Yippee and Dino Series – Part 8

Dino chooses a pet

That Saturday morning Yippee and Dino were up even before Mamma and Papa. They quickly got ready and waited patiently – at least for a bit, for Mamma and Papa to wake up.

But when they realized that Mamma and Papa were treating the weekend morning like any other weekend morning, they decided that it was time to take things in their own hands.

Both Yippee and Dino marched up to Mamma and Papa’s room and banged loudly on the door. “It is already seven in the morning, wake up”, said Yippee.

Mamma opened the door. She looked drowsy and a bit upset with Yippee for waking her up so early on a Saturday morning.

“Yippee, why are you up so early in the morning? Go back to sleep and let me sleep too”, she said.

“But Mamma we have to go and get Dino her pet”, said Yippee “Have you forgotten? How could you?” he said, a bit puzzled.

“No Yippee, I have not forgotten anything. After all this was my idea. But it is seven in the morning and we need our weekend sleep. So go back to sleep”, she said.

Hearing all the commotion, Papa too woke up. But he felt too tired to get out of the bed. Still in bed, he reasoned with Yippee. “The market doesn’t open till ten in the morning Yippee. Go back to sleep”, he said.

“But we are up and we are also ready”, said Yippee feeling a bit sad.

“Okay you guys, since I am completely awake now, let us rustle up a special weekend breakfast”, said Mamma, getting into the spirit of things.

Dino had an idea for breakfast. “Yippee, why don’t we go to that bakery and buy Bologs for breakfast?” asked Dino.

“That is a great idea. Mamma let us go to the market and get bologs for breakfast”, said Yippee, feeling that the big day was starting on the right note.

The breakfast plan kept the three busy and luckily for Papa, he managed some more sleep!

Finally it was time for Yippee and Dino to go to the pet store. They rushed in even before Mamma and Papa had managed to get out of the car.

Mr. Kind Face looked up a bit surprised. Just sometime ago Yippee had bought a pet for himself. “What is he doing in the store again?” he wondered.

“Oh! Hi Yippee!” he greeted Yippee. “Your pet is here too. I hope everything is fine” he asked a bit worried.

“Oh yes! everything is fine, Mr. Kind Face. We are here to get a pet for Dino”, said Yippee.

“A pet for your pet? Now that is a new one and a very interesting idea indeed”, said Mr. Kind Face with a smile.

“Why don’t you take Dino around to check out what she wants”, he said.

Mamma and Papa watched indulgently as Yippee and Dino looked around for a pet for Dino.

Dino looked inside one basket, which had a red panda. “Isn’t she cute”, she said to Yippee.

“Oh! So she likes the Red Panda, does she”, Mr. Kind Face asked Yippee. “Yes, she thinks he is cute!” said Yippee.

“But you need to tell her that Pandas loves climbing trees and at times Dino may not like the fact that she can climb up and sit on a tree for hours without feeling the need to come down”, said Mr. Kind Face.

Yippee quickly explained to Dino what Mr. Kind Face had said. Dino realized that the Red Panda, however cute, might not be the best pet for her. She may work out as a pet for a cat, maybe.   Dino had never taken a fancy for climbing trees.

The Panda in Red
Illustrated by Gauri Ghosal

Dino decided to move on and look inside the next basket. This basket had a beautiful lion cub. The cub softly growled and purred at the same time when Dino patted her. She had the softest and largest brown eyes that Dino had ever seen. “Isn’t she so sweet”, she said to Yippee.

“Same problem here too”, said Mr. Kind Face. “She can climb up trees and you may not find it easy to coax her down”.

Yippee asked Dino to look at the other baskets while explaining the problem to her.

The next basket had a tiny little puppy. The puppy squealed with utter delight when she saw Yippee and Dino peering into her basket. “Take me home, take me home”, she said.

 The talking dog
Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

Dino could not believe her ears. “A talking dog! This can’t be true”, she thought. She asked Yippee, “Do you hear what I do?”

“Yes, I hear the barking of the puppy”, said Yippee.

“No-no, she is talking to us. She is saying take me home! And you know what. I will”, said Dino in a determined voice having made up her mind.

“I can understand what she is saying.  She is the right pet for me”, said Dino feeling very happy.

Dino has made a choice
Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

“Hey that is great”, said Yippee. “It is just like I can understand what you say to me”, he said to Dino. Yippee completely understood Dino’s reasons for choosing the puppy over all the other options in the pet store.

“Mamma and Papa, Dino has chosen her pet. This puppy is coming home with us”, said Yippee.

“Don’t call her puppy, Yippee, her name is Bruno”, said Dino with a smile that lighted up the entire pet store.