A llama Henry and Olivia said together Finley nodded They have graceful necks and long eyelashes and they’re covered in wool I could knit with Plus it could carry my backpack I’d even ride it to school You could park it by the bike rack Henry suggested Llamas are cool They’re supposed to be really smart And they hum I saw it on a nature show Why do they hum Olivia asked Because they don’t know the words Henry grinned Actually the moms hum to communicate with their babies Llama lullabies Finley said Another reason to love them What about something a bit smaller Olivia suggested Like a lizard or a
hamster Finley shook her head Mom’s not crazy about rodents And Dad’s scared of lizards Even a cute little one like a gecko Olivia said Some of them are as small as a dime Finley nodded When Dad was a kid my aunt Grace told him that lizards were baby dinosaurs and he never got over it That makes sense Henry said The word dinosaur actually means fearfully great lizard How do you know that Finley asked I was crazy about dinosaurs in preschool Henry said I read a ton of dinosaur books Triceratops was my favorite that’s what I always wanted for a pet What about a puppy Olivia suggested Finley nodded I’d love a puppy Or a miniature pony Or a parrot I could train to speak French But a llama is definitely my first choice Henry finished writing the list and circled the word llama Then he ripped the page out of his notebook and handed it to Finley
There you go he said just as their teacher Ms Bird announced it was time to line up for library Finley shoved the list into her pocket She tried not to let her hopes bubble up but as the class filed down the hall she couldn’t help pulling the paper out to sneak a peek When they arrived at the library Finley immediately checked out some books on pets If she was going to convince her parents she needed to do her research Mom and Dad love facts she thought leafing through the books and taking notes in her sketchbook And if I’m going to convince them to get a pet I’m going to need lots to back me up I’ll be so prepared there’s no way they can say no
