It’s another day out with my best friend Tori, and we are at the mall, our usual hangout place. This time she suggested that we go to the pet store to look around. As we are walking through the store, something unusual caught my eye. I turned to look and laid eyes upon the most beautiful creature I had ever seen! Tori shrieked in disgust at the animal’s appearance, but I knew he was put in that clear little box just for me to see him.
The tag read, Purple Piptom. I’ve never heard of anything like it before. He looked up at me, and four bright blue eyes were staring me in the face and begging me to pick him up. I reached my hands in to pick him up, but instead he sprang into my arms, bouncing off his curly tail. His long fluffy fur felt like velvet, filled my hands, and spilled through my fingers. He was like an oversized cotton ball. Although he was no bigger than a loaf of bread, his ears would give Dumbo a run for his money. He bounced into my arms and wrapped his pink sticky tail around my arm.
“Ugh!” Tori cried, “How can you hold that nasty looking thing?”
“He is not nasty; I think he’s very cute! Look at those eyes!” I replied.
“Look at his tongue! It’s hanging out of his mouth. I think there is something wrong with him!”
“No,” I replied. “I think he is supposed to do that. Ah, smell his breath, it smells so sweet!”
“Gross! No!” She exclaimed.
Tori gave a disgusted look and walked over to where the puppies could be seen.

I held this odd animal up to get a better look at him. The color of his fur was such a deep purple that it could calm the mind of any schizophrenic. As I held him up, he let out the most heartbreaking pout. I knew at that moment that he was going home with me. As I was studying my new animal, the store clerk casually walked over.
“Ah! I see that you have taken interest in our new addition to the store. He is quite the odd looking thing. He is not very popular with most of our customers, but he is one of a kind,” the clerk said in a persuasive tone.
“Oh he’s adorable! I was planning on taking him home with me.”
“Excellent!” He shouted. “I will go get the things needed to take care of him, and he’s all yours!” The store owner was in such a hurry to get the animal out of the store. It made me wonder what was wrong with the Piptom and caused me to have second thoughts about purchasing him.
“Wait! How much is he?” I asked hesitantly.
“For him, he’s free!” he said.
I replied with a smile so big it made my cheeks ache.

The store owner came back with a tire, a back massager, and a book called The Giving Tree. I thought, “Wow, what kind of animal is this?”
“This is all you will need to take care of this little fellow.”
“You forgot to give me his food!”
“That’s what the tire is for.” I turned, perplexed, to look at this mysterious creature. He only smiled at me. He obviously does not think he is as weird as I think he is.

After gathering all the odd things I needed to take care of Leonard, as I decided to call him, Tori and I headed back out to the car with a bouncy new pet following behind us. As we drove down the interstate towards home, Leonard hung out the window, enjoying the fresh breeze. The car was quickly filled with the sweet aroma of almonds and cherries that came from his breath as he panted while in the backseat.
“I cannot believe you are taking that thing home with you.” Tori said in disgust. “You know your parents will be irate!”
“Well, I think he’s absolutely adorable; those pitiful eyes were just begging for me to save him! And he…”
My sentence was interrupted when a loud shrill sound rang in our ears. My heart dropped as I turned around to see that Leonard had fallen out the window and was now clinging to the antenna of my car. Since he had no arms or legs, the only thing that was holding him secure is his sticky curly tail which is wound around the antenna in knots.
“Oh my gosh! what do we do!?” Tori shouted.
I screamed in anguish as I watched my little animal flap furiously and helplessly in the wind. Little kids in passing cars pointed and looked in despair as they drove by the distressed animal. Adults and parents looked on with raised eyebrows and did double takes to make sure they were really seeing what they thought they were seeing. I pulled over as fast as I could. Tori and I tugged and tugged, but no matter how hard we yanked or pulled, we could not undo the knots that had been made; we only made them tighter. I would have to take him to the vet and hope that they could help him. We had no other choice than to leave him hooked to the antenna as we drove the next ten miles to the animal hospital. Leonard flapped in the wind as if he were a new decoration added to my car.
After ten miles of getting disturbed looks from other drivers and listening to Leonard cry, we arrived at the vet. They looked in shock at the animal and the weird situation it was in. They assured me that they would be able to help in someway. Tori and I waited for two hours and watched as they skillfully undid knots, twirled him in and out of his tail, and finally freed him. He bounced over to us crookedly, but happy as ever. I thanked the veterinarians and then Leonard, Tori, and I jumped into the car and headed home. This time, with the windows rolled up.