Eden G.

Parker’s Pets & Supplies

by Eden Gorst

To everyone who has ever told anybody else off for saying that animals weren’t people.

-Eden Gorst

Maple Leaf Book Writing Project

Brattleboro, Vermont

Copyright 2014

Prologue

Caselynn Parker paused, standing on the edge of a New York City sidewalk. The chilly autumn

breeze whistled through Casey’s messy red hair. She smoothed it back into place, staring up at

the cloudless sky, which had turned a brilliant shade of blue. The great weather was unusual for

New York City, which was usually very gloomy and, to Casey’s dismay, had very little wildlife.

She breathed in the fresh air, wishing she had time to enjoy it. She had to walk fast, as her

parents would get annoyed if she didn’t come home on time. Caselynn Annabelle Parker had an

eccentric family, famous for owning Parker’s Pets and Supplies, the most popular pet shop in

Manhattan. Casey was twelve but already she had to do a lot of the work involved in running the

shop, greeting customers, feeding the pets, re-stocking the shelves.

When she reached the pet store, she climbed up the stairs to her family’s apartment. She

opened the door, yelled “I’m home,” and flopped down on the couch. She noticed the apartment

was quiet except for a distant noise that sounded distinctly like…..snoring? Venturing further into

the house, she discovered the snoring sound was coming from the pudgy, sleeping body of her

Aunt Cindy! Casey realized her parents must not be home, so she went into the kitchen to call

and ask why her Aunt had come to visit without her knowing.

That’s when she saw the note. Written on pink stationery and taped to the refrigerator. It read:

Caselynn,

We’ve gone on a short vacation up in Maine for a week. We have left you in the care of Aunt

Cindy, but you know where all the food is. (Ha Ha!) Also, Aunt Cindy doesn’t know how to run a

pet shop, so we’ve left the shop in your care. We need everything in tip-top shape when we get

back. Love you, Mom & Dad

Chapter One: Caselynn

I know you might think I’m crazy, but the stories I tell my friends are true. I got to run my own pet

shop. It all started with that letter. After reading it, I groaned and put my head in my hands, on the

edge of dismay. I had never try to run an entire store in my life, and before the letter I wasn’t

planning to start now. And anyway, no time with my Aunt Cindy is time well spent. I know she’s

my Dad’s sister, but I just don’t like her. She’s a police officer, and whenever she tells me to do

something, she uses that as an excuse for why I have to do it. She really hates animals, so she

avoids the downstairs pet shop at all times. She’s generally just not that fun to be around.

Probably the only good thing about this is that the pets will finally get some attention. My parents

are okay, but when it comes to animals, they just don’t get it. Sure, they feed them, they wash

them once and a while, they clean their cages. I have yet to see any petting though, and animals

sometimes need someone to talk to. And with nothing but timid Central Park squirrels here in

Manhattan, these pets are the best we’ve got.

I heard a knock at the door, and went to get it. It was my best friend in the whole world, Timothy,

holding a skateboard and smiling a goofy smile. I returned the smile and said, “Sorry. I can’t

hang right now. The shop’s open and there’s nobody else here, so I’ve got to get to work.”

“What? What…what do you mean?”

“My parents went away on vacation!” I shook my head, still not believing it. “They left ME to run

the shop while they’re gone!”

“Seriously? I mean they’ve never been the most responsible parents in the world but…” he bit

his lip, looking annoyed. “Well

any who, since I’m here,what about I be your first customer?” He grinned. I grinned back.

About half an hour later, we had finished cleaning up the shop. I could have sworn it sparkled.

“So now that we’re done with that, how about we get some dinner?” Timothy inquired. “I’m pretty

hungry.” I checked my watch.

“It’s only four thirty. You can eat, I still have to feed the guinea pigs.”

Suddenly we heard Aunt Cindy waking up from upstairs. “Actually, scratch that. You better go.

My aunt doesn’t like kids in the house that she didn’t invite there. She doesn’t like kids at all.”

“Okay then. Bye Casey!”

“Bye Tim.” And just like that, he sped off on his skateboard.

When my aunt got downstairs, she looked around and snorted. “I still can’t believe my own

brother now owns a pet shop! Pesky things, furry critters. Never liked them.” Understatement of

the year. Once my parents invited her to my fourth birthday party, and she kicked my friend’s

dog. It was humiliating.

She started making dinner, and I got up the courage to ask her a question.

“Aunt Cindy? Why do you think my parents left me here to run the shop?”

“Well, my brother has never been good at parenting, has he? Spending more time on this

ridiculous shop than on his own daughter.”

I stormed away, stung by her words. She has never liked her brother, or my mom, but I never

thought she would go this far. I decided to get the guinea pig food. As I passed his cage, Garfield

the guinea pig shot me an angry glare. He was hungry, and his food was late. Garfield had never

liked me. Whenever I tried to feed him, he would throw things at me with his tiny little paws.

I went to the pantry to get the bag of guinea pig chow. When I came back and opened Garfield’s

cage, he threw mashed up carrot at me. Gross! When I ran to the bathroom, I forgot to latch the

cage. That may have been the biggest mistake of my life.

Chapter Two: The Great Escape

Of course, I (me being Garfield) noticed as soon as the girl left the room. I dashed out of my

cage after the girl and her aunt had gone to bed.

I had taught the other animals Morse code about a month earlier, but we were forced to

communicate while still confined in our cages.

As I sped along, I unlocked the other cages, releasing all the animals in the building.

As we gathered near the center of the store, we had a conversation:

Me: Does anyone know if they lock the back door?

Clarisse the cat: Well Garfield, I heard the freckled lady with the big butt who redhead girl calls

Aunt Cindy saying that they locked it because of criminals. I don’t know ‘bout the front, though.

