Names for Pets

Tula was the sort to give fanciful names. I'm thinking of her pets as I write this... Ethelreda for the goldfish, for one, Haroldene for the hamster, Daisy-Céleste for two different mice, one white, one black. "Why do you call both of them Daisy-Céleste?" asked her niece, but Tula was silent on that one. She usually stayed silent to humans... Through the day she would go around feeding her four pets and thinking about their names. She also thought about the names of long-dead pets such as Lakeisha, Lalage and Latrice. All these names she found in a name-your-new-baby book she bought at a jumble sale twenty years ago. Nothing gave her greater pleasure on the eve of a new pet purchase than to choose another fanciful name. "Shall I name it Decimus?" she said aloud just before bedtime, and we cannot be sure, after a distance in time, if she was meaning it for a goldfish, a hamster or a mouse or two.

In between looking after her pets, Tula read her name book, looked out of the window, got her lunch - those sort of things, but I am here to write solely of her pets, as you know. I have pictures of some of them with Tula's handwriting beneath, informing me of their names.

I wish I could say more about these pets - give you a run-down of their habits and characters, but I am left solely with the names, for I, like Tula's niece, could get nothing out of her.

One day, Tula died, and Ethelreda, Haroldene, Daisy-Céleste 1 and Daisy-Céleste 2 went off in Tula's neigbour's van to the niece, I presume, while I was given the job of writing this memorial. We'll think of her one last time, shall we, this Tula, real name... : Petula... Cheers!

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Julia Ward

Date: 8/18/2019 5:59:00 AM

To Michelle Smith - What wonderful adjunct to my tale, your one being true. :)

Date: 8/17/2019 8:15:00 PM

I might understand the Daisy-Celeste mousie duo thing. I had 2 fish together that I called Carrot & Tangerine (Carrie & Angie). One died, and I asked the pet shop person about getting a new one; he thinks fish prefer to be solitary, but then I didn't know what to call the one left, cuz I just called them their names together always -- so which was which? Who knows? He suggested a new name -- I asked for ideas -- he came up with Pumpkin or Sweet Potato (also orange) -- I picked Sweet Potato! :D