“That’s fascinating, honestly, but you’re forgetting one crucial thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t want a pet!”

Alice sighed, shaking her head. She moved to Helena and grabbed her hand, and began pulling her toward the shop door. “Just come in and look. You might change your mind.”

Figuring this wasn’t going to be a fight she would win (not surprisingly, since in the last year or so, there were very few victories in her corner…) Helena relented and allowed herself to be dragged inside. On the way to the door, she looked toward the smaller dogs, things her mother had been very fond of. They frolicked and fought, kicking up the brown and yellow-stained, shredded newspaper. “Nasty buggers…” She muttered as she passed them by.

As the door opened, a little bell jingled, starting up the migraine Helena knew she was going to have at the end of this “adventure.” The place smelled of animal excrement and unsavory, overpriced food. The squeaky bark of playful puppies mixed with the hum of fish tank filters and the squawk of exotic birds. Helena started to turn, hoping to make a break for it, but Alice held fast, stronger than Helena had ever expected of her. “I see nothing I like, let’s go!”

“You haven’t even looked around yet.”

The store was as small inside as it looked outside. There were two divider shelves, stocked with pet supplies from the floor to near ceiling. The wall to the left held empty fish tanks and birdcages, while on the right, there was a glass wall and door to a small room where cages upon cages of puppies were stacked, one on top of the other. In the back, past puppy hell, were schools of fish, from ordinary to exotic, and at the very, very back, another glass room, sectioned into boxes, each holding one, or several birds. Finches, parrots, lovebirds, blah, blah, blah.

“Can I help you?” A less than enthusiastic voice said, and both Helena and Alice looked to their right. In the very corner, almost out of view, was the cash register, and the barely legal bored teen of which the voice belonged to.

Alice shook her head. “No. Just looking.” She pointed to Helena. “First time pet owner here.”