Mike's Exotics I had already been driving when my little brother Nicky said, "I wanna go to Mike's Exotics." The sun had been out, our lunch pleasant. He had almost seemed to blurt it out, telling me, "Just to look," as an afterthought. As if he was trying to reassure me. I couldn't deny him something like that though. It was hard to deny him anything really, so I made a left turn, taking the aux cord and tucking it into my seat when I saw him reaching for it. "You are not playing anime themes in my car for the fifth time this week." I was half joking, but I had to draw the line somewhere after all. He played with the radio dial instead, trying to find the right song that wasn't really the right song, glaring at the radio when he really wanted to glare at me. His smallish hand didn't leave the dial until he found a metal track, sitting back as I kept driving. The streets changed as I drove, from nice restaurants and clothing stores to pizza and burger joints, and finally to tattoo parlors and piercing shops. It was natural for Mike's Exotic to be in this area, what with what people thought of exotic pets. The key was to find the place. Sure, the sign was hard to miss, but I had never driven there from Luigi's before. It had been my idea to go somewhere nice, to take our minds off of things. Not to mention that their shrimp and leek ravioli was fantastic. But it seemed I had failed in my mission, if the fact we were going to the pet store was any indication. You see, Nicky only asked to go to Mike's when he was upset. Our father started the habit when Nicky was small and I was old enough to cheer myself up, taking him to see the funny ferrets and other critters to make him happy. Our mother thought that it was bad for Nicky, thought it would start an animal hoarding problem when he was older, but he never did ask for anything, and it cost nothing, so she never stopped it. Last year though, when our parents died, I had to take Nicky to the store after school every day. Eventually, he only asked to go about once a week, then, he didn't ask to go at all until today, the anniversary that it happened It was as unavoidable as it was unexpected, the accident. A truck ran a red light, and the next thing I knew, the police called me at work, telling me I was an orphan now and would I please pick my brother up from school and take him in. When I finally found Mike's and parked, Nicky didn't so much as jump out of the car as run out of it. He got into the store before I could even pull the key out of the ignition. Walking in, I saw Mike was already showing Nicky a little chameleon. I could hear him tell Nicky, "Go ahead, stick your hand out, he'll climb right onto it." And I smiled as some light came into Nicky's eyes, seeing the chameleon change colors and investigate him. Mike himself was an older man, balding, short, with a love for weirder animals, and had been in business for forty years. He probably wouldn't retire for a while though, and I asked him, "How you been feeling Mike?" Mike smiled and told me, "I'm feeling pretty good, and I'm glad you're here actually, there's something I wanna talk to you about while Nicky's busy." "Oh, what would that be?" Usually when I needed to speak to someone, I let Nicky listen in unless it was something he really shouldn't, and Mike knew that. Mike then asked me, "Jolene, I know he's doing better, and that's great, but I could tell from the last time he was here, he's gonna be having a rough time for a while. I think Nicky needs something to really show him that nothing’s ever gonna be the same, but that it's gonna be ok." "And what would that be?" I asked, my eyes drifting to that chameleon Nicky was still playing with. I didn't like where this was going, and told him, "Look, that thing's too delicate. It needs all sorts of humidity and habitat requirements, and I just can't do that." Mike just laughed a little bit at that, telling me, "No, no! Not the chameleon. He's already been bought! He's just being held until I can put the enclosure into the customer's house. No, no, I'm talking about ferrets, Jolene. You know how much he loves those little guys." I definitely had enough room for ferrets. I told him, "Well, if Nicky is allowed to play with these ferrets, he can definitely take them home. He could use something nice around the apartment after all." In the end, Nicky went nuts for the ferrets, a pair from the same litter. It was the happiest I saw him all year as the little cat snakes sniffed him and licked his face. He practically screamed in joy when I told him he could keep them, telling me, "Thank you! Thank you! I'll take good care of them!" While he was playing with the ferrets, I asked Mike, "How much for them?" But he just shook his head and told me, "They're free. The breeder said they were a surprise litter anyways." But I knew that wasn't true, you didn't see beautiful cinnamon ferrets like that often. But I didn't say anything. Nicky and I just went home with the cage and plenty of ferret food. And I knew he would be alright.
copyright Sam Garcia 2024 |