Short Stories

     1. CITY WELCOMES NEW STORE AND ITS OWNERS



The city of Armada opened its arms to a new business on Huntington Drive at First Street. The store, called Turtle Dove, is a pet shop specializing in two kinds of animals. The owners are two brothers, Bill and Bob Pidgin. They moved here from the northern California town of Santa Rosa, where they owned an ant farm store called Antimal House. That store was such a success that after five years they sold it for a big profit. 

They took it easy for a couple of years, traveling throughout the states. “We visited almost every zoo in the country, partly because we love animals and partly because we were looking for inspiration for our next business,” said Bill. They finally decided on turtles and doves. “They’re easy to feed and care for, and both animals live a long time,” said Bob. 

The store will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. “We think those are hours that our customers will find very convenient. Plus, the three days off gives us a chance to go into the woods and find more critters. We never buy our animals; we always try to collect them from the wild. That way we can pass on huge savings to our customers. And, of course, by removing these animals from their natural habitat, we protect them from being devoured by their natural enemies. So our customers are happy, our animals are happy, and we’re happy. It’s a win-win for all of us.”


2.  NEW TO AMERICA




Nancy was new to America. She came to America speaking only her native language. She brought her 8-year-old son with her. He was all she had in the world.
They found an apartment in Arcadia. They were there for only two months when a neighbor’s dog jumped over the fence. The dog ran toward Nancy’s son. Nancy put her body in between the dog and her son. The dog stopped when it saw Nancy screaming at it. She was going to punch it in the nose. The dog turned around.
Shaking, Nancy took her son upstairs. They stayed in the apartment all weekend. Then Nancy found another apartment, close to the school that her son was going to attend.
She and her son walked everywhere. One day her son started coughing badly. He had an asthma attack. All the walking was making his asthma worse.
Nancy knew that she had to buy a car. So she called up the Honda dealer. She talked to a salesman who spoke her language. She told him that she wanted to buy a new car if he could come over to pick her up. The salesman said he would be right over.