. She was tone deaf. She was also a musical's closet fan. She had even named her lizard Liza with a z. She usually left out the 'with a z' part, but she had told him.

He was having a rough week at work and Claire was having trouble with one of her thesis' advisors. Neither of them could sleep and they both had gone out to take a walk around the block. Afterwards they had ended up sharing an insomniac midnight meal, showered with a bit too much red wine. It hadn't been the first time they had sex, but it had been the first time he had stayed the night. He justified himself thinking that he wasn't going to get any sleep anyway and that he didn't want to wake up his sisters. Emboldened by the booze, Claire had protested that he never told her anything. He also must have drink too much, because he had asked what was it that she wanted to know. She had asked him to tell her something that he had never told anyone before. And to his utter surprise, he had. He had talked about how it had been after his parents had died. All the hurt and the impotence, feeling like that guy who was in hell pushing a rock uphill only to have it fall back inches away from the goal. She had looked at him with puppy eyes and the last thing he wanted her to feel for him was pity. So then he had said that justice demanded she told him something she'd never told another living soul before.

He had just poured his guts out to this woman and she had turned around saying that she had named her lizard after Liza Minelli. She had told him, whispering in his ear and blushing as if she were confessing her deepest darkest. He should have felt angry, but he had laid there with his best poker face, trying hard not to burst into laughter. In the end, after a small awkward pause, they both realized the absurdity of it all and they had laughed like mad children. She had offered to tell him something else, but he had refused. Just being with her, even if they didn't talk, was good. He couldn't remember when was the last time he had been able to do that, with anyone but Claire. She probably didn't know it but it was in those rare moments they shared in the death of the night when he could let go that he actually felt like himself again.

Peter smiled watching her pirouetting and howling under the cascade. Yes being with her was good in more than one way. Then he remembered. 'Wake up you bastard! Your sister might be dying and you are having this sort of dream. Man, you are a heel.'

He shouldn't have worried. He was unlucky even in dreams. Something big with red glowing eyes was coming out of a cave behind the water curtain. Claire had her back turned to it. Peter wasn't sure how he knew, but he was certain that the thing was about to devour her.

Over the sound of the waterfall she wouldn't listen if he screamed, so he tried to run towards her. He couldn't. He was hogtied. Then he realized the ropes were writhing. They weren't ropes at all, they were snakes! He fought but he knew it was all in vain. As usual, he was going to lose.

Just before the dark red figure got Claire she turned to face him and said one of his mom's favorite poems:

"A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;
The mourner's heart is going to break on his way.
Where can a winehouse be found to drown his sad hours?
A cowherd points to a cot 'mid apricot flowers."

He woke up with a start. His heart was pounding against his rib cage and the sight of the doctor in scrubs who was walking towards him did nothing to calm his pulse.


Claire's cell phone rang and she almost choked on her tea. Millie was distracted seeing a rainbow of snakes writhe on the floor. It was Peter saying that Candace was out of surgery. She seemed to be fine. They needed her to wake up before knowing for sure. Peter was falling sleep standing up so he needed that shower badly, and maybe some lunch.

Claire calculated if she actually had time to fix something. Hell, she'd use the credit card and buy something on the way to the Hospital. If it came to that she'll swallow her pride and ask her Dad for some money. Her little menagerie was expensive and she couldn't charge all to the lab's expense account. So by the end of the month she was usually scratching the bottom of her purse for pennies to make it to ends meet. Then she thought that if she was going to have to face her Dad why should she be cheap about it? She was going to buy her little neighbor a treat.

"Is the blizzard for sale?"

The Count and Millie looked at her. Stress is a killer. She could have sworn the snakes were looking at her too.

"This is a Pet Shop, Miss Claire. All the animals in it are for sale, if you're able to afford the price."

Boy, the guy was sort of creepy. Claire readied herself for the blow: "How much?"

"Are you buying it for yourself, Miss Claire?"

"No, every kid should have a pet. Millie's home is small and snakes are easy to look after."

"Is it for me?"

"Sure, lightbug. You can use one of my old terrariums. We'll have her feeling right at home in no time."

The Count looked from Millie to Claire and then back. He extended his hand, those were some long fingernails, and let the blizzard wind like a bracelet around his wrist. Shit, the serpent seemed to agree and Claire and Millie left with her.

Samsara is the Wheel of learning, and some lessons are more painful to learn than others. Count D was watching the Ladies dance in his backyard. He thought of his last customers and wished them luck. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Peter looked like crap. Claire wanted to hug him but she let Millie do the honors. Why risk public rejection?

She kept her distance but couldn't help asking: "Any news?"

"Not yet. We just have to wait, be patient."

