The Two and Only Kelly Twins (2 page)

Just after the twins’ seventh birthday, Mr. and Mrs. Kelly finally agreed that Arlene and Ilene were old enough to have a pet.

“I want a kitten,” said Arlene.

“I want a puppy,” said Ilene.

“A kitten. I said it first,” said Arlene.

“No. A puppy. I said it louder,” insisted Ilene.

“We can’t get both,” said their mother. “The animals would probably fight.”

“No, they wouldn’t,” said Arlene.

“No, they wouldn’t,” agreed Ilene.

“I think your mother is right. A cat and a dog in the same house can mean trouble,” said Mr. Kelly.

“Then let’s get a kitten. Caroline at school has an orange cat that had babies. She said she’d give me one, and I want one that is orange, too,” said Arlene.

“No fair,” said Ilene. “I want a puppy.”

“Puppies are lots of work,” Mrs. Kelly said. “They need to be walked several times a day, even in the rain or snow. You’ve seen Joey. He walks his dogs as soon as he comes home from school every day. And he does it after supper, too.”

“I’d love to walk a puppy,” said Ilene.

“I wouldn’t,” said Arlene. “If we got a puppy, I’d never, ever walk it.”

“I don’t care,” said Ilene. “I’d walk the puppy all the time.”

“No,” said Mr. Kelly. “A puppy grows into a dog, and this house isn’t big enough for two adults, two growing girls, and a dog.”

“So let’s get a kitten,” said Arlene, smiling at what she was sure was victory. “Even when a kitten grows into a cat, it’s still smaller than a dog.”

“No. Wait,” Ilene said. “We could get one of those teeny-tiny dogs with the funny name. A Chihuahua. Remember we saw a lady with one when we went to the library last week? It was so little, she had it in a canvas shopping bag with her books.”

“I don’t want a Chihuahua,” said Arlene.

“Well, I don’t want a cat,” said Ilene.

“And I don’t want all this arguing,” said Mrs. Kelly. “Just forget what Dad and I said about getting a pet.”

“But you promised us,” Ilene reminded her mother.

“Yes you did,” said Arlene. “You said after we finished first grade, we’d be old enough to have a pet.”

“How about a tank of fish?” suggested Mr. Kelly.

“No,” said Arlene and Ilene in unison.

“Well, I’m glad you girls can agree on some things,” said Mrs. Kelly. “But we’re not making any decisions today in any event.”

So a couple of weeks went by, and all of Caroline’s kittens were adopted, much to Arlene’s disappointment. And Mr. and Mrs. Kelly remained firm about not getting a dog.

Then one evening Mr. Kelly came home from work carrying his briefcase, a newspaper, and a box.

“What’s in there?” asked Ilene, pointing to the box. She knew that the briefcase held only boring old papers.

“It’s a surprise,” her father said.

“Is it for us?” asked Arlene hopefully.

“Yes. It’s two pets,” Mr. Kelly said. “One for each of you.”

The box wasn’t very big, so right away Arlene shouted, “Kittens! You got us kittens!”

“No.”

“Chihuahuas!” shouted Ilene, rushing to hug her father.

“No.”

“Then what is it?” asked Arlene puzzled.

“Here’s a hint. It starts with an
f,
” said Mr. Kelly. “And remember, there are two of them.”

The two sisters looked at each other. “We don’t want fish,” Arlene reminded her father.

“No fish,” he said.

“Frogs?” guessed Ilene. She wrinkled her nose. Who’d want a pair of frogs for pets?

“Look,” said Mr. Kelly.

Arlene and Ilene stood shoulder to shoulder and watched as their father opened the box. Inside were two skinny animals with matching white hair, small claws, and tails.

“What are they?” asked Arlene.

“Ferrets,” her father said.

“Wow. Ferrets,” said Ilene. “Aren’t they cute?” she asked as she admired the little faces, which almost resembled those of puppies or kittens. “I never even heard of ferrets. We’ll be the only kids at school with ferrets for pets,” she told her sister.

“Cool,” agreed Arlene. She reached out a finger to pet one of the animals.

“One of the men at my office is going to be working overseas. These ferrets belonged to his children, but the family agreed it would be too difficult to settle in a new country with these critters. So he offered them to me.”

Each girl picked up one of the ferrets, and they began petting them. “He’s so soft,” cooed Ilene.

