Another hour, another state. Me and my family were traveling across country to pick up a new exotic pet from a shelter in Tuttle, Oklahoma. As we rode in my dad’s work Tahoe, I couldn’t stop thinking about the moment that the brand-new animal would enter our lives. We were all looking forward to it, but I knew that my mom was anticipating the moment more than any one of us, including myself. I can still remember the day that we had first set eyes on the wonderful creature. Me and my mom were just sitting down, flipping through the pages of the Wild Life Explorer when we came across an article about the Fennec fox: a beautiful, wild African desert fox. My mother instantly fell in love with the idea of owning one and sought to make her fantasy become reality. So, over the course of the next few months, she had dug up as much research as she could covering the subject. She figured up the feeding costs, planned out the sleeping area, prepared the house to house and accept the new-comer (“fox-proofing”, she called it). She searched for fox breeders within the U.S., and when she came across the “Zoo to You” program and saw that they were willing to sell, she leapt at the opportunity and purchased a little baby fox in Oklahoma. The down side (aside from the absurd cost, that is): we were required to drive there and pick it up. However, this was a simple delay to my mom, and she new that it would be worth it in the end, for she would have in her possession, as she worded it, “The cutest little thing I’ve ever seen!”
And now, we were on our way, a 10-hour round-trip, to bring home the beauty, and she felt she could hardly wait any longer.
Almost 4 hours had passed, and we stopped for fuel at a Citgo gas station. My little sister raced inside for a bathroom break, screaming, “Gotta go wee-wee!” while my little brother, only barely able to walk, followed close behind, waddling as fast as his little legs could carry him, his hand in my mom’s. I myself took the time to ponder what changes would be brought about with the introduction of a new pet. Would we have to place puppy pads around the house for it to potty on? Or, perhaps, purchase a litter box like a cat? Would the dogs have a tag-along buddy when they ventured into the back yard? Or, would they not even like having him around and mistreat him as if he were some sort of pest?
Interrupting my reverie of thought came the voice of my dad, speaking directly to me.
“Alrighty, we’re all fueled up and ready to go. Now, we’ve just got to wait on the rest of the gang and then we can load up and hit the road again.” As if on que, my mom and two younger siblings came strutting through the door, my brother looking overjoyed at the thought of riding in the Tahoe again.
One final hour of distance covered, and we found ourselves pulling into the drive-way of a beautiful work of architecture, massive in comparison to our own little cottage. I knew in an instant that this must be the destination we were attempting to reach, for the spacious structure seemed ideal for housing numerous wild creatures.
And indeed, it did, as the first thing to greet us on the other side of the door was, much to our surprise, a baby kangaroo in a diaper. It wasn’t until I looked up from the kangaroo that I noticed the owner, whom had answered the door.
I knew that she had to be the owner of the place, as she was dressed in a safari-type outfit, making her look like she was a zoologist on duty in an orangutan exhibit. She invited us in with a warm, friendly smile, and before we knew it, we were surrounded the most exotic of house pets imaginable.
Pacing back and forth in its cage was a jaguar stationed in the middle of the living room floor; to our right was a stack of little houses with various breeds of birds inside; to our left was a room of which the contents inside I did not know, but from the sound of it, it contained several more feathered and furry friends. As my parents took pictures holding the little kangaroo, I decided to venture into the room of mystery and discover what wonders lay within.
Inside, I saw, as I had expected, many more exotic creatures. I decided to stop and examine each end every one of them, as I knew that this might be the first and last chance I ever got to view them this close-up. One creature, the ring-tailed lemur, was of particular interest to me, and so I leaned closer to get a better look. It had moved to the back of its cage, its bulbous eyes staring into my own. Little did I know that it was surging up for a leap, and “Slash!” In the blink of an eye, the small but apparently viscous creature had imprinted three small claw-mark scratches into my forehead. I backed away, dazed out a wave of surprise. Deciding it best to just ignore this brief but memorable event, I pressed on to gaze at the rest of the animals.
I saw monkeys, parrots, toucans, and… wait, were those what I thought they were? Yes, being held in the little dens in the back corner were more fennec foxes; I counted two, both adults, who I suspected might be the parents of the kit we were here to collect. Just then, my mom called me back to the living room entrance.
It took me a moment to realize what she was holding, but once I did, my heart melted in my chest. In here arms was a miniature version of the foxes I had seen in the other room. However, it wasn’t until another moment later that I realized that that fox belonged to us.
“What are you going to call it?” I asked my mom.
“I think that we’ll call him… Camo.”
About the Creator
~Awakened~
Silence. Ego can be one's downfall, as well as a wall that must be broken down to breach the fifth dimension. This, you must remember in the times to come.
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