Hiccup at the Pet Show
8 pages · 7 min · ages 6+
“Hic!” Hiccup bounced off the kitchen table and landed in the fruit bowl. He was round and lavender and fluffy, with bat ears, a curly tail and two tiny silver wings, and nobody in the whole village knew what he was. “He's a dinosaur,” said Otto, pushing up his yellow glasses. “He's Hiccup,” said Mila. She was holding a poster. VILLAGE PET SHOW. SATURDAY. RIBBONS FOR EVERYONE WHO WINS. Mila wanted a ribbon for Hiccup more than anything. Then maybe people would stop calling him “that sparkly thing in the garden.” “We'll enter him for Best Trick,” said Mila. “And Best Dinosaur,” said Otto.
On Saturday, the village green was full of pets. There were dogs and cats and rabbits, a goat in a hat, and a very fluffy white poodle called Duchess who had won everything for three years. The judge was Mrs. Bramble. She had a clipboard and the biggest flowery hat in the county. Mila carried Hiccup to the table. Otto carried Shelly, his turtle. Ever since Hiccup had sneezed on her, Shelly's shell had been sparkly glitter-green. Mrs. Bramble looked at Hiccup for a long time. “And what,” she said, “is that?” “A dinosaur,” said Otto. “There is no dinosaur category,” said Mrs. Bramble.
First came Best Trick. The dogs did fetch. The rabbit did a jump. Duchess did a twirl. “Now you, Hiccup,” whispered Mila. “Fetch!” She threw a ball. Hiccup looked at the ball. He looked at Mila. He flapped his tiny wings, flew straight past the ball, and fetched the thing he liked much better: Mrs. Bramble's enormous flowery hat. He brought it back to Mila and sat inside it, very pleased with himself. The crowd went, “Ooooh.” Mrs. Bramble went, “My hat!” Hiccup went, “Hic!” and a cloud of pink sparkles came out of his nose and landed all over the flowers on the hat.
Next came Fluffiest Pet. Mila had a plan for this one. She had brought her hairbrush. She brushed Hiccup once. He got fluffier. She brushed him twice. He got much fluffier. She brushed him three times, and Hiccup puffed out into a lavender cloud the size of a beach ball, with two surprised eyes in the middle. A little breeze came across the village green. Hiccup lifted off the table like a dandelion puff and floated gently over the crowd, over the goat, over Duchess, and got stuck in the bunting. “Definitely a flying dinosaur,” said Otto.
Last came Best Behaved. This was the most serious prize of all. Every pet had to sit perfectly still while Mrs. Bramble walked past with her clipboard. Mila got Hiccup down from the bunting and put him on the table. “Sit,” she whispered. “Sit, sit, sit.” Hiccup sat. He sat beautifully. He sat very still. Mrs. Bramble walked closer, and closer, and bent down to look at him with her nose right next to his. Hiccup's ears twitched. His nose wiggled. His whole round body began to shake. “Oh no,” said Mila. “Hic… hic… HIC-CHOO!”
The sneeze was the biggest Hiccup had ever done. Sparkles went everywhere. Mrs. Bramble's clipboard went sparkly purple. Her eyebrows went sparkly blue. And Duchess, the fluffiest, whitest, proudest poodle in the county, was suddenly a bright, glittering pink. The whole village green went quiet. Mila picked Hiccup up and held him close. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. “It's not your fault.” Hiccup was not a fetching pet, or a fluffy pet, or a sitting pet. He was a Hiccup. Mila looked at the grown-ups frowning, and then at the little children in the crowd, who were not frowning at all. They were staring at the sparkles with shining eyes.
Mila put Hiccup on the grass and knelt down beside him. She remembered the song from the day he hatched. “Listen close, little friend,” she sang softly. “Show them true.” Hiccup's ears came up. His tail spun like a propeller. He took a breath, and hiccupped, and hiccupped again, and every hiccup sent up a little fountain of coloured sparkles, pink, then gold, then blue, higher and higher, until they rained down over the whole pet show like a tiny firework that didn't bang. The children cheered. The goat cheered. Even Duchess wagged her pink tail. Mrs. Bramble looked at the sky for a long time. Then she wrote something on her clipboard.
At prize-giving, Duchess won Best Behaved, as always. She was still pink. Then Mrs. Bramble held up a ribbon nobody had seen before. “A new prize,” she said. “For Most Wonderful Pet. Hiccup!” Mila hugged him so hard that he hiccupped a tiny gold sparkle. Then Mrs. Bramble held up one last ribbon. She looked at Otto. She looked at the turtle in his arms, whose shell was the sparkliest, greenest thing on the whole village green. “And the prize for Best Dinosaur,” said Mrs. Bramble, “goes to Shelly.” Otto's glasses nearly fell off. Mrs. Bramble pinned the ribbon on Shelly's shell. “Definitely a dinosaur,” said the judge.