The Pet Shop

Bobby walked to the back of the pet shop to look at all of Mr. Jacob's pets. There were rows and rows of terrariums, aquariums, cages, and enclosures. Bobby didn't know where to start looking.

On the right of one aisle was a sleeping black cat; her shiny fur coat glistened and rose up and down as she purred in her sleep. Near the cat was a large birdcage filled with dozens of canaries in all sorts of blended colors: yellow red, orange yellow, pink white, and yellow white. And on the other side of the aisle were the fish. There were zebra danios, veritas, molly fish, guppies, tetras, goldfish, puffer fish and more.

Wide-eyed and jaw slack in admiration, Bobby slowly walked up and down the fish aisle, running his finger along the glass.

"Pssst," a voice said.

Bobby turned around, but no one was there.

"Hey you. Over here! Over here!"

Bobby turned in circles, but he still couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from.

"Heya buddy! Look down!"

Bobby looked down, but all he saw was a chameleon. He was purple, with bulging eyes wrapped in slitted eyelids and saggy skin that creased into his elbows and over his toes. His toes were slightly webbed, and he had a large mouth. He looked sassy, but also like a puppet.

"Must have been my imagination," Bobby muttered, about to walk away.

"No, no, sir. You heard me."

Bobby looked down again, and to his surprise he saw the chameleon stand on two legs and wave to him.

"My name is Carmelo. But you may call me Mel," he said as he swayed from side to side on his two back legs. He lifted his other two legs and used them as arms, stretching them upwards and moving them as he swayed; his toes were fused into groups of two and three so that his "hands" looked like tongs.

Bobby was shocked.

"Hey, boy, hey. I do a dance for you, you free me from this cage, eh? Eh? Deal?"

"You...you...can talk?" Bobby managed to sputter.

"Of course he can talk," a parrot said from across the room. He had a yellow belly and blue wings and a blue tail, and he looked indignant as he sidled up to the side of his glass cage to get a better look at Bobby. He stretched his neck up like a rubber band and then snapped it back down, as if to assert his authority. "You can talk. Why wouldn't he be able to talk?"

To be continued...