(This is the third short story that I wrote when I was young. Still unedited.)
Trick and Trap
“Oh, Fido.” That was really all I could say. My room was a total mess. My books on lions and dogs were every where and tomorrow’s homework was all around the room. My sleek, brown and black German shepherd looked at me with despair. “I miss Elsa!” he said. Now wait, did I say said? Yes I did. Fido isn’t a normal dog. He’s my imaginary pet. So’s Elsa, my winged lioness. Back to the story. “I was pretending that she was here and I was the brave mail carrier, like I was in LOI.” Fido smiled at me trying to look innocent but it didn’t really work. I knew he’d been lonely since Elsa hurt her paw and had to go to the imaginary vet clinic. “Well Fido, you know I like going to LOI (Land Of Imagination, if you couldn’t remember) but the old owl always tries to give me another pet. Don’t get me wrong, boy. I like having pets. But you and Elsa are quite a hand full. I really can’t have another pet, and that’s that.” If only I’d stuck with that. But of course, I never really can stick with something for a long time. Fido looked at me with big eyes that pleaded with me. I instantly regretted what I’d said. “Oh, fine. I guess we can go for a little visit. But let’s try to not talk to the Old Owl about pets, okay?” Fido was out the door before I was done. As I ran out the door of my house, my mother stopped me. “Honey, did you finish your homework?” She always asked me that even though (not to brag) I never got a single study hall. I guess she just wasn’t used to me being in school. See, I’ve been home schooled until I was ten. After that, I had to go to school. I’m eleven now and in grade 6. I like it and Fido usually isn’t lonely because Elsa is there. (That’s one of the reasons I got him. So Elsa wouldn’t be lonely.) Any way. I told my mom not to worry and before she could say any thing else, I sped out the door. I went to the back of my house and went into the woods. I found Fido waiting at the Bridge of Mist. As usual, it wasn’t in the same spot. It was always moving. So, Fido and I crossed the bridge. As usual, the mist swirled around us, but we walking. We knew that we wouldn’t fall off. Finally, we reached the end. We stepped of and the bridge vanished. As usual. We went directly to the Old Owls’ house. When we go there, Fido zoomed up ahead of me. As I climbed the wooden planks, I heard Fido start to laugh. What could be so funny? The old owl is sort of serious. When I go to the top, I opened the door and stared in horror. The old owl was tied to a chair! And dancing around him were two foxes! Fido was laughing away. I started to scold him but then I realized why he was laughing. The old “owl” wasn’t real. It was just a dummy. Just then the old owl (the real one) flew in. He stared at the foxes. “Trick and Trap, you must be ashamed of your selves.” The foxes stopped dancing and said sorry. Then they and Fido ran out the door. “Who are they?” The Owl poured me some tea. “They are fox twins that have been here for awhile now. No one wants them because they are so mischievous, as you can see.” He looked at me waiting for me to say something. I knew what he wanted. But I already had two pets, and taking care of fox twins that got into trouble just didn’t grab me. “Do they have any interests?” The Owl thought for awhile. “Well, Trap lives up to his name. He sets traps. The dummy on the chair was a practice trap. And Trick also lives up to her name. She loves to trip people and play wonderful tricks on them. The two of them together is very dangerous. You have to watch your step.” Just as he said that I stepped on a rope that quickly tightened itself around my leg. The Owl looked at me apologetically. I just couldn’t take two more troublesome pets. I loved Fido and Elsa but they were enough trouble. The Owl looked at me expectantly. “I’ll, I’ll think about it.” The Owl sighed and drank some tea. I unwrapped the rope from my leg. “Well, thanks for the tea. I’m going to take a walk and then I’ll give you my answer.” I got up and left. I decided to go to the LOI Park. When I go there, I saw tons of imaginary pets walking with there owners. There were also tons of homeless pets walking around and playing too. I finally found Fido under an orange and yellow colored tree. I guess he was waiting for me. When he saw me, he barked and said, “So, are you going to adopt Trick and Trap?” I didn’t know what to say. Fido did need someone to play with. Elsa was okay but she preferred solving math problems to playing Fido’s mail carrying game. I decided to play it safe and said “I want to talk to them first.” I walked to the pond where the twins were setting up some sort of fish catching device. I said hi but they didn’t really notice. “Um, do you need any help?” Trick kept working but Trap suddenly looked up at me.” I don’t think we do. Thanks though. So, um, are we in trouble?” He looked at me with big yellow eyes. I said, “Not really.” What else could I say? I couldn’t say ‘you’re coming home with me’. I’d have to ask them. But they don’t know me. They’d probably say no. “Is it okay if I, uh, um, watch?” I sounded really lame. I could tell he knew I wanted to say something else. But he nodded and went back to work. They went on constructing there fishing thing for a couple minutes but then one of Traps’ friends called him over. It was a big lynx. Trap bounded over and left me with Trick. She looked up and smiled. “Are we going home with you?” I gasped. “How did you know? I mean, well, was I that obvious?” She smiled more and said “No, it’s just…” she trailed off and looked down. I think I saw a tear drop but I’m not sure. She finally looked up and said, “Well, whenever a human comes to LOI, the Old Owl tries to give us to them. He really wants to get rid of us. We don’t mean to be bad, we just like to play. But he’s not very good at playing.” She stopped to catch her breath and looked down again. I started to feel guilty. These poor outcasts. They wanted, no, needed a loving owner. And I was about to say no. I picked her up, and she looked at me with mournful eyes. “You’re going to say no, right?” I looked at her and realized what I had to do. “I’m, I’m going to talk to the Old Owl again. Okay?” She nodded as I put her down and she scampered off. As I walked back to the Owls house, I thought about my decision. I would have to get more pet food and more beds and more, more everything! I’m not going to adopt anymore though. Ha. Famous last words.
* * * * *
“Trick! Trap! No splashing in the water!! The point of the bridge is to not get wet. Oh, never mind. Come on, guys. Let’s go home.”
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