This choice: "We have lots of other pets just waiting for a good home." • Go Back...Chapter #6Sometimes dead is better by: Yote   "We have lots of other animals here at the clinic who who are just waiting to go to a good home."
"These pets..." Michael said cautiously, smelling a rat, literally and figuratively. "...they're people, aren't they? Transformed people?"
"Of course, sir," the receptionist smiled. "But ex-human pets still need good homes too."
Kimmy drew the shoebox back to her chest. She was quiet for a while. "Dad, I don't think I'll ever stop missing Felix. He was the best rat I ever had."
"I know, sweetie."
"But can we get a puppy?! Pleaaasse?
Mike hesitated. A transformed person? Roaming around their house? Sleeping in their beds? "We'll see what your mother has to say ab-"
"What's this about us getting a puppy?" Debbie spoke up behind him. The rest of the family stood beside her, shaking the rain from their coats from their trip from the car.
"I was just explaining to Kimmy why we can't bring Felix back, and why we shouldn't be too quick at finding a new pet."
"I think a puppy sounds like an excellent idea!" Debbie smiled, eliciting cries of joy from the children.
-----------
"A little consistency would be nice," Mike hissed to his wife, as one of the clinic's animal handlers met them in the reception and guided the family through the corrdiors. "A hour ago you were chewing me out for telling Kimmy about this place. Now you want to get a dog from here?"
"What I objected to," she replied matter-of-factly, "was you raising our daughter under the impression she could bring back the dead with a wave of a magic wand. I also didn't want a zombie cat in the house. You've seen Pet Cemetery."
"But they're selling people."
"Then they'll be better house trained than Felix was at least."
Mike sunk into sullen silence as their guide led them into a bright and airy room, signposted 'The Sanctuary'. Wire and glass cages lined the walls, while open, wooden pens dotted the area. The sounds and smells of hundreds of different animals filled the air. The guide closed the door behind them, and led them further into the room.
"All of our clients at the clinic are covered by a 12-month rehoming service," she explained. "Many of the people that come to us already have families, zoos, or sometimes farms to take them in. But for those that don't, they live with us here until we can find them a place to live out their new lives. As you can see, we're a little full up at the moment."
If there is such a thing as an uncanny valley for animals, this must be it, Mike considered, as they walked past the rows of cages. The animals inside them looked like animals, sure. But they didn't all act like them. Many of them stopped whatever it was they were doing, and watched the human visitors pass. Even in the aquariums, fish eyes stared out at them from sunken castles. Mike shivered as a stick insect slowly, ponderously raised one of its spindly front legs. It hung there, trembling weakly, as if waving. A disturbingly human gesture.
Behind every one of these animal eyes is a thinking, reasoning mind. "This room creeps me out," he muttered to his wife.
But it was a sentiment not shared by the rest of the family. With a united cry of "Puppies!", the twins and Tessa plastered themselves against the glass of a large enclosure, on the other side of which a litter of golden Labrador puppies frolicked. | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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