God, that was surely killing him, he wasn't the patient type. Claire stifled a sigh and said: "Well then, you should probably try to get some sleep while you are home. Millie and I can wait for you here."

He rose to his full height and retorted: "I can take care of my own family."

Claire crossed her arms protectively in front of her chest and said: "Nobody doubts it, Peter." She left out the 'Besides yourself…' that was fighting to slip from her lips. Leave it to the Mr. Hedgehog to turn concern into an insult.

Talk about your awkward silence. Claire handed him the brown bag.

"What's this?" he asked frowning.

Claire frowned back: "Lunch. And I'm not trying to imply you can't buy your own. You are probably able to catch it."

She had brought him fish sticks, mayo and ketchup, cabbage salad, a chocolate muffin, and hot cocoa in a Styrofoam glass. His face relaxed and he smiled. He hated coffee and loved fish sticks for breakfast. He sometimes even ate them right out of the fridge... It was one of his pet peeves.

Then the smile left his face and he started to apologize: "I…"

Though the guy seemed to love carrying guilt like giant chains on the shoulders, it was painful for Claire to see him beating himself up. So she interrupted him: "You're welcome. Oh, and I should probably tell you, though you might bite my head off. I bought Millie a pet."

Oh boy, the frown was back in full attack mode: "A pet?"

"She was kind enough to keep me company while I did some errands so she earned it."

"Oh Pete, she's so beautiful. Can I keep her?"

Peter looked at her little sister. She hadn't smiled like that since the car crash. He wanted to strangle Claire. They didn't have time or money to spare on a pet.

"And what is she, Millie?"

"A blizzard!" Millie yelled happily already knowing Peter was going to give in.

Peter asked: "A what?"

"It's a snake, Peter. It's perfectly safe and she can keep it in the terrarium and just let her be. Liza will share her crickets with her. I can charge it on the lab."

"No, that's fine, she can keep her."

Millie giggled: "Sweet! Her name is Padma."

Peter raised an eyebrow: "Padma? Where did you get that name from?"

"She told me."

Claire and Peter looked at each other. Then Claire shrugged: "Probably on TV."

Peter hid a smile. We all need a friend, so what if she lives only in our head.

Claire couldn't convince him to leave Millie with her. He was going just for a shower and then coming right back.

"Well then, enjoy the splash."

What was wrong with that man? He gave her a funny look and then he left dragging his youngest sister.


Claire was standing on a beach watching the surf come and go. She wasn't enjoying it, when she was five on her first trip to the ocean she had almost drowned. Her father had taken her back to the sea the next day and had made her get in. If you let your fears dictate what you can or can't do you'll end up being unable to do anything. That's what her dad had said as he had shoved her towards the waves that looked like giant jaws ready to eat her whole. With a knot in her stomach and wobbly knees Claire had faced the waves. She was daddy's brave little trooper. So she went in and came out without a protest until her father felt satisfied. Afterwards she even became a good swimmer. But she still preferred pools.

"That's also why you chose snakes."

"Who is there?"

It was Sheila, her green Corn Snake. Only she had grown a little bit after the last time she had seen her. She was about the size of a small elephant.

"You are scared of us so you keep us in our cages and tell yourself you like us."

"That's not true, Sheila. You know I like you."

Sheila stretched towards her and Claire took a backwards step.

The green snake giggled: "Yeah, I can see you are not afraid of me."

Claire straightened up and took a step forward: "I'm not. You can't be real. Corn Snakes never grow this big and they are harmless."

"Are we?"

Sheila's eyes were shinning and before she lashed out Claire had started running.

'Crap, silly human. Why do they always have to run?' thought Jaya despondently: 'Now I'll have to pursue her or Padma will have my hide.'

Boy, the snake was fast. There was nowhere to go but the sea. Claire closed her eyes, took a big breath and went in. She came out far from the beach, salt on her skin and hair. She turned around and noticed she was being followed. 'No, it's not possible. Corn Snakes can't swim.'

"Claire…Claire… please wake up."

Millie sounded anguished and Peter had started shaking her.

"What?"

"Are you okay?" Peter had changed his clothes and was looking at her all worried.

'Wow, that's a first one,' she thought. But she just said: "I must have fallen asleep."

"We figured that one out when we saw you snoring. Has anyone come down?"

Oh goody. Mr. Grouchy was back. Claire rubbed her eyes and said: "No, if they had they would have woken me up."

"Then you should take Millie and get some sleep. You look like you need it."

'Yeah, like you are one to talk. You look like one of the living dead.' She probably was still half asleep because she kissed him goodbye right there in front of everyone. Lord knows what his excuse was because he kissed her back.

Continues in Part II which is already posted.