Читать книгу Maggie and the Pink Rat - Märt Saar - Страница 4

Maggie showed the Pink Rat to her parents in the morning, when they were in the kitchen. Mom was drinking coffee and Dad was making porridge.

“Look what I got!” Maggie beamed.

“What is that?” Dad asked. He seemed not to notice the sticky drips from his spoon that were falling the floor.

“It’s my new pet, Pink Rat,” explained Maggie and pet the animal. It had buried its snout under her arm. It seemed to be afraid of her parents.

Now Mom chimed in: “Where did you get that? Did someone give it to you?”

“Erik the Elf gave it to me. It’s straight from Santa Yugo.” Her eyes shone with joy.

But her parents didn’t appear to be very convinced. They had more questions. And they did not want to even hear about, let alone believe, any stories about elves or that this was a real live animal.

“But look! It’s breathing! Here, see its tummy! It's going in and out! And feel how warm it is!” explained Maggie.

“Maggie, sweetie,” said Dad, and laid his hand on her head. Another glob of porridge dripped off the spoon, this time landing on Dad’s sock. “No real animal looks like that. We understand how much you want a pet but I’m sorry, we can’t do it. We’ve told you over and over.”

“Dad! It is a real animal. It’s breathing! It was in my drawer and scratching with its nails. I know it. I heard!”

Dad and Mom exchanged a look, as if forming a secret pact to let their daughter believe whatever she wished, and returned to their activities. But Maggie saw it all, and what aggravated her most was how her parents had smiled at each other. As if she were just some naïve child.

“Anyway. It’s Pink Rat and from now on it’ll be in my room,” Maggie replied and took the animal back to her bedroom.