Exotic Pets

Last Sunday during a walk at the park, I saw something that will take me days to forget.

Along the tree-lined path, I saw a young fellow coming toward me on the opposite side of the road. When he was close by, I saw him holding a black and white mouse in the tiny cage he had in his hands. Instantly, I thought it’s so cool that on a sweltering day someone was taking his furry pet for a walk in the park. And said to him: “Wow, you have a rat!” Surprisingly, my friendly comment prompted an equally friendly reply. But I was at the loss in the first few seconds as to what this young person was trying to tell me when he said to me that “this one in the front feeds the one in the back.” Not until we passed by each others on the paved track, I saw something like dried tree branches sticking out from a backpack this young man had on. But this brownish colored deadwood as thick as a man’s wrist was moving. It has a head and was slithering and weaving out from the deep pocket of the backpack behind his owner’s head!

This time I was blessed being ignorant. I did not get panic at what I did not ‘see’. However, this unusual sighting at the park had made me wonder once again why someone would keep an exotic animal like a four-foot python for a pet! And that poor rat! - Ayee