Arturo had always wanted one thing more than anything else. Not his own castle, and not a magic wand, and not long green hair. No, the thing he most wanted, was a pet.
But time and time again his mummy and daddy had told him “Our house just isn’t big enough” or “they take too much looking after” or “they smell of cabbage!”
Well Arturo didn’t think that was fair. What if he got a small pet? What if he did all the looking after? And animals don’t smell of cabbage - that’s just silly and not true at all.
It wasn’t fair. He was old enough. He wouldn’t let it ruin the house - well, not any more than he did, anyway - and - OH! What was the point?
He wanted a pet more than anything, but he’d just have to wait until he was a grown up.
So when his friend Sarah came up to him after school on Friday in Peacock Park and whispered “I’ve got a new pet, come and visit tomorrow!,” Arturo was hugely excited.
Sarah’s mummy and daddy were perfectly happy to let her have pets. She’s had a gerbil called Mr Seeds which she once brought into school, and she had a puppy called Bluetail who - well, come to think of it - probably wasn’t a puppy any more but a fully grown woof-woof.
So that night, as Arturo lay in bed, he thought about what sort of pet Sarah might have now? Another puppy to play with Bluetail? Or a friend to live with Mr Seeds?
Or maybe a fish? Or a bird? Or maybe even a snake?
The next morning, which was a Saturday, Arturo watched out of his bedroom window for the signal from Sarah’s house. Sarah always shone a torch on and off when it was time to come over and play.
BLINK BLINK! BLINK BLINK!
And there it was!
He skipped down the stairs telling his mummy “I’m just going over the road to Sarah’s!”
“Well you be careful!”
Arturo knocked on the door and heard friendly barking. Well that must be Bluetail. Sarah opened the door and smiled, Bluetail sniffing happily at Arturo’s shoes. And Mr Seeds sat proudly on her shoulder.
“Come on,” she said. “This way.”
She led Arturo thought the house but as they got further along the corridor he felt something odd: It began to get very cold. “Is your heating on?,” asked Arturo. “Is your fire lit?”
Sarah handed him a jacket that she’d just picked up from a chair as they passed. “Here,” she said. “You’d better put this on.”
How could Sarah’s house be so cold? It wasn’t normally. It was normally cosy. But today… Brrr… and it was nearly summer.
As they passed through the kitchen towards the glass doors that led to the garden, Arturo felt a severe chill and zipped the coat right up. And then - as he got to the glass to look out into the garden - he got a magnificent surprise.
The garden was entirely covered with snow.
Sarah looked at him for a reaction, and smiled as her friend just stood there unable to say anything. They stepped through the kitchen doors and their shoes crunched onto the perfect, crisp deep snow.
“But… how?,” stammered Arturo. “Have you got some sort of machine?”
“Well, sort of,” nodded Sarah, and pointed to the corner of the garden where a large, gruff, pot-belled pig was sat on its bottom, gently clicking his front trotters together, almost as if he was knitting.
“This is Cleantoes,” said Sarah, proudly. “My new pot bellied pig. Isn’t he wondrous?”
“Yes, but… what’s he doing?,” asked Arturo.
“Well making snowflakes,” relied Sarah.
They both got closer and Cleantoes looked up and smiled, grunted, and then went back to his work of making perfectly delicate snowflakes out of the thinnest strands of ice string.
“He’s brilliant at it,” said Sarah. “He’ll make you all the snow you ever need.”
“But he’s a PIG,” said Arturo. “Aren’t pigs big and clumsy?”
Well at this, Cleantoes stopped his snowflake knitting and looked up at Arturo gruffly. “Sorry, Cleantoes,” said Arturo. “That was rude of me. You’re amazing. Please, ignore me.”
Cleantoes concentrated back on his work, as Sarah led Arturo to the shed. “Look what we’ve got in here,” she said, opening the door and removing two snowboards. “Come on!”
Sarah’s garden was big, and with all the snow that Cleantoes had been making she’d managed to build a whole snowboarding course.
“Are we late?,” called a voice. It was Grayham from their school who lived next door to Sarah, and he was with his big sister Anna.
Both of them were carrying snowboards, too!
“Oh wow,” said Anna, “Cleantoes has been busy! Well done, Cleantoes!”
Cleantoes snorted, and the four of the ran up to the start line.
They zoomed around the track all morning, using a stopwatch to see who could get the fastest lap. After two hours, Sarah’s Dad came into the garden with four mugs of cocoa.
“You lot must be thirty!,” he said, and then, noticing Arturo said “Ah! Arturo! I haven’t seen you in a while! How are your mummy and daddy - still looking forward to their skiing holiday up at the top of Lomberstack mountain?”
“Oh, yes, I think so,” began Arturo and then he stopped. He’d had an idea!
“Um, Sarah, would you mind if I borrowed Cleantoes for the afternoon?,” he asked.
“But of course not,” she said.
Outside of Arturo’s house, all was quiet. He led Cleantoes on a lead around to the side gate and let him into the garden. “You have fun in there,” said Arturo, and Cleantoes snuffled off, happy for a new place to explore.
Arturo pushed open the blue front door to the house and found his Mummy and Daddy in the kitchen cleaning their skis.
“What are you doing?,” asked Arturo.
“Oh well, our holiday up the mountain is coming up soon,” said Mummy.
“Yes, and we need all our equipment to be in perfect working order before we hit the slopes,” nodded Daddy.
Arturo smiled. “And have you been practicing?,” he asked.
Mummy and Daddy both laughed. “Practicing? Our skiing? But where? It’s lovely and warm out there - there’s no snow for us to practice skiing at this time of year.“
They both stopped. The kitchen had suddenly gone quite cold.
“Come with me,” said Arturo. He led his mummy and daddy to the back door and opened it. Their garden was a winter wonderland, covered in fresh snow that Cleantoes had been busy making the moment he sat down on his bottom.
“This looks like the perfect place to practice,” said Arturo. “And this is Cleantoes.”
Well not only did Mummy and Daddy have the best fun ever practicing their skiing in the garden, and the best holiday up Lomberstack mountain, the next time Arturo asked if he could have a pet they said. “Well, what did you have in mind?”
