From the time I was a little kid, I had a horrible case of pet wanting. I liked all types of animals, and I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. I read Eyewitness books about birds and horses. I asked for a dog or a pair of mice. The thing was, no matter how many times I asked, my parents would not agree to let me have any type of pet. Even though I obsessed over all sorts of animals, I didn’t expect to get a pet. So it was a big surprise when my parents pulled into the Petco parking lot for the first time ever. My brother and sister and I were so excited! We practically bounced into the store. My Dad explained we were there to get one Siamese Fighting Fish, because they were good first pets and my parents wanted to see if we were responsible enough to care for a pet. We chose a handsome royal blue Betta Fish and got busy setting up the tank, decorating the inside with a few plastic plants and laying down fun, multi-colored pebbles. It was very fun in the first couple weeks, caring for my new fish, who we had named Bubbles. I’m a bit ashamed to admit I started lazing around caring for him less and less. I didn’t think it mattered. ‘Its ok if he misses a little food this morning’ or ‘He can go one more day without his gravel being changed’. It was subtle and didn’t seem to affect Bubbles, but my parents noticed my lack of responsibility, and they were not happy about it. Bubbles happily puttered around his tank for almost two years before peacefully passing away at the ripe old age of 3 years. Even though it turned out Betta Fish were only expected to live 2-4 years, I still felt bad for neglecting to care for him properly. Maybe if I had worked harder, he would have lived longer. I hadn’t done a good job of proving to my parents I was responsible, and I probably had hurt my chances of getting another pet. I started to come up with a plan to show my parents that I was capable of taking care of bigger pets. First I had to research the best type of pet for our family. Dogs? We are Muslim, and dogs are not considered clean enough to be kept indoors in Islam, so not a dog. Mice, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs or Birds? Their cages tended to smell bad, and birds make lots of noise. Rats? They are smart and clean, but there was no way my mom would let me keep a rat. Cats? Cats might actually work. Apparently, the Holy Prophetsa had kept cats in his mosques, so they were definitely clean. They were easy to care for. The only problem was my Mom and Brother were all allergic to cats. And I really didn’t want a hairless cat! After looking at all the pet possibilities, I ended up keeping the cat idea. I learned cat fur itself isn’t what gives you allergies. It’s a protein in the cat’s spit that makes you irritated. When a cat licks himself while grooming and then sheds his fur, the stuff irritates your eyes and nose, and in extreme cases, even your skin. Thankfully, my family’s allergies were not bad at all. Then I started looking for hypoallergenic cats. There were Maine Coons, Bengal Cats, Russian Blues, Cornish Rex, Siamese, Javanese, and Balinese. All of them were bred to have less of the irritating protein in their saliva, and not a single one was hairless! The next step was to create an expense list to review with my parents. It would have to include all of the supplies necessary for owning a cat and what the vet trips would cost. I did a little research and then got to work. Whenever I got a chance over the weekends of 4th grade to work on the list, I added more information to it. I also talked to my parents about why getting a cat might be good for our family. Their presence created a more warm and calming atmosphere. It was scientifically proven that petting a cat could lower blood pressure. Having a cat would make us kids more responsible, and it would be fun to have around. When my Mom said a cat would claw at furniture, I told her how if you get a cat when it’s still young, it can be taught not to mess with furniture or curtains. If your cat did develop those bad habits, you could also glue plastic caps onto a cat’s claws to keep them from doing damage or trim their nails with the help of a vet. After I successfully presented my work, my parents seemed impressed and were happy that I had put all of that research together. I even wrote a persuasive essay in 4th grade to convince my parents further that cats were great pets. I was very determined! This went on for a little bit, but after a while I started focusing less on my goal of earning a cat and more on the upcoming school year. I still occasionally brought the subject up with my parents, but as the 5th grade started, there was no cat. It wasn’t until early July when my Dad casually asked on the way to my brother’s baseball game what we would name a cat if we got one. We were very interested in Harry Potter at the time, so it was no surprise when we came up with names like Severus Snape, Dumpurrrrdore, and Rufus Scrimgeour. One Wednesday evening, my Dad came in holding some boxes and set them all down in the living room. My brother and sister were eating dinner and I was finishing up my homework. My mom greeted my dad as she always did, and us kids just went about our
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Flash Contest #3: Write From an Animal’s Point of View: Our Winners and Their Work!
