It’s a girl! It’s a boy! It’s....me?

”Are you sure you can watch the store while I’m gone?” The manager asks me. I’ve only been working here for 7 month, but I figured I could handle it. Besides, she would only be gone for 2 hours so, what could happen between then?

“Of course I can. Now go on your date!” I place my hands on her shoulders and push her toward the sliding doors. “Don’t forget to feed the animal,” she proclaims.

”I won’t.”

”Make sure you lock the doors when you leave.”

”I will.”

”If a robber comes in, give them everything they want.”

”I know. I know.”

”Am I forgetting anything?”

”Besides the time, no.” She looks down at the watch and says, “Oh crap!“

She looks back at me and says, “If anything happens, call right away.” I give her a thumbs up and she heads off. I look back at the store and say to myself, “Guess it’s just me and you now.” I walk back in and prepare to be bored for the next 2 hours. As I walk over the counter, I sigh with drowsiness. Why do I have to be so generous? I didn’t even want to stay here, but me and my big mouth of kindness got me here. I sigh as I take a seat in the chair at the counter. Whoever invented these chairs must be assless because these things are not comfortable. I start playing with the dime that had been carelessly dropped here. As I am rolling it around, my phone starts going off. I look over at it and see that I have a weather warning for a blizzard in my area. Great. Now I gotta walk back home through Elsa’s magic. I roll my eyes in disbelief. This day could not possibly get any worse. I look over at the doors. “Come on Gods, bring a customer here.”

Apparently the Gods were actually listening because suddenly the doors opened. “Welcome to Pet’s Smart!” I say with more enthusiasm than a normal person. The man walks up to me and asks, “Do you guys have rats here?” I give the man a questionable look. Never in the 7 months that I have been here has someone asked for a rat. The man looks over at the shelves. “I know it’s weird to hear someone ask for a rat. It’s not for me, it’s for my cats.“ Great. I’m going to be an accomplice to a murder. I walk around the counter and lead the guy to the shelves.

”This is Henry. He is really feisty and likes to bite back.” The man looks at Henry.

“He is way too skinny, I want a chubbier rat.” A chubbier rat? Are rats even chubby? I walk down to the last rat on the shelves.

”I think you would like AJ then. He looks bigger than the rest of the rats and he is for sale for only $15.” He places his hand in the cage holes to motion for AJ to come closer. AJ gets up from it’s resting spot and makes his way toward the man’s finger. He opens his tiny mouth and bites down on the fingers like French fries. “Ow!” The man yelps. He yanks his finger away.

“This one is perfect.” Did he really just say the rat that took his fingers as food was perfect? This man has some issues. I open the cage door and gently take AJ out. “Here.” I gently place the rat in the man’s hands and walk us over to the counter.

“Do you have an award’s card?”

”No.”

”Coupons?”

”No.”

”Alright then that will be $15. You can pay with cash or card.” He takes his wallet out and hands me a crumpled ten and five. I place it in the cash register and say, “Alright, have a nice night and come again!” The man gives me a smile and walks out. Poor AJ.

30 minutes go by and still no other customer. Guess the blizzard scared people away. I sink down into the chair and continue playing with the dime from before. Where did this dime even come from? I place the dime on top of my thumb. “Heads, a customer walks in.” I flip the coin and catch it in the air. “Tails.” I yawn and drop my head down on the counter. Come on Lesley Ann, stay awake for a little longer. I force my head up and start doing jumping jacks. This should get me awake. When I get to 20 I stop and sit back down. How can I be more tired? I look over at the doors. The blizzard was finally here and it was not holding back. I watched in disbelief as carts from outside flew across the parking lot. Good thing we don’t have carts so, I don’t need to go pick those up. Suddenly, I felt a chill go down my spine. I quickly turn around expecting someone or something to be there, but nothing. I turn back around and the same chill runs down my spine again. I get up and walk over to a shelf with birds. The same chill went down my spine again, but this time it felt more like fingers. I ferociously scratch myself. “Get off me!” Who was I even yelling at? No one was here, but me. I felt what appeared to be fingers, walk up my legs. What the hell was happening? I look toward the doors. This blizzard must be causing me to loose my mind. I feel another chill and decide enough is enough. I walk over to the counter, grab my phone, and head to the doors. When I get to the door, I take a deep breath and walk out. As soon as I do, I come crashing down on the cold ground with a thud. “Ouch.” I look behind me and see that there is a mysterious basket sitting there. “Who? What? When?” I look around to see if the person who placed it here was still lingering around, but nothing. Was it a bomb? Or a human head? I’m not even sure why I thought human head or bomb. Guess living in a word that is so cruel, made it more realistic than to think it could be something good. I look at the basket. what is inside? Should I bring it inside the store? I slowly reach my hand toward the basket and lift it up. Light. Something small must be in here. I walk it inside and place it down on the counter. “Alright Lesley Ann, what would the manager do?” She would probably call the police like a normal person. I pace back and fourth. “Maybe it’s a billion dollars from God for being an amazing human?” Nah. ”Maybe it’s muffins!” The thought of it being muffins made my mouth watery. Just open it Lesley. I place my hand down on the cover. “1. 2. 3!” I pull it up before I have time to hesitate. “A baby?” The baby looks up at me and smiles. Who leaves a baby at a pet store? I lift the baby up from the basket. “Hey there baby. I’m Lesley.” The baby seemed to really like me. I place the baby down on the counter.

”You look a lot like me.” Her eyes were the same color as mine, her hair was the same, everything down to the shape of her pointed ears were like mine. ”If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were me!” I say that as a joke, not realizing yet that it wasn’t actually a joke. “Ok little human, do you have a name?” I look through the basket to see if there are any clues to who this baby is. At the bottom I see a note. I read it aloud, “Hi there! This baby is Lesley Ann.” I look over at the baby and my heart drops. How is this possible? It’s not. It’s just my mind playing a sick trick on me. How could this baby, possibly be....me?