Pet Shrink Written by Frances O’Neill Illustrated by Xiaoyi Hu
Chapter 13 Second Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 The Real Fearless Fred . . . . . . . . . . . . The Circus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Chapter 22 Home Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Chapter 23 Chapter 8 First Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Chapter 21 Chapter 7 78 Chapter 20 Chapter 6 House-trained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chapter 19 Chapter 5 75 Chapter 18 Chapter 4 Poison Goo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chapter 17 Chapter 3 Good Grief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Chapter 16 Chapter 2 Gather Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Chapter 15 Chapter 1 Get Grown Up Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Chapter 14 Table of Contents Enlist Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Monica Pink Pet Shrink . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 May Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Speedy Speedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Funeral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Fearless Fred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Crazy Haired Neighbours . . . . . . 29 91 Back to School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Dr Dickson’s office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The Animal Sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Chapter 9 Dinner at the Strange’s . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chapter 10 First Day At Work... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Chapter 11 More Funerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
story of how I became a Pet Shrink. A Pet Shrink is someone who is really good at understanding pets. I am very good at understanding pets, but sometimes I am not very good at understanding people especially grown-ups! 2
May Day I woke up with Speedy sniffing my neck. Speedy is the cleverest tortoise on the planet, he is 70 years old and my dad said he used to belong to my granddad. I never knew my granddad, my dad never talks about him so I think my granddad’s probably dead. It’s May Day today, which I think means that everyone gets a day off. I wonder what kids with brothers and sisters talk about on May Day. I only get to talk to Speedy 4
and he usually doesn’t talk back - I usually know what he is thinking though. I asked him what he dreamed about and Monica Pink Pet Shrink Monica, she’s not a lark like you and me.” Mum just growled at my dad like a snarly dog. I think mum is an owl but I can’t be I knew that the answer was butterflies sure, as I’ve never heard her say, “I’m because that’s what I was dreaming about up with the owls.” I think owls are a bit too. Me and Speedy always dream about the strange with their big eyes and their twisty same stuff - we have a connection. necks, no wonder they hide in the dark. If I Dad always puts the roaring lion alarm looked like an owl, I’d hide in the dark too. clock in the living room so that mum has to get up to switch it off. I don’t think mum likes lions very much - this morning she hit the lion alarm clock with her pink fluffy slippers. “Your mother isn’t a morning person 5 6
Chapter 2 Speedy Speedy A take Speedy for a walk to the shops. Dad said, “just so long as you keep him on a s it was a holiday, dad said Speedy was allowed an extra leaf, mum was allowed an extra 5 grams of butter and I was allowed half a bowl of Coco Pops. I love Coco Pops, the pops are much tastier than porridge. I wonder if Speedy would like Coco Pops - he is always really slow at doing everything, maybe some fast energy would be a nice change for him. I was so full of fast Coco Pop energy I asked dad if I could lead.” Mum said, “Are you worried he might run away to the circus, Ken?” Dad looked annoyed, he put his newspaper up and hid behind it. I asked mum why Speedy would run away and she said because of malnutrition. I asked mum if she wanted anything from the shops and she whispered, “Chocolate.” And then dad said from behind his newspaper, “Remember your figure Barb, I didn’t marry the local Beauty Queen to 9 10
see her turn into the Village Chubber.” Mum stuck her tongue out and then it Monica Pink Pet Shrink always cuts the grass really fast when he is angry. I could see dad swishing by the looked like she mouthed, “I hate your window but I couldn’t see Speedy. I opened guts.” the window and shouted, “Are you OK It seems that dad can see through newspapers, he pushed his chair out, all Speedy, it the noise too loud for you?” And then I saw Speedy fly through the angry and annoyed and just as he stomped sky, I heard a big crash and what sounded towards the back door, he slipped on like an Easter egg hitting a tree. Speedy’s poo. He grabbed Speedy and slammed the door shut behind them. I ran to the other room and looked out of the window so that I could see where dad had put Speedy. I heard the roaring sound of dad’s big red tractor lawn mower. He 11 12
Chapter 3 The Funeral D A big messy van appeared from nowhere, it screeched around the corner with its ad had tried to miss Speedy and crashed into the tree. “They were both killed instantly,” is what the doctor said. I think he wants us to be happy that they were both killed instantly but I’m not sure why. Me and mum were in a big black car, dad was in a long car in a coffin. Mum couldn’t get the gates to open, they got stuck half way and the cars had to squeeze out. Mum threw the remote control for the gates out squeaky brakes and scraped all the way along dad’s car and then it scraped all the way along our car. Mum’s mouth fell open but she didn’t scream or say anything. The rusty old van said Joe Strange Animal Sanctuary on it. At the back of the van a boy with really messy hair and freckles looked out. He held up an armadillo to the window and waved the little armadillo’s paw at me. I couldn’t help but smile. Me and mum both wore matching black outfits, we stood by the side of the grave as of the car window. 13 14
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