Mutiny of the Little Sweeties

The Gavrilov family had always had many pets. It came from Mama, who as a child led stray dogs on an elastic strap tied to her pants. Now Mama pretended that she could not stand animals, that they only forced themselves on her, but for all that, she never prevented the children from acquiring new animals.

This was Mama’s tactic. First, she would say, “Oh, what a cute behemoth!” Then she would encourage Kate to bring the behemoth home on the cord for keys, but later, when the behemoth smashed something, would grumble that she was not the one who had acquired the behemoth and that she was against it.

They considered most of the animals to be Kate’s. They said “Kate’s rats,” “Kate’s guinea pig,” “Kate’s turtle.” This was advantageous; the rest could whine that Kate has rats and a turtle but I have nothing… Not fair! Let us get another forty duplicate rats and turtles, but they will already not be Kate’s but mine! And each turtle, of course, will remember who owns it and perhaps even wear an engraved photo of the owner on its shell at its heart.

One morning, Mama was bathing Rita and Costa, but Alex ran in and threw rubber slippers into the bath. Then he tried to fill the tub with vinegar to check whether Rita and Costa would dissolve.

Papa set Alex on a chair to think over his behaviour and went off himself to finish a story. Alex sat on the chair and whined. Then he began to move the chair on the wooden floor, making horrible sounds. Papa endured these sounds for about five minutes. Then he came out and said sternly, “Have you thought it over?”

“I have.”

“And what do you think? What was your behaviour?”

“Bad.”

“And what are your conclusions?”

Alex snuffled. He did not seem to have any conclusions.

“Conclude that you won’t do it anymore! Agree?”

Alex agreed with this answer and Papa, with relief, handed him over to Kate and Vicky, who were just about to go for a walk. “Only hold his hands and cross the street on a green light!”

“Can’t on green!” Alex instantly declared.

“Why?”

“What lights do cars go on? Green! So, people should go on red!”

“Cars go on their own green, and people have red at this time.”

“What if people think that the green for cars is their green? And the cars think that their red is red for people?” Alex, who loved strict consistency in everything, specified.

Papa was utterly confused, because he remembered that there is even the green arrow, on which the cars turn, and that some cars do not let pedestrians pass, and he was instantly quite uncertain how to explain. “You know, you just hold your sisters’ hands and do as they do!” he said.

Alex held hands with Kate and Vicky and they set off wandering around the city. The three stray dogs living on Vine Street – Stool, Lad, and Tot – stuck with them. Stool was a very long dog on short legs. It was so long that sometimes it was as if all the dachshunds in the world had united in it. Tot was medium-sized and off-white, and Lad was a shaggy calf which barked in a bass. Trying to persuade the dogs not to accompany them, Kate and Vicky stamped their feet and threw dirt at them, but the dogs pretended that they noticed nothing and still stayed with them.

Usually, Stool, Lad, and Tot sat on Vine Street and rarely left it, because the city was divided between rival clans of dogs, which could bite off the ears of strange dogs. But when one of the children went into the city, Stool, Lad, and Tot decided, “Our pack is going hunting, now there are many of us, we are cool,” and set off following. They ran across the road, barked at cars, got into fights with strange dogs, and, although they did not belong to the children, there would be shouts at them from all directions, “Restrain your mutts!”

Today everything ended when Lad carried off a herring from the scale of a market seller and, fleeing from pursuit, darted across the road. Behind Lad, tails tucked under them, ran Stool and Tot. Alex wanted to follow them, but Kate and Vicky would not let go of his hands.

“Calm down! Keep walking as if nothing happened!” Kate said, quickly dragging Alex around the corner. Peering out from behind the corner, she was relieved to see that the seller was laughing and seemed ready to forgive Lad for the herring.