Minnie the mouse: I have this credit card I stole from the Aunt Cindy lady! That always works for

door opening in the movies!

Me: Okay, we’ll give it a go!

After fifteen minutes of failed lock picking, the door finally creaked open and the pets slunk off into

the night.

I knew something was wrong the minute I woke up the next morning. It was so eerily quiet. No

barks, no meows, no “Good Morning” from the parrot, Peaches. Furthermore, when I got

downstairs, my very own Aunt Cindy was wearing a flowery apron, making pancakes and

humming. My aunt never hums unless it’s the apocalypse. So of course, I assumed it was the

apocalypse. “What’s going on?”I inquired, looking suspicious. “Why are you acting so cheerful?”

“Oh, it’s just wonderful! Those dreadful animals escaped!”

“WHAT??!” I must have looked horror stricken.

“I know, it’s wonderful, isn’t it?”

I immediately set off searching (in spite of my aunt’s protests) without even having breakfast.

When Timothy saw me rush past, he called out to me. “Where on earth are you going in such a

hurry?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but the animals got out last night! I have to find them before

my parents get back!” I skidded to a stop in his driveway, panting.

“Are you kidding me?” he replied. “How do you manage to get into all this trouble?”

“I dunno, but right now, I got to fix it.” I waved good bye to him and started searching.

About a block later, I decided to start asking around. If all the pets were traveling together,

someone must have seen them. First I tried The Rolling Pin, our family’s favorite bakery. A

woman named Thomasina works there, and she was my Mom’s best friend in high school.

When I walked in, she gave me a fist bump and grinned. “What’s up girl?” Then she noticed

how let down I looked. “What’s wrong?” I told her everything.

“So, have you noticed any animals running wild around here?”

“Hmm…I don’t think so.”

“That’s all right. I guess I’ll just search myself.” I gave her a smile and walked out the door.

I searched for the rest of the afternoon. I wear I covered every single living inch of Central Park!

I ducked into a dark alley once and couldn’t find my way out, but I was helped by a nice lady who

was a friend of my mom’s, luckily with no awkward questions. What I didn’t know was that

Garfield the guinea pig was behind me that whole time, watching from the shadows.

When I finally spotted the pets a way away from me, I ran as fast as my knobby knees could

carry me. My head pounded and I was extremely angry at myself. How the heck did I get into this

mess? Then I remembered. When Garfield threw the mashed up carrots at me, I ran to wash

my face, and I left the cage unlatched. I was so stupid!

Suddenly, as I watched the runaway animals speed off into the distance, I sat down in

the middle of the sidewalk and gently rested my head in my hands. My eyes welled up with tears.

I got up and started to walk home.

“What will my parents say now?” I sighed, shakily. “I’ve lost the most important thing in the world

to them. I’ve failed as a pet owner, and as a daughter.”

Chapter Three: Parker’s Pets and Supplies

As I was walking home, I noticed the alleyway I had gotten lost in while I was searching for the

animals. I decided to have one last look to see if they had come back. I walked around for a few

minutes, calling them. And there they were! Huddled behind a row of trash cans, right in my

reach! I was so excited I could have burst! I immediately whipped out my cell phone and called

Animal Control. I hid from the pets so they wouldn’t see me and run away. The Animal Control

truck came, captured them, and drove them over to our house. It was a victory! Aunt Cindy,

surprisingly, got along very well with the man from Animal Control, though she wasn’t happy

about the pets being back. Everyone was super excited. Later that night, though, I had a slight

change of perspective. One person wasn’t happy. Actually, make that a lot of people. All the

animals were huddled in a corner, scared and sad. For once, they had been free, and I had taken

it away from them. I felt a lump grow in my stomach. I would have a talk with my parents on the

day that they got home from Maine. I had noticed that Garfield had not thrown any mashed up

carrot at me all day, Minnie and the other mice had given up running on their wheel, and Peaches

the parrot had not talked for days. They looked pretty depressed. And then I got an idea. I got a

wonderful idea. First up, I phoned Timothy and his parents. They were happy to take Benny, our

old dog that they had an eye on, and Peaches the parrot. Thomasina happily adopted Clarisse

the cat, and the mice were all taken by the nice lady who had helped me when I was lost. One by

one, all the pets were given away to good homes. And I also managed to redecorate the shop

with the money I got from selling the old cages! When I was done, I changed the shop’s sign

from “Parker’s Pets and Supplies” to: “Parker’s Pet Supplies” Now to sit back, relax, and get

grounded. For the rest of my life.

Epilogue

“Come on, Gingerbread,” Caselynn smiled as she watched her new kitten. “You can do it, you

can catch the rubber mousie!” She dangled the toy in front of the cats face, taunting her.

It had been three months since Casey had drastically changed her family’s business, and they

were slowly getting used to it. She had kept Gingerbread, the only one who, surprisingly, had not

been sold. Casey giggled as Gingerbread flopped on her belly in an effort to catch the mouse.

The shop bell tinkled, and Casey got up to see who had entered.

“Hi Timothy!”

Tim, clutching a note in his hand, ran towards her, looking excited.

“Oh my gosh Casey, I just talked to your parents! Look how many orders you guys have!”

Casey examined the note, turning it over to reveal her mother’s rather sloppy writing.

“Oh my goodness….”

“I know,” Timothy grinned. “Pretty awesome, isn’t it? It was an excellent idea starting that

website, Casey.” A week ago, Caselynn had started a website for the family’s new pet supply

shop. It had increased the business quite a bit.

Later that night, after feeding the guinea pigs, Casey started thinking about the things her aunt

had said while she was “taking care” of her. How she had been so delighted when the animals

had escaped, so disappointed when Casey brought them back.

Sitting there by herself, Caselynn Annabelle Parker could not hold back her laughter.

Aunt Cindy had been right all along.