It’s time for another Flash Fiction challenge! See the prompt below and give us up to your best 75 words. We look forward to reading how the story unfolds.
New addition can change the flow of life at any time. Write 75 words on the arrival of a new pet into a family’s home.
“Look what I brought back from Zekon Alpha, Johnny.”
“Ooh, daddy. What is it?”
“Not sure, really. Found it near one of the shuttle pads. Cute little feller, though, isn’t it?”
“It’s brilliant! Can I play with it, daddy? Can I?”
“Course you can, Johnny. That’s why I got it for you.”
“But what’s that coming out of its back?”
“Oh, that’s just … its teeth?”
“There’s hundreds of them, daddy. Daddy?”
“Run, Johnny! Run!”
Hand filled with a wad of paper towels, she followed the trail of aromatic puddles from room to room. Where had he gone? The line of evidence ended abruptly and then took a sudden turn. They had just finished potty training Jayden, she wasn’t ready to do it all again. Or maybe it was worth it, she thought as she entered Jayden’s room to find the new puppy and her son curled up in sleep.
They’re all staring at me.
Bug-eyed giants with their noses pressed up against my forcefield. Thank God they can’t get to me. But still they watch me like I will perform tricks.
Fog clouds the walls.
I swim away.
They follow me.
On this side, nothing but pebbles and a plant, as though that will make me feel like home.
They have surrounded me.
There is nowhere to hide.
“Why, oh why?”
said the mouse.
“Would bring a cat into our house?”
“I thought it would be nice,”
said the mouse’s wife.
“A pet will distract from my daily strife.”
“I like the cat,”
said the mouse’s son.
“I’ll play with her when the day’s done.”
“I like how she purrs,”
said the mouse’s daughter.
“I’m happy that mom bought her.”
“This is great,”
thought the cat.
“They’ll go to sleep, then I’ll get fat.”
She was seventy now, and Peter was back from the vet’s. The grandchildren would be disappointed, but the long-shelved Persian carpet could at last give the living room a touch of elegance.
They had agreed to take in only waifs, and that’s what they had year after year. Now they gazed sadly into an empty back yard. Then – a sudden movement.
“Oh, Peter, another little waif!” she cried joyously, as he knew she would.”
The mother warned the children that their new pet wouldn’t be quite as friendly as their last one, nor as gentle or docile. The loud roar confirmed her assertions, and when the hefty brown grizzly bear came crashing through the front door and immediately tore up the living room, concluding its rampage with a deafening roar, the children regarded each other with eyes of fright and dread, praying simultaneously for sweet little Ginger to return.
The thing barely moved when she took it out the box. At a glance you’d think it was dead slumped to the left of the small fragile; box it’s eyes wide and scared. It’s fear is bigger than its furry head, once it’s removed from the box it rears its head to her face. Their eyes lock and just like that it nestles it’s small body into her rough, chafed hands. She knows nothing about caring for a pet, but this small tiny fragile thing doesn’t either but it decides on her to keep it safe. She didn’t realize how much of a big difference this small thing just made she smiled for the first time today.
“I’m home.” His grandpa grunted through the creaking front door.
Ricky shrugged at the porridge and milk on the kitchen tiles.
Great, now I’ll cop it. Again.
He looked out the window at the low clouds. He’d been there since his sixth birthday, since mom and dad died last fall. Turning for the sink, he tripped over something warm. Face on the floor, among the snorts and slobbers, he smiled.
“We got a dog!”