Wednesday, July 19, 2006

PET SITTER SOUP

Grandma served as pet sitter for her small granddaughter’s guinea pig only after ascertaining that the coloration of the guinea pig was fairly common. That’s in case it kicked the bucket while under her care and she had to rush out to every pet store in town to find a dead ringer; otherwise the kid might be scarred for life by the tragedy of premature furry demise.

Everything seemed to be in order for the pet-sitting job, including a full page of instructions in formal script type befitting the solemnity of the task at hand.

But one thing went wrong: the heavy, 30-gallon aquarium that was the guinea pig’s domain had been placed on a table in the spare room. The edges were mighty high off the ground. But the guinea pig’s owners were long gone by the time the diminutive grandma tried to feed it and clean its W.C.

She could dump the alfalfa, gourmet seeds, and little orange wedge in there all right, but she couldn’t reach her arm inside deeply enough to clean up the leavings. It wouldn’t do, at her age, to stand on a stepstool and risk a fall.

So she used her heirloom soup ladle – the only tool with a long enough handle to do the job.

She made sure to emphasize this ingenuity when the guinea pig’s owners arrived home, adding coyly, “Oh, and I’ve made some soup to send home with you, too.”

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