It was a nice, quiet afternoon, and Tabby was enjoying herself at the Satin Slipper Sweet
Shoppe, having a strawberry sundae, when suddenly Scoops called to her from behind the
counter.
"Tabby! I just got an emergency call! They need you! There's a hurt animal!"
Tabby jumped up from her seat. "Where is it?" she asked. "I'll get out there right
away."
"On the path to the Dark Forest," Scoops said. "Better hurry; Trickles, the one who
called, said there's blood everywhere!"
Tabby ran out of the Satin Slipper Sweet Shoppe and headed towards the scene of the
accident. When she got there, she surveyed the scene. She saw absolutely no blood. Actually,
she didn't see anything. Just Trickles standing off to one side of the path.
"Oh, Tabby, you're here!" said Trickles, relieved. "It's just horrible! I think he has a
broken leg!" A tear trickled down her cheek.
"So where is it?" Tabby asked. She still didn't see anything besides Trickles.
"Right here," Trickles pointed her hoof towards a place on the ground.
Tabby finally saw what it was. A tarantula. She sighed. Spiders she did not especially
like. But she looked the tarantula over and found that he did, indeed, have a broken leg.
"How did it happen?" she asked Trickles.
"I was just walking along, and I stepped on something, and I looked down, and there he
was!" Trickles explained. "Oh, he'll be all right, won't he?"
"Perfectly all right," Tabby assured her.
"That's wonderful! I'd hate to think that I'd killed the poor thing!" Trickles
exclaimed.
"I'll take him back to the clinic now and put a splint on his leg," Tabby said. "Thanks
for reporting him."
"I'm just glad he'll be okay!" Trickles said.
* * *
The next day, Tabby was at her clinic checking on the tarantula. "Ya know, they really
aren't that bad once you get to know them," she thought to herself. "I wonder what your name
is?" Suddenly she realized she didn't know who the owner was. "I'll have to put an ad in the
paper!" She rushed off to place the ad.
* * *
Later that day, after the paper was out, Tabby was still at her clinic, waiting for the
phone
to ring in response to her ad. Just when she started to get bored, it did ring. She snatched up the
receiver.
"Hello, I saw your ad in the paper about finding a lost tarantula?"
Tabby groaned. She recognized that voice in an instant. Tex. "You have a pet
tarantula?" she said, disbelievingly.
"Yeah, the one you found must be mine. I lost him yesterday when I was out walking,"
Tex said.
"You take him walking with you?" Tabby screeched.
"He rides on my back all the time," Tex explained. "And his name is Emilio."
"You're supposed to keep tarantulas in cages or something!!!" Tabby argued.
"I tried that. He doesn't like cages."
"Then let him run around loose!" Tabby knew that wasn't a good idea, but she just
enjoyed arguing so much.
"Someone might step on him."
Tabby threw up her hooves in despair. "He got stepped on anyway!! And anyway,
no one goes around with a tarantula on their back!!"
"I find it very relaxing," Tex said.
Tabby shook her head and sighed. "Why not just buy him a nice cage and keep him in
it?
He seems perfectly content in the one I have him in now."
"Maybe if I used a leash," Tex mused.
"Just use a cage!" Tabby exclaimed.
"Yes, I think I'll try a leash," Tex decided.
"Of all the stupid things," Tabby muttered. "Listen, why don't you just come in and take
the thing home??"
"Fine, I'll be right there," Tex said, hanging up the phone.
* * *
A little while later, Tex had gotten to the clinic, and had taken Emilio out of the cage
and
put him on a leash.
"He looks happy on a leash," Tex commented.
"He'd be happier in a cage," Tabby contradicted. "But just leave, would you? You're
probably scaring off everyone else."
As Tex and Emilio walked out the door, Tabby sighed. You know what? I think I'm
really gonna miss that little tarantula.