A Home For Bandit: Chapter Five

                        Chapter 5: Help

  One evening, a girl was taking a leisurely stroll through the park. She walked along a trail in the woods. When she got to the playground, she decided to swing for a while.
  She had no pets, but she knew all about them. That is why, when she saw String Bean crawl out of his favorite slide, she knew precisely what he was.
  She jumped off the swing, ran up to the ferret, and lifted him up. She then walked back home with String Bean.
  “What is this!” screamed the mother of the girl. “Sarah! Is that a ferret!” “Yes, Mom, I found him all alone in the woods. His name is Coony because he has a strip of black over his eyes like a raccoon. See?” “He’s so covered in mud he looks black all over!”
  Just then the girl’s father came out to see why his wife was yelling. The child explained where she had found the ferret. Her mother said that they should take it to the animal shelter in town. “No! They’ll kill him there!” cried Sarah. “Why don’t we keep him for a month and try to find some one to take him? If we can’t find anyone, then we can take him to the shelter.” Proposed Sarah’s father.
  This seemed a satisfactory arraignment for all involved. Sarah immediately bought some things for Coony at a nearby pet store. She bought a small cage, some ferret food, some pet shampoo, and several other things. Then she commenced the first bath the ferret had had for a long time. She brushed him until he was the beautiful, clean ferret that he had once been.
  Sarah played with Coony until she had to go in and get ready for bed. “The ferret sleeps outside!” said Sarah’s mother. She muttered some things about ferrets being dirty, smelly, ferocious animals.
  Sarah locked Coony in the small cage outside. Coony thought that this was much better than living outside and having to find his own food and water. And he had his own little hammock.

The ferret looked around Sarah's yard

  Like Billy had done at first, Sarah spent all of her spare time with Coony. She even persuaded her father to hold him. Sarah’s mother was starting to lose her fear of ferrets, and one time she even petted Coony. “He is sort of friendly…” the woman had said.
  Sarah posted “Found: Ferret” signs all around town. She took the ferret for walks around her neighborhood hoping that someone would recognize Coony. No one did. Then as time grew short, Sarah began offering Coony to all her friends. No one wanted Coony.
  Sarah tried not to think about bringing Coony to the animal shelter. She loved Coony so much and would miss him greatly. 
  Then the last day Coony was to live with them came. Sarah was just as sad as she knew she would be. When she got to the shelter she saw a sign saying that it was a “No-Kill” shelter. She was overjoyed at this. She had thought that Coony would be killed after a short while at the shelter.
  Sarah wanted a ferret even more then ever. But her mother seemed relentless. “If you want a pet, you can have a guinea pig.” She said.
  Sarah left the animal shelter with a guinea pig. She could keep it in the cage she used for the ferret.
  Sarah loved the guinea pig, but sweet as it was, it could never replace Coony. It was still seven years before she could move out and get a ferret of her own. She knew what kind she was going to get when the time came. It would look just like Coony…