Critters

     “Thanks for walking me home from class,” said Gretta as she unlocked her apartment door. “It’ll just take me a minute to find the book you let me borrow.”

     “No hurry,” said Allen. He followed her inside and immediately noticed her shelves of small cages and tanks. “Wow, you sure have a lot of pets.”

     “Well, I am a biology major.” Gretta set down her purse and began rummaging through a stack of books on a desk. “I’m especially fond of small mammals, but reptiles and amphibians also fascinate me.”

     Allen moved to the mammal section and bent over to stick his finger in a cage with a small white bunny. The bunny hopped over and sniffed him. “They sure are cute. What’s the rabbit’s name?”

     “Him?” asked Gretta, looking over Allen’s shoulder. “His name is Frog.”

     Allen looked up at her. “Your rabbit’s name is Frog? Well then what’s the frog’s name?” He pointed to a small tank where a single frog sat motionless.

     “The frog’s name is Turtle,” said Gretta, still searching for the book.

     “I see.” Allen looked around the room until he found the turtle bowl. “And the turtle’s name?”

     “Gerbil.”

     He walked over to the gerbil habitat. “And let me guess, the Gerbil’s name is… Rabbit?”

     “Um… no,” said Gretta. “The gerbil is Dave.”

     “Oh,” said Allen, scratching his head. “Too bad it isn’t Rabbit. That would make sense.”

     But it didn’t make sense to Gretta. She thought Rabbit was a stupid name.