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New pet

"What if we call him fluffy?" asked Lena in her sweet five-year-old voice.

"That's such a cliche name for a pet," snapped back Rachel, who had recently learned the word cliche in her fifth grade English class and was eager to use it. "We need something more original."

Lena, who did not know what cliche meant, but could tell from Rachel's tone that it was bad, put her finger to her chin so she could pretend to think it over. "Okay...what about Spot?"

"Still boring," huffed Rachel.

"What about Lena?" Lena suggested with a bright smile.

"No."

Lena crossed her arms and pouted, "You're just saying no. You need to say an idea."

"What about Basilisk? That's the name of a creature in Harry Potter." Rachel was quite proud of this idea.

"Mom says I'm not allowed to read those for another year."

"So?"

"So I don't wanna pet named after something I can't read."

"That eliminates so many things though," whined Rachel in the way only a preteen can whine.

"You got to say no to names, so I'm gonna too." Lena emphasized her crossed arms and pout as she said this.

"How about Orion? That's the name of a constellation." Rachel had also recently been learning about the constellations and their mythology in class.

"What's a constellation?"

"It's a group of stars that make a certain shape in the sky. Orion is the hunter."

"I don't like hunters. They kill animals. We shouldn't name an animal after an animal killer."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Fiiine. I think it's your turn to come up with an idea."

"Um what about kitty?"

"Why on Earth would we name our pet kitty?"

"Lots of pets are named kitty," pouted Lena. "Kitty is a cute name."

Rachel rolled her eyes again.

"Fine. What about Scooby? You still like Scooby-Doo."

"Do not," deflected Rachel, "that's a show for babies."

"You have the show on your iPad," said Lena confusedly.

"What?! How did you know that?!"

"It's where Mom let's me watch." Lena was somewhat gleeful to have irked Rachel.

"Well, don't tell anyone that," Rachel said, crossing her arms indignantly.

"So...no to Scooby?"

"No to Scooby."

"I think it's your turn again," sighed Lena.

"What about a dignified name like Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex?" Rachel had been developing a crush on the royal of late.

"That's too long. No one is every going to want to say that whole name."

"What about that guy Dad is always talking to Mom about. Montaigne? That sounds dignified."

"Mom doesn't seem to like Momtame very much," Lena said, trying her best to pronounce the name. "I want his name to be something cute like he is."

"He is cute," sighed Rachel, for once in agreement with her little sister. "I'm tapped out right now though...you have any other ideas?"

"What about Elmo?" suggested Lena after a long pause.

Rachel's eyes lit up. "Yes, but only if we can say it's short for St. Elmo's Fire."

"...can I just call him Elmo?"

"Sure," smiled Rachel, "but I'm going to call him St. Elmo's Fire."

"Deal!" Lena stuck out her hand to shake Rachel's. The two shook on the new name for their pet.

"Now, let's get St. Elmo's Fire out of his cage so we can go scare Dad," whispered Rachel, lifting their pet python out of its age.

The two sisters ran upstairs and placed the snake in their parents' bed. When their Dad went in to take his afternoon nap he yelled, "HOLY SHIT! WHAT IS THAT?"

The sisters giggled and yelled from their hiding place in the hall, "Elmo!"

(Prompt by Kimisha Cassidy)

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