“I love him,” said Arlene.

Mr. Kelly went back to his car and returned with a large wire cage for the new pets to live in.

“Do they have to stay in the cage all the time?” asked Ilene.

“No. Just when you’re not playing with them, like when you’re at school.”

“What should we name them?” asked Arlene.

“Whatever you want,” Mr. Kelly said. “Mr. Clifton said that they are both females.”

“I don’t care,” said Arlene. “I want to name mine Benjamin Franklin Ferret,” she announced. “And I’ll call him Frankie for short.”

Ilene couldn’t think of a name that fast. She mumbled different names to herself, trying them out. Then she suddenly remembered something. “What is the name of that cookbook you always use?” she asked her mother.

“The Joy of Cooking?”

“No. The other one, that you said was a wedding present from Dad’s grandmother. The author has a name that starts with
F
.”

Mrs. Kelly thought for a moment. “Do you mean
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook?
”

“Yes,” said Ilene, nodding. “My ferret will be called Fannie Farmer Ferret. That’s a better name for a girl ferret,” she added, making a face at her sister.

“I don’t know if either of those are appropriate names for ferrets,” said Mr. Kelly.

“Who knows what appropriate names for ferrets are?” said his wife.

And so that’s how Frankie and Fannie came to live with Arlene and Ilene Kelly.

If truth be told, Arlene and Ilene could not tell the ferrets apart. They didn’t really know which was Frankie and which was Fannie. Like the twins themselves, they seemed identical. However, one particularly loved raisins and the other loved peanut butter on a piece of cracker.

Whichever one Arlene held she called Frankie. And whichever one Ilene picked up she called Fannie. It didn’t seem to matter to the ferrets, and it didn’t matter to the sisters. The girls combed the ferrets’ hair, dressed them in doll clothes, cut up fruit for them, and portioned out dry food for them, too. They cleaned out the cage often, dumping the soiled newspaper from the bottom of the cage into the garbage pail. Then they cut up fresh, dry newspapers. They both agreed that their ferrets were perfect pets.

Sometimes the ferrets escaped when Arlene and Ilene were grooming them. They jumped off of the bed and hid underneath it. Then Arlene or Ilene would get down on the floor and hunt until she found the hiding creatures.

On the Saturday before school started after summer vacation, either Frankie or Fannie ran away.

“It must be Fannie, because I’m holding Frankie,” said Arlene.

“Maybe yes and maybe no,” said Ilene, wishing she was the one holding a ferret and her sister was the one down on her hands and knees, looking. When ten minutes passed without success, Arlene offered to help in the search. She put the ferret she had been holding inside the cage and got down on the floor. “It’s too dark to see very much,” she complained.

Arlene got up and got a flashlight. She turned it on and moved it around to give herself and her sister a better view of the room. “Oh, look,” she exclaimed, picking up a cap from one of their markers. “I was looking for this.”

“The marker must have dried up by now,” said Ilene grumpily. She stood up and stretched. Where else could she look? she wondered.

The girls’ backpacks were on the floor, ready and all packed for the first day of school. Ilene picked up hers and turned it upside down. It would be wonderful if Fannie was inside. But no, only a box of crayons, two pencils, an old shirt of her father’s to use as a painting smock, and a paperback book to read during quiet time. These things all fell out on the floor. Then she turned the other backpack upside down. Now there were
two
boxes of crayons,
four
pencils,
two
old shirts, and
two
paperback books on the floor. There was no sign of Fannie.

“Maybe she went to another room,” suggested Arlene.

“This house is too big,” Ilene whined. “We’ll never find her.”

“Come on. I’ll help you. I’ll look in the kitchen and the living room. You look in Mom and Dad’s bedroom and the bathroom.”

Usually Ilene didn’t like it when Arlene told her what to do. But this was not a time to argue. This was the time to find Fannie.

Each girl went to her assigned rooms. They crawled on the floor and looked in every corner. Suddenly, when she slid her fingers underneath the clothes hamper in the bathroom, Ilene felt a sharp pain. She pulled out her hand, and a drop of blood fell on the floor. A moment later, out popped Fannie’s head.

Ilene grabbed hold of the ferret. “You naughty, naughty girl!” she scolded the ferret. “I won’t give you any raisins today.”

She ran into her bedroom and put the ferret into the cage. Then she went to show her mother the wound on her finger.