His eyes were wide, and he was smiling at a tiny jellyfish, his finger on the glass, pointing at it. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
It was cute, a pink jellyfish floating alone in its own tank. You could keep one as a pet? I supposed if it sat in a tank all day, maybe it was easy to take care of. “Are jellyfish a lot of work?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never had one. Actually, I haven’t ever thought of taking something home.”
He seemed to be familiar with the pet store but he hadn’t considered owning a pet? I wondered if he liked animals, why he never got a puppy or a cat. Would North not like it if he got one?
“I don’t think my parents would have let me,” I said. “My sister and I found a stray cat once when playing in the yard, but we were told to leave it outside and it was gone the next day.”
Luke turned to me and smiled. “You could have one now, you know.”
A cat? No, not without at least asking Nathan. I wasn’t so sure he’d want one. I assumed if he did, he’d have one already. “You could, too,” I said.
He opened his mouth to reply, when we heard talking near the cashier area. At first it was just distracting but when Luke went to say something again, the voices sounded angry, mostly cursing.
I turned away from them, staring at the jellyfish, not wishing to interfere.
Luke turned toward the voices, and squinted his eyes, checking out the scene. “I wonder if the lady needs any help.”
This caused me to turn. There was a woman behind the cashier’s counter, her eyes narrowed, lips twisted into a frown. A couple of guys were standing in front of her counter, with red blotchy faces. They were looking at each other, holding onto their wallets.
“You’ve got to have enough money,” one of the men said to the other. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Tell me you have enough.”
His friend opened his wallet wider, like he’d see more money inside if he just unfolded it all the way. “You didn’t tell me a skunk costs three hundred bucks. We should just go find one out in the woods.”
“For fuck’s sake,” the first man said. He held open his wallet again. “We need an ATM.”
“There might be one at the corner store across the street,” the woman behind the counter said tightly. She had on a uniform work shirt and slacks. Her face was red and she was biting her lip, nervous or maybe to stop herself from saying something.
“There might have been one back at the bar,” one of the men said. He nudged his friend. “Let’s go get more money. Then we can take the skunk and scare the shit out of your wife.”
“She’ll shoot it, most likely. She’ll finally get some use out of that .22 I got for her. It’ll be hilarious.” The men walked out of the store, laughing and talking.
“Hmm,” Luke said with a frown.
The woman was shaking her head as she watched the men leaving. She wiped her hand across the counter, and then looked at the phone on the desk, before she picked it up slowly and then put the receiver back in the cradle.
Luke walked away from me and approached the counter. I had a sinking feeling but I was also wondering how the men were buying a skunk from a pet store. Skunks weren’t pets.
“Excuse me,” Luke said as he approached. I followed him, wanting to stay close. “Were they going to buy a skunk? Did I hear that right, or were they too drunk to realize it’s a cat?”
The woman frowned. “It’s a skunk. But I don’t want to sell it to them for a prank, though I don’t know if I could get away with refusing to sell it. I don’t own the store.”
“Where is it?” Luke asked.
The woman pointed toward the back of the store. “The boss wanted me to move him to the front, but it scares a lot of parents. He’s back with the exotic pets.”
I followed Luke to the back of the store. There were other crates for dogs and cats. Some of the dogs barked as we passed, but most of the animals were sleeping.
Near the very back was a circular pen, open at the top.
Inside was a black and white skunk, waddling around as it played with a little plastic ball. It grabbed the ball, holding onto it and dragged it backward toward a bed.
The woman came up next to us as we watched it. “It’s trying to take it back to the nest,” she said. “I should give it a dog house, so it’ll feel comfortable.”
“I didn’t know skunks made good pets,” Luke said.
“They are legal to keep here, but require a bit more work. They’ll take things from around the house, and you have to watch them around wiring and small objects.”
“Is it going to bite though? I didn’t know they were really tamable.”
“It’s cuddly, like a cat. But you can train it a bit like a dog. It’s too domesticated to just dump in the woods.”
“Can I pick it up?” Luke asked.
“Sure. He’s friendly.”
Luke bent over, snapped his fingers a few times, and then whistled. “Here, kitty kitty.”
I smiled at Luke pretending it was a cat.
The skunk perked up his ears, spotted Luke’s hand, and raced over, stopping just short of it. It sniffed at him carefully.
Luke bent forward, scooping it up in both hands, and cuddled it in his arm. Luke turned toward me so I could see it. It had a chunky belly, and small black arms. The white along its back and tail were very pretty.
I slowly reached out for it, petting the fur, keeping my hand away from its mouth and claws.
It seemed okay with my touch, until it reached out and a little hand held onto one of my fingers. Its big brown eyes appeared doleful. I wondered if it was really happy to be in that pen.
“He’s like a fat cat with hands,” Luke said, pulling him close to cuddle against his chest.
“Kind of like a cat,” the lady said. “But they get into stuff. They’ll steal your keys. They are a little better than a raccoon, though. And they’ll use a litter box.”
“And it won’t spray?” Luke asked.
“Scent glands were removed,” she said. “There might still be a bit of musk smell, but if you bathe him enough, you may not notice it. No worse than ferrets. And he’s neutered so you don’t have to worry about him wanting to run off and make little babies. They don’t have a rabies shot for them, so you have to keep a close eye on him and not let him get close to any other animals. Don’t count on taking him with you out of the country.”
I felt sorry for the skunk. It did seem like a lot of responsibility. “Those men will be back to take him soon.” I
didn’t want to be there if they came back and were upset, thinking we were interfering.
“I hope they don’t come back,” the woman said. “They’ll just be back in a week demanding a refund, if they don’t set him loose. Or shoot him like they were joking about. You shouldn’t buy pets as a joke.”
“No,” Luke said, turning to her. “You shouldn’t. Say, what do skunks eat?”
She smiled a little. “You really want to know?”
“And how much does a skunk cost? It was three hundred, wasn’t it?” His eyes were clear, determined. He glanced at the door of the pet shop and then at the skunk in his arms, its eyes actually starting to close like it was falling asleep. “Sang, I hope you like skunks.”
My heart raced. It was really cute, but then, we were talking about buying it out from under those men. Should we dare? “Luke?” I said quietly. “They could be back any second.”
“Is it okay if she takes him out of the store?” Luke asked. “I don’t want her here when they get back. We can tell them someone else bought it while we figure out what I need.”
“I won’t tell if you won’t,” the woman said, then turned to me. “He might stay in a pouch, sweetie. I can let you borrow something that will work.”
“We’ll just buy it,” he said. “That’ll make it easier.”
My heart was going so fast; I couldn’t believe we were being so impulsive and the woman was helping us. A skunk!
I kept looking at the door, waiting to see if the men came back in. Would they be very angry if I was walking out with the skunk they wanted?
Luke held onto the skunk while we followed the clerk to a selection of bags meant to hold pets. The woman handed me something like a book bag that you wear on the front. I put it on and Luke gently placed the skunk inside. “There,” he said. “Hold it like a baby.”
I’d never held a baby before. I supported the skunk as best as I could by wrapping my arms around the harness.
The skunk popped his head out the top, but settled in, seeming comfortable for the moment.
The woman ripped off the price tag. “I’ll just hold on to this,” she said.