30
March
2009
Published on Trubadurs, June 2012.
I went to the pet shop looking for a puppy, but the only pet they had in stock was an old thoughtupine. It was a fairly shabby kind of pet shop. There were food pellets all over the floor, and the doors of the cages were hanging open.
‘Do you have any puppies?’ I asked the owner, who was standing by an empty fish tank with his flies undone.
‘No, I’ve only got that thoughtupine,’ he said.
‘What happened to all the other pets?’
‘They weren’t selling, so I let them out. I tried to let the thoughtupine out too, but it couldn’t make its mind up.’
‘What kind of pet is a thoughtupine?’ I asked, looking at the creature in its cage. It was covered in dust, and looking very thoughtful.
‘It’s a bit like a porcupine, but it thinks a lot. You can have it at a discount price, then I can close this place down.’
I carried the thoughtupine home in a bag, and put it on the table. It was the size of a loaf of bread, and covered in brownish quills. ...