Fluffy(Martha Spring) Some things we never forget... It was the very last day of Summer, that for me and other kids meant we were going back to school the next day. I was sitting on a bench in front of our five story apartment building surrounded by neighborhood kids looking at one thing - there was a little white animal comfortably sitting on my lap. With both of my hands around the small fluffy warm body and my fingers drowning in the white soft silky fur I could feel tiny heart beat echoing in my palms. The animal's body was a bit warmer than my hands, but the pink nose, pink paws, and pink ears were cooler. I was glad to see so many of my friends and neighbors around me because they were the very reason I went outside - I was trying to show off by showing them my new pet I got a couple of days before. I knew it was working because all of the kids stopped playing their games and gathered around me to ask a lot of questions.
"Is this a rat?" a boy asked.
"No, this is a guinea pig. See, it has no tail."
"Is it a boy or a girl?" one girl asked.
"My father says it's a girl."
"What is her name?"
"Her name is Fluffy."
"Why is she so white and her eyes are so red?"
"Because, as my father says, she is an albino."
"What does she eat?" "How old is she?" "Does she bite?" "Is she going to grow bigger?" "Is she going to change color?"

So many questions, but I didn't get enough time to answer them all and to enjoy my moment of being important, being in the spotlight. The front door of our building opened and two figures appeared on the porch. One of them was my next door neighbor Michael, a boy five years older, not one of my friends but also not one of my foes. Right behind him walked his best friend, a German Shepard named Gaida. I liked the dog because, despite being very big, Gaida was always friendly with me, wagging her tail every time she saw me. I was glad Michael and Gaida were going to see my new pet too, but my joy was short lived.

Still looking at Michael, I felt how the little body in my hands became tense and before I could understand what was going on I felt Fluffy's claws painfully scratching me. Not able to withstand the pain I opened my hands. Fluffy jumped down on the grass and sprinted away. Gaida was trying to run after her but since she was on the leash she couldn't go too far. Me and a couple of other girls ran after Fluffy trying to catch her but it was not an easy task. Fluffy knew how to play this game well. She wasn't running in a straight line as I expected, she was constantly changing direction and did it so fast that I got an instant headache by trying to watch her. We were hunting Fluffy for a couple of minutes before one of the girls caught her and gave her to me. By that time, laughing, Michael and Gaida were already walking away.

There I was, sitting on the bench again with a little white animal on my lap. Fluffy's whole body was shaking so much that my legs were shaking with her. She was hot, and even her little ears and paws were hot and not pink anymore but red. I tried to move my fingers closer to her body under the fur but I couldn't because her fur wasn't fluffy as before, instead it became dense. With the fur so tight to the body Fluffy looked smaller, which did not go unnoticed by the kids.
"Look, she got scared so much that she lost some weight!" one boy laughed.
"I'm not sure I'd want to have such a cowardly pet." said another.

Worrying about Fluffy I wasn't paying any attention to them. I was just scratching her behind the ears in the places where I knew she liked it so much. As I did that, she became more and more relaxed, her fur got back to normal, her ears and paws became pink again, her heartbeat became slower, and her body cooled down. She was relaxed now, but one thing continued to worry me - her belly remained very hot and I could feel how hot it was even through my leggings and skirt. Something was wrong with Fluffy. In the two days that I'd had her I never felt her belly get so extremely hot. And then, the most embarrassing thing happened...

Fluffy peed on me! I could feel my hands, my skirt, and my leggings getting wet. By the time I realized what was happening and jumped up from the bench holding Fluffy away, it was too late. My skirt was wet in the most embarrassing place and everybody was laughing at me and my pet who was still peeing as I was holding her in my hands. How embarrassing! I ran home as fast as I could thinking about how I was going to go to school the next day where everybody was going to laugh at me.

Time passes... But some things we never forget...

The End

---