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Here I am, sitting in my second grade classroom, watching the clock move way too slowly towards two-thirty when the school bell will ring.
As I see it, I have a few options. One, I could continue to stare at the clock. But nothing is more boring than staring at a slow-moving clock. I bet even staring at a fast-moving clock would become boring after a while. Two, I could pay attention to Mrs. Tierney, my teacher. But then I would have to figure out what she’s talking about. Three, I could daydream. I could become a time-traveling ninja robot sent by my dragon overlord from 15,000 years in the future to find all the marshmallows in an unsuspecting wasteland.
Four, I could...
“Warren! Would you like to answer?” Mrs. Tierney asks. Mrs. Tierney is nice, but she’s always interrupting my day by asking questions.
“Four?” I guess. I do not know what I am guessing.
“Why, yes,” she says, looking surprised.
I smile back as though I am not surprised. Alison, a girl with curly red hair who sits next to me in class, is not smiling. In fact, she looks kind of angry.
“Did you totally guess that?” Alison asks.
“Yes,” I say.
Alison looks madder now, even though I was just being honest.
“Congratulations, Warren,” Mrs. Tierney says. “You’ve won the next turn to bring Chewy home for the weekend.”
“Great!” I say. I do not say I have no idea who Chewy is.
“You’re so lucky,” Alison groans. “I still haven’t had a chance to take Chewy home. He’s sooo cute.”
“He’s not a stuffed teddy bear, is he?” I ask. Dragon, my pet dragon who is stuck at home, doesn’t like stuffed teddy bears. He says they just pretend to be cute and cuddly but secretly plan to take over the world and outlaw s’mores. He gets a little crazy whenever he sees one.
Alison’s eyes open wide. “He’s the class pet! You know, Chewy. The hamster,” she says, and points to the back of the room.
I turn around to look. How about that. There’s a hamster there in a cage.
“I have to take him home for a whole weekend?” I ask.
Weekends are the best time of the week. There’s no school, no homework, and no interruptions by Mrs. Tierney. And I have this weekend all planned out. My friend Michael, who is also my next-door neighbor, said he wished we had a way to trade snacks after bedtime. Michael has great snacks like chocolate-covered bananas and jalapeño chips that would totally hit the spot right when I’m supposed to be sleeping.
I suggested building an invisible ramp between our windows. Surprisingly, we couldn’t figure out a way to make a ramp invisible, so we decided to just make a regular ramp and hope people don’t notice. “People” includes my parents, my sister, Ellie, Michael’s two moms, his little sister, Addie, and Michael’s big brother, Jayden. We’re supposed to work on it this weekend, but if I have to spend the weekend taking care of Chewy, who knows if I’ll have time.
“You get to take him home,” Alison says. “Everyone’s parents had to sign a form that it’s okay. I wonder when it’ll be my turn.”
“Maybe you should study more so you can get the right answer next time,” I suggest.
“But you said you guessed the answer!” Alison says.
“Yeah, but guessing is hard work,” I reply.
Even Alison’s curls look like they’re mad at me now. I decide not to ask if she wants to come over and help me clean out Chewy’s cage over the weekend.
The school bell rings, and everyone starts to pack up.
“You’re going to feed him enough, right?” Alison asks. She doesn’t sound mad anymore. She sounds worried.
“Of course,” I say, and go to my cubby to get my jacket.
“And keep him clean and safe?” Alison adds as she follows me.
“Sure.”
“And happy?”
“Why are you so worried I won’t take good care of Chewy?” I ask as I get in the line to leave.
“Because he’s still in the back of the room!” Alison says.
“Oh, yeah,” I say.
I walk over and lift up Chewy’s cage. It’s not as heavy as it looks.
Chewy’s eating a few food pellets in fast little bites like he’s never going to get another meal.
“He’s not that cute,” I say.
“No one is cute when they eat,” Alison replies.
I think about Dragon. He’s not very cute in a cuddly way but he’s still the best pet you could ever have. He knows how to joust, he plays soccer the real way (getting as muddy as possible without worrying about scoring goals), he likes to go camping, and he can even talk.
No one besides me ever notices Dragon talk, or walk, or do anything really, but he never seems to mind.
If Alison saw me take care of Dragon, she wouldn’t be worried about Chewy. I keep Dragon very well fed. I make sure he doesn’t take too many disgusting baths. And so far I’ve only left him behind in another time dimension once, and that was a total accident.
“Do you think Chewy can do any tricks?” I ask.
“Like what?” Alison asks.
“Roast marshmallows before gulping them down?”
“Of course he can’t do that!”
“Can he build a ninja maze?”
“He’s a hamster, Warren.”
“Can he at least find his own way back if he gets accidentally left behind during time travel?”
Alison shakes her head.
“Then what’s the point of having a hamster as a pet?” I ask.
Alison stares at me as I go to stand in line with the cage. She obviously doesn’t know either.