My Pet Hilda

Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter - What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts

The Exercise - Write a composition on the subject "My Pet." The only requirement is that this must be a pet you have never owned. It can be anything from a kitten to a dinosaur, from a fly to a dragon. Describe what your pet looks like, how you acquired it, what it eats and where it sleeps, what tricks it can do and how it gets on with your family, friends, neighbors,or the people at the work.

The Objective - To expand your conception of characters and relationships.

My Pet:

When I drove up to the Petco, located in the stripmall in the big city closest to my hometown, I wasn't planning to purchase anything, but low and behold I saw Hilda. I thought, that thing looks kind of cool! I will take her! Hilda is a ball python.

Then I couldn't get her without a lot of planning first that goes into getting a snake, so it wasn't quite that simple. I am living with my sister and she had to approve. Our mother helped me talk her into the purchase. She had one when she was my age, along with a rainbow boa.

My pet is long and cute. She eats mice. One mouse a week. When my Grandma was with me when picking up a mouse, I handed her the box with the live mouse and she could hear it chewing on the inside of the box and when we got to our destination, she said, "Never again will I hold a live mouse for Hilda.

Hilda sleeps in a half coconut shell in a large enclosure. Her home has branches to climb, coco fiber substrate, and lots of hiding spots.

She doesn't have many tricks other than hiding and climbing. She really has a pea brain. She generally doesn't really pay any attention to family, friends or neighbors. When anyone ever holds her she snuggles up in their hand.

Hilda is interesting to look at and I am interested in the science of herpetology. Snakes are similar to a pet rock. Not playful, only someone to watch occasionally. It is a pain when she gets loose but other than that we live peacefully together.