Aya, 9, Brookline, MA
Elaine pet Crumble. How much longer could she keep him hidden in that old shoe box without him being discovered? She could feed him, but it had been hard lately to sneak the leftovers up into the attic; and plus, Uncle Denver was coming in two days and would have to sleep there.
Luckily, Crumble could eat almost anything, being a rat, Elaine thought.
And first you might want to know how this pet got here.
One cold day Elaine had been outside playing. Then she had seen a poor rat stuck in the old elm tree in her backyard.
She brought him inside, to her mother, Violet and Trevor’s disgust. (“A rat, Rascal!?” Trevor had said. “Get it away!” her mother had yelled).
But Elaine still felt sorry for it; she had secretly put it away in her pocket.
At dinner, they had had chicken stew and bread. And for dessert there was apple crumble. But when dessert came, Elaine didn’t know that the rat had escaped INTO the crumble.
When Violet started to eat a piece, the rat had scrambled out! Violet had gone crazy and had rushed to her room.
Her mother stared at Elaine and madly asked if she had kept it. Elaine lied, “no,” for a good reason, because her mother could get very angry.
Elaine supposedly “disposed” of the naughty critter, but really had kept it and named it Crumble.
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