New Beginnings

Chapter 11

"L" Rory says as she walks down the street with her mother and sister.

"Laryngitis, M" Victoria says. "Mumps, N" Lorelai replies.

"Narcolepsy, O" Rory says. "Are we gonna have to go through this every time we decide who had to clean out the refrigerator?" Victoria asks. "Do you want to go back to thumb wrestling?" her mother asks her.

"Osteoporosis, P" Victoria answers.

"Puppies!" Lorelai yells running across the street. "That's not a disease, oh boy" Rory says noticing the pet sale across the street.

"Look at the baby" Lorelai says as her daughters catch up to her. "Mom" Victoria says. "Aw, Buttercup was found cold and wet hovering under a hydrangea bush along highway 26! It's a sad highway" Lorelai says looking at a dog.

"As compared to all the happy highways he could have been abandoned by?" Rory asks.

"Her lineage includes cocker spaniel, golden retriever, bouvier des flandres" Lorelai reads for them. "Gesundheit" Victoria interrupts her.

"Thank you, and rottweiler" Lorelai continues. "Buttercup is a special dog, she is extremely skittish and tends to react badly toward blond haired females, brunette males, children of either sex, other animals, red clothing, cabbage, or anyone in a uniform" Rory reads. "Hey, we just found the doggy version of you" Lorelai says as Luke walks over to them.

"Can I help you?" the man working there asks them.

"Do not let these three anywhere near a dog, they can barely feed themselves" Luke tells the man. "Shut up you, we would be excellent pet owners thank you" Lorelai says.

"You cannot be serious" Victoria says thinking it's crazy for them to get a dog. "We could get him a pretty bowl" Lorelai says. "It's a her" Rory tells her mother.

"And a new name" Lorelai keeps talking.

"Mom" Victoria says. "This Buttercup thing really has to go" Lorelai says ignoring her daughters.

"Do I need to remind you of Skippy?" Rory asks. "Skippy?" Luke questions. "I can't believe you would bring up Skippy" Lorelai says.

"Skippy was our hamster" Victoria tells Luke.

"He doesn't care" Lorelai says not wanting Luke to know the story. "What happened to Skippy?" Luke asks.

"Nothing happened to Skippy" Lorelai lies. "Every time mom would put her hand in his cage he'd bite her" Rory tells Luke. "And laugh" Lorelai adds.

"Hamsters can't laugh" Luke tells her.

"Oh this one laughed, trust me" Lorelai insists. "So finally she got fed up" Victoria continues the story.

"Of being laughed at by a hamster?" Luke asks. "Well, yeah" Lorelai says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "And she stopped cleaning its cage" Rory tells Luke.

"Instead, every day she would stuff some kleenex in there" Victoria adds.

"You didn't" Luke says in disbelief. "It was the quilted kind" Lorelai says smiling.

"So then this keeps going on and the cage is just a cage full of kleenex that moves a little" Rory continues the story. "And the smell? Really good" Victoria tells Luke. "I can imagine" Luke says.

"Oh, no you can't" Lorelai says still smiling.

"So then she takes the cage to the place where we bought him waits for the sales guy to go behind the desk, and dumps it on the counter then bolts" Rory finishes the story. "You abandoned your hamster?" Luke asks.