Weekly Flash Contest #3: Write from the Point of View of an Animal Write about a day in the life of your pet or a friend’s pet, as if you were that pet. Remember to think about what it might be like to be an animal. How do they see the world? What do they think about humans and their fellow animals? What are their hopes, their dreams, their fears? This is a great exercise in point of view. The week commencing April 13th was a very special week for our Daily Creativity series. We had a takeover, by one of our readers, Molly Torinus, age 11, from Middleton, WI! Molly is a volunteer in our COVID-19 Focus Group, and she wrote a whole series of terrific writing prompts for us. When we planned her takeover, we all agreed that this prompt, challenging everyone to write from the point of view of an animal (Daily Creativity prompt #16), would be a great one to set as the contest. You all seemed to think so too, as we had a record number of entries! We were thrilled that Molly also joined the Stone Soup team to be one of this week’s judges. Once the contest closed at the end of last week we all read the entries independently, and gave them our own scores. Then, we put the 3 judges’ scores together to come up with a shortlist, and had a Zoom meeting to discuss it and agree the final results. It’s the first time we have had a reader judge in one of our contests, so it was very exciting for us to work with Molly on the contest: we can tell you that she was a very thoughtful and fair judge, and we really enjoyed working with her on this contest. We will try to get readers involved again in future, so look out for another takeover soon! We all very much enjoyed reading these entries, and we were impressed by the different ways people approached the challenge of thinking like their pets. We especially loved the entries that really sounded like the thoughts and behaviours of animals we have met. It was easy to agree on our top contestants; and we also wanted to honor some of the other entries, as there were so many good ones. So, this week, we are announcing our 5 Winners, whose work is published below, plus 4 Honorable Mentions. Congratulations to all of them, and thank you Molly for a great writing challenge, and a fantastic job as a judge! Winners (work published on this page) Yutia Li, 10, Houston, TX Anna Rosini, 12, Arlington, VA Audrey Tzeng, 11, Rocklin, CA Ella Yamamura, 12, Cary, NC Sophie Yu, 12, Houston, TX Honorable Mentions “Chickens and Playtime” by Nora Heiskell, 12, Philadelphia, PA “Piano Bunny” by Maya Mourshed, 8, Silver Spring, MD “The Great Indoors” by Enni Harlan, 13, Los Angeles, CA “A Good Summer Day: A Day in the Life of Moti” by Anushka Trivedi, 9, Silver Spring, MD We also received a drawing last week which seemed to fit really nicely with this contest, so we are using it as an illustration for this page. Allie Dollar, 11, of Monticello, FL, thought that the dogs–as well as their owners–should be wearing masks while out for their walks during the pandemic, so she drew some for them. Thank you, Allie! Remember, we are running the Flash Contest every week during the COVID-19-related school closures and shelter-in-place arrangements. It is always based on the first Daily Creativity prompt of the week. The prompt is posted on Monday, entries are due by Friday, and the winners are chosen and announced the following week. “Pixie,” by Yutia Li, 10 Ding-dong! Oh no. The doorbell is never a good sign. I hear a click and a creak, and an unfamiliar, pungent odor reaches my nostrils. I wrinkle my nose. This scent is new to me. It smells slightly like Olivia but with more of a sharp, aromatic tang. This person must’ve used some of that perfume thing that humans use. I hear energetic voices at the door. It’s Olivia and one of her friends, by the sound of it. Pretty pretty please don’t say that that person’s coming inside. No! The door slams shut, and footsteps round the corner. I make a dash for it, but it’s too late. The perfumey person is right on my heels. She scoops me up and cuddles me. Ew! That stupid odor. I think I’m allergic to it. “Pixie!” she coos. She has short brown hair and like, a trillion freckles. Kinda similar to Olivia, but her height is much shorter. Oh, and the stinky perfume, of course. “I’ve heard so much about you! You’re the best kitty ever, aren’t you? Yes you are. Such a cutie pie!” She scratches behind my ears, and I wince. No smelly hands are allowed on my beautiful fur! I try to scramble out of her arms, but her grip is too tight. After like, ten minutes of cuddling and rubbing, she finally releases me. I automatically scramble up the stairs and to my favorite hiding spot, a cubby right under Olivia’s bed. Her fragrance of fresh aloe and lavender never fails to soothe me. I’m just getting ready to doze off when the doorbell rings. Again?! More people? Ugh! This must be one of those playdates or whatever you call them. But I’m safe here. Olivia would never let any harm come to me. Yet as I lie there, the doorbell rings a third time. And a fourth. And a fifth. What the heck? Is this the largest playdate ever or something? I sure hope they don’t stay long. I don’t need any more perfumey people cuddling me today. OMG! My kibble! It’s almost my dinnertime! I can’t go and get my food with all these people down there, though! My mind is lost in a whirlwind of thoughts. But the scent of
