The Pet Store - Fate

a story i wrote for a class

“You should get that one,” Tyler Davis snarled, pointing to a cranky duck sulking in the corner of the pen. It looked like it had been put on a diet of chili peppers and nettles. Alex gave it an appraising look, then shook her head.

“No,” she answered, “he might bite me.”

“Ducks can’t bite,” came the sarcastic reply.

“I like that one,” Alex said, pointing to a fuzzy yellow one that was waddling over to the stray food pellets.

“There’s something wrong with it’s head. It’s got a black spot. It’s probably sick”

“I want that one. I could make him all better.”

“Alright, whatever, we’ll get that one. Then we’ll go get something to eat. Maybe some Peking duck at that Chinese restaurant you love,” Tyler taunted.

Tyler followed his little sister out of the maze of Feathers, Fur, and Fins; he was actually surprised that Alex remembered how to get out, the place was freaking huge. Whoever had planned the layout was a dumbass. Who would put glass tanks next to the wire birdcages? She didn’t even bother looking at any of the other cute kittens or playful puppies around her, Alex was buzzing with happiness at the duck in her arms. Tyler shook his head in disgust and cast a longing glance at the tarantula’s as they passed the huge glass cages.

He didn’t even want to be here. Except that his mom, Beatrice, had work today after promising to take Alex to the pet store. So now Tyler had to skip going dirt-biking with the guys and take his little sister to the pet store.  A decent-sized argument had ensued, nothing out of the ordinary. His mom came into his room as he was pulling on a clean Suicide Silence shirt and the riff started out as usual, how she was always busy working to take care of them both and how he never spent time with his little sister and the least he could do to help out was to drive her to the closest pet store, let her pick out a pet, get some lunch, and then drive back home. Alex came in right at the end of it and their mom swooped down and picked her up, cheerily saying, “Aren’t you a lucky girl? Your big brother is going to take you to the pet store because mommy has to go back to work. How would you like that?” Alex looked at Tyler with bright adoration in her eyes as he glared in their general direction with dead nothingness.

Then he glared at the road with dead nothingness as he drove furiously to the mall. Tyler opened the doors for her in silence as Alex chattered away about her cubby hole at school and the pictures they colored and the playground she and her little friends played at. It was nauseating. Just like those cute little baby animals that Alex kept stopping to look at. Tyler had only ever had fish as a pet, so the fact that their mom was giving Alex free reign when she was only five pissed him off. He would probably be the one taking care of it, too. He wouldn’t mind if she picked a fish, but he doubted that would happen. Alex liked to pick things up and cuddle them. Fish were as cuddly as a wet dog in winter.

They left Feathers, Fur, and Fins and walked out into the muggy summer air. Tyler led them over to the car and he brought it to life, turning the radio up.

“What’re you going to name it?”

“Fate,” came the instantaneous reply, her new favorite word.

“Why not Fuzzy? Or Dumbo?” Tyler asked, as the stupid thing tried to clamber over the seat towards him.

“I don’t like those names,” Alex pouted, catching and cradling the fragile creature.

Tyler pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway. “We’ll just get drive thru at McDonalds, okay?" Tyler said, distracting her. Alex beamed at him and nodded vigorously.

Alex was too busy watching her new pet duck fall asleep, so she didn’t notice the car speeding up, or that there were more car horns than usual. A tremendous crash shook the car and Alex jolted forward in her car seat like a broken rollercoaster. Her lower lip trembled and a few tears slipped out. “Tyler? What happened?” trembled the soft voice. But she never got a reply.

Beatrice was in the middle of checking out a cute man at the cash register when her boss called her into his office and asked Shirley to finish packing up the mans groceries.

"Hello? This is St. Andrews Hospital.  Is this Mrs. Davis?”

“Yes, it is. Is there a problem? I already finished paying the hospital bills if that’s what this is about.”

“No, Ma’am, well, it’s about your son and daughter. Mrs. Davis, there’s been an accident. Your daughter, Alex is it? She is okay, she was buckled in her carseat in the back seat. But her, uh, pet duck broke it’s neck.”

“What about Tyler?” She interrupted, “What about my son?”

The man on the phone sighed, “I’m afraid he’s passed away. We’re not sure if he died before or after the accident, but signs point towards heart failure or a brain aneurysm of some sort. I’m so sorry, ma’am.”

Reviews

[Lyn Anderson]

Wow. I wasn't expecting that. A minor proofread needed for some missing apostrophe's etc., and I would suggest changing the word "retard" given our current age of enlightenment. Great job with the completely unexpected ending.

[The Violent Wolf]

thanks for the feedback :)