My 9 year old student and I came up with a 5 minute timed write where the subject would be our fantasy pet. She wants a gerbil desperately, and has been working her parents for months on the subject.
Writing requires inspiration, so I suggested my young charge use her pet desires as a subject for her writing practice. She was delighted, and got right to it. While she writes, I also write on the same subject.
I set the timer on my phone and put pen to paper, realizing immediately that there is no animal I want to take into my daily life and care for, pay for etc. The fantasy which materialized for me was a cheerful, talented and friendly assistant who could:
Clean my house, weed my garden, cook lovely soups, do my laundry and format my computer as well as do my taxes and tell me good jokes.
My fantasy is that I could pay this person twice the going rate, and enjoy their company more like a friend than an employee. We could talk about books, plan parties, go for hikes, share meals and give me piano lessons.
That is my fantasy 'pet', not really a pet. I have always thought pets need a job, so my fantasy whatever has a job, which pays their bills and gives them a sense of usefulness and then when it is time to move on they have a good reference and I find another person who would like to learn the job.
We could even build a barn together....well, not a barn so much as a studio because I don't want to keep animals. My fantasy animal is a wild songbird who lives in my yard all the time and sings to me every morning.
