Flashback Friday #22

How to get a guinea pig when your parents say NO

As an adult, I am a firm believer that when Mom & Dad say NO, don't keep badgering in hopes that they will change their mind. We used to tell our kids, "What part of NO don't you understand?" This story tells how I convinced my parents to change their mind without whining, moaning, pouting or any of the other excesses you usually associate with a child wanting to change a rendered decision.

One of Aunt Shelly's kids got to take the class guinea pig home when school was over. It was totally cool. I always have liked guinea pigs and would go over to Aunt Shelly's to play with it (and the assorted cousins therewith).

One day Aunt Shelly had enough of the noise & smell associated with guinea pigs and she told her son that he had to get rid of it. When I heard that, I asked my parents if I could have it. They told me no.

The next day when my folks came home from work, I called Dad upstairs because I wanted to show him something. When he got upstairs, he couldn't believe what he saw. I had laid a blanket on the floor and was laying on it petting a rat that I had caught outside. "Since you wouldn't let me have the guinea pig, I figured I would catch something else that was cuddly and furry." I told him.

He yelled downstairs for Mom to call Aunt Shelly and tell her that we would take the guinea pig. He told me to put the rat back in the shoebox that I had caught him in and go with Mom to pick up the guinea pig. He said he would let the rat out while we were gone (I'm confident that he killed it).

I don't remember what my cousin called it, but I named it "Whooper". He was dark brown and had short hair. Peanut didn't like him at all, but I did.